In the line of fire

Bloggers have drawn flak for being political or controversial, sometimes justified but just as often unjustified. In Malaysia, this blogger-authority conflict has escalated to the point that bloggers are vilified just because they blog. The thing is though, the more controversial blogging about politics become, the more people will follow this path.

Personally, I feel some blog for the wrong reasons. They blog because it is 'in' or because their friends have blogs. Most of the time, this can be seen in their content, or presentation of their blog. But by blogging about politics and controversial issues, they present a measure of gravitas and notoriety to their writings. Unfortunately, a lot of them just regurgitate what they read on other more established blogs, being just mere carbon copies, albeit of poorer quality. In my opinion though, plagiarizing is still better than spinning lies. Even though, blogging is not a formal form of media, we bloggers owe it to our readers to at least present the truth as best as possible. Just because a story sounds good in a certain way doesn't make it our right to bend the truth towards that way. Of course there are those that feel that the truth is whatever they assume. There is nothing more I can say if that happens.

For me, I will probably not blog about anything controversial or political anytime soon. Blogging is an escape for me, besides, there are already so many blogs that dwell on weighty issues, I might as well let them do what's best.

(If this post looks rather out of place, it's been a slow blogging day, and I want to get some issues out of the way.