A Not-So-Radical Proposal

Last week I added a small plea to my sidebar asking folks to consider swapping links and encouraging folks to create a dialogue cross politically and cross socially and so on. If you are like me, although you appreciate services such as “blog clicker” or “blog explosion,” you are a bit frustrated that all you seem to get from these services are massive amounts of click-through traffic. Sometimes, but rarely, someone will actually stop and read. For example, Bonnie, a new Blogger face for me, from Creating Peace stopped by yesterday and left a comment. But mostly, the status-quo is click-through traffic. I want to suggest that we bloggers do not write in a vacuum. In fact, unlike many other writing art forms, blogging is more like improvisation in theatre. It needs and thrives off of interaction. Because blogging is an interactive forum, we, as bloggers, must become interactive ourselves. This means not clicking-through, but taking the time to read and comment on other blogs. Furthermore, many of us are looking to create dialogue and understanding about the different ways we view the world. If there is no interaction, there is no dialogue. I am actively seeking to expand the net of blogs that I visit and link to including those who don’t necessarily hold the same political views that I hold. I am willing to swap links with anyone whose blog is not, and here I agree with the Reverend Billy Bob Gisher who started this effort, pornographic in nature. Like you, I am a very busy person; but I am dedicating at least an hour a day to reading and posting comments on other blogs myself. What do you say? Wanna link up? Rebecca