Mark Twain and Blogging

In a lot of ways the invention of the blog has revitalized the way that we use language in this digital age. It is a simple, cheap and effective way to communicate to anyone with internet access. The real power of blogging though is just how free it is, and I mean free beyond the usage of inexpensive, a writer of a blog has the freedom to voice any opinion without censorship. Blogging has frequently been a source of political controversy over the expression of ideas, from governments in Asia arresting citizens for libel against their regimes to here in our own country where the Pentagon has cracked down on soldier's blogs. Less controversially, blogging has developed its own vernacular. The relative anonymity of the internet has lead to more relaxed language usage for the simple reason that no one is holding the blog writers accountable for their writing. The verbiage used on the internet is a stripped-down version of the previous formal standards. For example, I am about to transition to a different thought in the next sentence, but I don't plan on indenting; partly because I feel like I set a precedent by not indenting in my last post and partly because it doesn't really matter because it isn't going to stop anyone who would have normally read this from reading it. If he were around today I think that Mark Twain would embrace this newfound simplicity based solely on his view in the letter he wrote to D.W. Bowser in which he said: "I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English–it is the modern way and the best way." It truly has become the modern way, there is very little emphasis on flashy words or engaging sentence structure. In blogging, creative words have given way to a creative use of the blogging medium itself. The best way to communicate creativity is to tweak the html code to format it differently or use pictures to say better than words what you mean. After all, many bloggers don't revise their posts before posting to make them better, as a classmate of mine astutely texted me: "I'm kind of just ranting about the topic. I feel like thats all blogs are anyway" (like Derrida says, everything is a text) And that is quite true, and also where we deviate from Twain's ideas. He says "We write frankly and fearlessly but then we “modify” before we print." Blogging has taken the form of frank and fearless writing, just without the modification, without censorship, just as it has been since its creation. Is this where the future of our language is headed? Toward unabashed opine? Yes, deal with it.

http://www.eternalnyc.com/boomchik/Night-By-Night-Skream-Remix.mp3