The Evolution of Blogs

            A blog is a mediated tool and not just a reflection of a person. Majority of viewers see that blogs are “online diaries where people share their opinions, ramblings and personal events” (“What”), but they do not even think about the intended meaning or purpose of a person, who writes a blog. According to Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache, staff writers in the website, CNET News,  “In December 1997, [Jorn Barger] created RobotWisdom.com-[the first blog in history]- to feature entirely bloggy collections of links to articles about politics, culture, books and technology that he found interesting.” Since 1997, the original purpose of a blog, which is to share something interesting with others, has been evolved by bloggers and internet users. Lance Strate, the author of the article “Studying Media As Media,” quotes “McLuhan’s (1964) famous maxim, ‘the medium is the message’” (130). A blog can become a powerful mediated tool to deliver messages to people. Some bloggers post their messages to guide viewers and the society to their desirable ways. Without knowing the intentions of bloggers, viewers can possibly be influenced by his/her thoughts and beliefs through reading their blogs. This paper presents the evolution of blogs’ roles and function in the media. -thesis

            As I researched blogs in terms of their function and roles in the media, I have found that the messages on a blog can become more influential to people than the messages through other mediated routes, such as websites and public speech, for two main reasons. 1. Blogs let viewers leave their comments about the contents on its page at their leisure, while websites and speeches do not. 2. Common understanding of a blog as a “diary” makes viewers feel privileged to read the blogger’s personal reflections and feel close to the blogger.  

            People feel more involved when they have a chance to post their comments of what they have read. The website, Daily Blog Tips, explains, “A blog is basically a type of website, like a forum or a social bookmarking site” (“What”).While websites do not let viewers leave their comments or observations of their articles, blogs let “readers have the possibility to leave comments” (“What”). Because viewers know that they can submit their thoughts and impressions about the messages on blogs in comments’ sections, they become more serious about reading the blogs’ contents to leave elaborate and immersed comments, which impress bloggers. As a result, viewers become obsessed with reading blogs and affected and influenced by the messages.       

            According to the website, Daily Blog Tips, many people tend to “think that blogs are online diaries where [they] share their opinions, ramblings and personal events” (“What”). Because most people see a blog as a personal diary, some people are more interested in reading a blogger’s reflections of his/her experience than reading public articles in a website.

Arita Yoshifu, a politician and famous journalist in Japan, is a blogger, who has evolved the functions of a blog and uses it as a mediated tool to brainwash people into believing what he says on his blog. The slogan of the National Rifle Association is, “‘Guns don’t kill people, people do.’” Arita is a good example of the meaning behind this quote; in other words, blogs don’t influence people, but he does.

A blog was originally created for people “to contact with each other in relationships where they can learn, share ideas, make friends with and even do business with people with similar interests from around the world” (Rowse). For example, a blog is a space into where they can post information or experiences about themselves that they think might be interesting to others. This space is meant to be a web coffee shop, where people communicate with their friends through sharing their personal experiences and exchanging each other’s thoughts and ideas.

However, Arita has evolved the original purposes of a blog: His purpose of blogging is not to make friends and interact with friends but to attack a certain group, the UC. Arita writes, “We, Japanese Society, have to fight against cults, Aum Shinrikyo and the Unification Church.” If viewers read the sentence without knowing what he really means, the viewers would misunderstand the statement as if Arita is trying to save the society from the cults; however, his ultimate goal of saying this is to attack the UC by categorizing them with Aum Shinrikyo, a known terrorist organization.  Instead of networking and sharing his personal experiences with others, he manipulates the blog to attack the UC.

            Arita manipulates the blog to make people believe what he says. Arita uses his position as a politician and well-known figure in the media to emphasize that “we, Japanese society” must unite and defend ourselves against cults, as if saying that he is a representation of the entire Japanese population. Assuming that people think he is an honest, trustworthy man, he can write negative things about UC that includes false information with no worry for persecution. Not like websites, which require proof about whatever authors write, a blog has no restrictions or rules. Bloggers, therefore, can make their blogs “whatever [they] want it to be” (“What’s”). Arita uses the blogger’s privilege and writes whatever he wants to mention with no need to worry about being oppressed by the government and society. Another technique Arita uses to coerce people into believing what he says on his blog is that to post readers’ supportive comments of the posts.

            A blog can be a powerful tool to change people’s thoughts. Blogging is more effective way to influence people than speaking in public because the blog is something that a viewer can read whenever or wherever they want to without any interruption. Listening to someone and speaking in front of a crowd cannot easily inspire and influence audience unless he/she is a great speaker like Martin Luther King Jr. or Benjamin Franklin. But people feel personally connected to authors of blogs when they read the blogs in their own room without any interruption of others.

            Arita manipulates the “personal diary,” where people listen to him as a “friend,” invades into their hearts, and brainwashes them into believing that he is the messenger from heaven to save the world. Christine OKelly in the website, Self Made Chick, suggests to “stay true to yourself because you need to be your own biggest fan before anyone else can be.” The sentence tells Arita to stop lying about the UC and be true self. If Arita is his own biggest fan after writing all the false contents on his blog, he is the true evil.