Journalism (and 'blogs?)

I don't take this blogging business seriously. I don't really see it as a hobby, and I think I am less inclined to document facts of my life online than I am in a journal. Since this is most definitely not a journal, nor a serious effort at much of anything, what is it? Why do I spend my time typing things here? Also, why are these questions important?

Last question first, as with any written effort, it is best to have an idea of why you are writing it. Is a journal a document of life? If not that, just a repository of ideas? Perhaps, a collection of quotes or poetry that one likes? Journals don't have a specified form, just like blogs don't, but you don't go to the bookstore and buy just any magazine, normally if you are buying a journal of that nature, it is focused, which is what makes it interesting, because something in its focus is of interest to you as a reader.

Like too many things, I don't have much to really through in here, because I don't believe my generation was taught to have hobbies. The esoteric hobby concepts like stamp collecting just didn't take off to a generation with a television around, especially when everyone was all excited about Atari or Dungeons & Dragons. Sports never struck me as a hobby, and still don't, though how past-times differ from hobbies is a difference I don't quite feel like parsing right now.

So what is this 'blog about? Still, I don't know, but I do recall that I mention interesting ideas I come across in my reading (a past-time, really, not a hobby, though I think rare book collecting qualifies as a hobby), and earlier today, prior to a phone conversation with Dave, I was reading Camus (Camus at Combat), and ran across an article on the nature of journalism in which he defines a journalist as a "historian of the moment." The article was one written shortly after the liberation of Paris when Camus was seemingly disgusted with the direction of the newly free press. The direction, "any news is fit to print provided it appears to be a scoop," seems to be one the press has yet to break, though bloggers tend to be more persistent regarding asides(side-stories) they see as important to the greater picture. Bloggers also seem more inclined to delve into the dark places mainstream avoids, since mainstream doesn't like to shit where they eat. Perhaps this last is the root of the problem. It seems that as long as moneyed interests control the press, and what are stock-holders but moneyed interests, the press is shackled by concerns for profit. This concern does likely effect decisions, though most media would deny it.

Hmmm... the way this has rambled really makes me appreciate a bit of good form, and also calls to mind something I recall reading which was said by Gunter Grass regarding computer composition. Basically it was to the effect that he could always tell when something had been composed on a computer because the style wasn't as tight and edited as something written first in longhand, which leads me to think if I am going to keep this up, then I should try to do a better job on the composition side.

Quickly, or perhaps not, I do think I write here for a purpose, but I don't really know if the purpose is to edify anyone or provide a living example of what not to do with a blog. I sometimes enjoy throwing things out, not knowing if they ever land anywhere, or if they will just be discovered accidentally 5 yrs out, when I have ceased adding to this. Maybe, like Atari, it is because of the newness and hipness of it that I am doing something here, but more likely it is because I have time to do something, and would rather do something here than with a television. Should I list more possibilities?