It seems these days that every mainstream media outlet (including the good guys) is blogging away. While you might expect this to bring respect to the - dare I type it - blogosphere, you'd be wrong. Seems like traditional journalists are pumping out blog posts because the informality of it can save editor time (i.e. good excuse to hire fewer editors). These inane posts are still shackled by corporate censorship and that is not why the world got interested in blogs to begin with.
In light of the global focus on food this year, I'm posting my response to a vapid entry on the Guardian's food blog:
So how badly have individual blogs been hurt by the mainstream? Sound off in the comment, why not.
I'm continually shocked by our need to excuse the habits of conscientious eaters. Yes wartime rationing did affect eating habits, I'll admit. But avoiding waste without being forced to is a virtue.
The 'appeal' of drinking water used to cook veggies is that you are not throwing away delicious micronutrients. With your improved diet, you might even be able to cut back on fortified starches and meat. Sipping broth is a moral decision, a health decision, a personal finance decision, and perhaps a sign of sophisticated taste buds.
Readers who dare introspect momentarily on their eating habits should give the Guardian's George Monbiot's recent column a read.
My 'quirk', developed over many years in low income countries, is filling my bowl with traditional dishes and finishing every last bite. I'm also a gravy mopper - give me bread and a dirty dish and I'll show you a healthy snack.
Don't call me quirky. Call me smart.
1 comment:
Hi there, I'm the author of the Quirks at Table post that you're referencing.
Just wanted to point out a few things, including that I was a blogger well before getting involved with the Guardian/Observer, and continue to blog independently.
As far as being shackled by corporate censorship, well, all I can say is that the only question raised with me was about the use of the word 'fucking'.
By no means am I chained to a desk churning out blogs for corporate media - I don't blog that often for the Guardian, just when there's a topic that interests me. I know you referred to my topic as 'vapid' and 'inane', but it's completely out of proportion to take posts on a blog about food, dining, cooking etc. and measure their worth against coverage of wider geopolitical issues affecting the world (which I think you'll find are covered by the Guardian elsewhere). If you aim that sort of criticism at me you should be aiming it at every other topic-based blog out there, really. We can't all be blogging exclusively about the worries of the world.
Like you, I have my doubts about corporate media appropriating blogging - as I said, I'm a blogger in my own right. Same goes for podcasting. I equate blogging and podcasting with ham radio: you'd be pissed off if taxi companies started crowding the amateur spectrum. It does seem that it's the enthusiasts who push the boundaries and then the corporates come in and take the spoils. Has mainstream media blogging hurt individual blogging? Personally I think Facebook has probably done more harm.
I regard my Guardian blog posts as individual, because I do them whenever I like, and I come back and answer people's comments, rather than just high-handedly lobbing out a column and never returning to face the music.
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