For a long time, I struggled with the idea of starting a blog.
After an aborted attempt to write a blog that was purely political, I realized where I was going wrong. The blog was very limited and lacked appeal. Half the posts I wrote were interesting because I was invested in what I was writing, but the rest were written to fill an emotional quota and suppress the feelings of non-commitment that I had towards the blog. I had drawn invisible boundaries that prevented me from feeling enthusiastic about everything I wrote.
I thought, "What can I do to fix this?" I was dealing with a double-edged sword because not only was I writing bad posts for the blog, but I was also neglecting to write about other, non-political (but still interesting) thoughts that I was having. Like Oedipus, I was ruining two different concepts in two different ways.
The solution turned out to be simpler and more elegant than I had imagined: deconstruct those boundaries, and write about anything. I had initially avoided this idea for the same reason that most people avoid Twitter, i.e. the concern about feeling like you were producing intellectual pornography by writing such a self-serving blog. I thought, "Surely no one will care about the mundane musings I have."
However, I eventually let go of that feeling. I came around to the opinion that having a no-boundaries blog is similar to having any kind of regular writing assignment, like a weekly column. I figured that as long as I limit myself to thoughts that are relevant and have public appeal, I won't ever be in danger of boring the masses. Time will judge how wise that thinking is.
To further mitigate possible self-obsession, I opted to include others in the process, thinking that other voices would prevent me from becoming solipsistic and disconnected from other points of view. It's easy, after a while, to think that all your opinions are right and that someone would have to be less intelligent than you to think otherwise. Therefore, I see this not as being my own brainchild, but as a collective endeavour. It fits with my thinking that many of the problems in this world could be ameliorated by forcing people to consider opposing viewpoints.
Whether it proves to be a force for good or the literary equivalent of Frankenstein's monster, this blog is now open for comment.
