Thursday, December 22, 2005

The "We" Blogs

There's this new breed of blogs that's cropping up all over the place. I call them the "We" blogs. These blogs are run by (supposedly) more than one person, group blogs colloquially speaking. Most of these blogs purportedly specialize in political analysis, some of them even excelling in the clarity of their viewpoint and it's verbal dissemination.

However, the most distinct characteristic of these blogs is that the individual bloggers who post on such blogs never use "I" in the first person. It's always "We". For instance, a blogger belonging to one such blog might say, "We, at pompous-assmunches.blogspot.com, have asked Iraq to do a great deal in a short time." Or, for example, "We have never lost sight of the fact that we at this blog are more than one person. Really, we swear and attest to that. WE."

What's with this "We"? No really, does this "We" mean that every blogger posting on that blog is guaranteed to agree with the opinions of every other blogger posting on that same blog? Do these bloggers meet every night to be on the same page with respect to each other's positions on everything and iron out any discrepencies just so that they can continue to use "We" in every blog post without possessing opinions that contradict those of their fellow bloggers? Or how about if a member blogger disagrees publicly in the comments section of his fellow blogger's post. Does he get a "We" ultimatum to stop using "We" until such a time as his opinions reconform with those of the other blog members?

The truth is that using "We" in a blog post appears to impart to the blog a false sense of authority. Mentally, if the blog reader thinks there's more than one person supporting the idea being expounded by the blogger, he is more likely to be swayed by it. But how presumptious is it for a blogger to force his opinions on every other blogger posting on the group blog? If that were true, why even have multiple bloggers? Just get rid of 'em all except one, who could be used to fill up your comments page just so that the blog appears to have an audience. But you may still use "We". To denote respectability that is, instead of plurality.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting observation.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I never knew that number of audience are judged by number of comments.

There are blogs which have graphic details of sex life, how to use condoms and tampons and as obvious they get maximum number of comments, so are these blogs successful ?

Stop being judgemental, atleast those blogs have something worthwhile.

gawker said...

Dear Green

We feel that condom-tampon instruction blogs can be quite successful. Moreover, we do not feel we are being judgemental about "We" Blogs. In fact, right at the beginning of the post, we praised the contents of such blogs. We are merely mocking their use of "we" in every sentence.

Regards,
We

Anonymous said...

Good for you, those 'condom-tampon, blogs are to pander to taste of you all.

I forgot that 'masses' have pretty common and cheap taste.

keep going..

Anonymous said...

Mr. Green I suggest you stop for a moment and read the post again. Its not about the content or the quality of the content. It is about the wording. The use of "We" implies us, the readers, to forcefully agree with whatever the blogger writes.
Unless you are entangled in your condoms and tampons and taking cheap shots at the "masses"

greatbong said...

The royal pronoun is "we". Need "we" say more.

m. said...

LOL...a sharp observation, that.

"we" are guiltily wondering whether "we" have been doing that. i know i use that word a lot in the societal sense - i mean in that context its absolutely rrrbit-pompous-froggish to say "you".

dyou think there may be a loophole in that for geminis? :D