I was excited to see an editorial about the ascendancy of blogging in Japan . . . until I actually read all of it ("Japan as number-one blogger," April 22). While it could have been an engaging celebration of this boom in people's media, it ended up being a lame and quite bizarre attempt to downplay the importance of blogs.
When strangely observing that blogs are "alienated" and lack "body language," did the author not pause to ponder the fact that he/she was anonymously writing in a newspaper, not standing at the water cooler? Where is the human contact in an editorial written in a self-righteous voice? You can cut the irony here with a knife.
I was disappointed the editorial writer simply parroted the old-media party line that dismisses blogs as either trivial or suspect and generally approaches the Net with contempt. What is also ironic is how this willful ignorance flew in the face of the intelligent new-media observations recently published in your 110th anniversary issue.
Stranger still was how, at one point, the author implied that bloggers eschew real change, as if all blogs were an escape. Ouch. "Get a life, geek?" The author is either oblivious or frightened of how much influence bloggers now have.
With this editorial, The Japan Times displayed how disconnected it is from reality. It should have not only celebrated evolving modes of expression and creativity, but also considered why there are so many blogs in Japan. (Actually, I can't remember reading a Japan Times editorial that celebrated anything. They always adopt the tone of a spinster schoolmarm, waving her bony finger at wayward pupils.)
I must point out that on a blog, my reaction could be posted and read immediately. In this outdated media, I must write to a faceless editor who might or might not choose to hear me.
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