“Instead of linking to a few articles every day, write one.” ~D. Mahoney
Ok, I’ve decided to give-it-a-go at blogging. I have no clue how much time I’ll be able to put into this, nor do I know if anyone will care to participate.
I have to admit, though, that I’ve been hesitant to start this blog because it seems I might be breaking two blogger rules: 1) No consistent theme, 2) Flammable material.
#1: No consistent theme. I don’t have one, yet. And I’m not sure it matters. My blog would probably be a mix of startups, politics, religion, family, and technology. Do you have to have a consistent theme to blog?
I’m not going to blog about GPUs here, because I participate in our company blog. I’m not really interested in doing a startup-only blog – there are a gazillion of those in the world and a half gazillion of those in Atlanta already. I’m not really interested in a technology blog – there are even more of those than there are startup blogs.
What I’d really like for this blog is described nicely in a TED Talk by Michael Sandal who says, “Democracy thrives on civil debate, but we’re shamefully out of practice.” If I can use this blog to engage with some friends about issues that matter, I will be thrilled.
#2: Flammable material. Since my interests are centered on topics that can be sensitive, several of my gray-haired mentors have cautioned against publicly talking about these things. Should I be careful?
I’ve never been one to care much about hiding my beliefs. In fact, I wish more people would talk about these kinds of things because it would make them WAY more interesting (several people with blogs in Atlanta fall in this category). But I’m probably the weird one on this subject.
An interesting dissection of the flammable material problem was posted today in the NY Times by Tom Friedman. In his article, he talks about the editor that was fired from CNN for tweeting something objectionable. He responds, “What signal are we sending young people? Trim your sails, be politically correct, don’t say anything that will get you flamed by one constituency or another. And if you ever want a job in government, national journalism or as president of Harvard, play it safe and don’t take any intellectual chances that might offend someone. In the age of Google, when everything you say is forever searchable, the future belongs to those who leave no footprints.”
So there you have it, two simple questions to start this blog: 1) Do you have to have a consistent theme to blog? and 2) Should I be careful?