Why Blog?

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Of course the prototypical therapist response would be "why do you
blog?" or "what makes you ask?"



And the cynical response would be "why do you read blogs?" or "who even
cares?"  



Well, a lot of people care.  Technorati claims there are 77
million blogs.  Most of those are read by one or two or
perhaps five people.  Some are read by hundreds of thousands.
 



I started after getting thrown off a horse, having a broken arm, being
off work for a bit, and bored out of my mind.  Two or three
days later, I was no longer taking Vicodin.



I
could think again and was curious about he world, turned to Internet
news, then blogs, then started blogging to keep my family informed
about what was happening at home so that people would not call me every
15 minutes.  



That old blog is probably still out there, somewhere.  



Then I started a more serious blog.  The name "corpus
callosum" was intended to reflect an interest in the brain, but also an
interest in making connections (of various sorts), and --originally --
I thought I would sort of try to bridge the gap between left and right
on the political spectrum.  



That latter purpose got lost somewhere.  There is no point in
trying to use a blog to promote a moderate political stance.
 Not only that, but at present I do not believe that it is
proper to promote a moderate political stance.  A little bit
of radicalism is needed right now.  Maybe later I can get back
to being a moderate, bridge-building kind of a guy.  Once we
have a government that is not primary run by sociopaths.



The reason to blog has changed a few times over the years.
 Sometimes it seems as though I am just part of the great echo
chamber.  But my purpose is more to be a part oft he
orchestra, adding a little bit of nuance to the wide-ranging discussion
within general public discourse.  



Like others, I also do it to keep my skill level up.  I write
a lot at work (actually dictate) but most of that is not very
expressive or creative.  In fact, at work, I intentionally
tone down my individuality in my writing.  That chafes a bit,
so this is the remedy.



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"... a little bit of radicalism" -- I like that.

I pretty obviously blog for myself, to organize thoughts, to develop writing skills.

When I first started, someone told me I "needed" to install sitemeter to track hits to my blog. I was told to make sure I put links to blogs so others would put links to mine. I was told to make sure I submitted to Grand Rounds.

After a while, I found I didn't care about any of these. The feedback from sitemeter was annoying. As I found I wasn't interested in many of the links on my blog, I began sifting them out. Grand Rounds has degenerated to a lot of blah-blah-blah posting, or a collection of YouTube videos. There are maybe 2-3 posts in a typical GR that I find work clicking to.

The posts that I've made that generated the most comments are subjects I avoid now -- populist stuff.