Blog At Your Own Risk?

Donald Sensing over at One Hand Clapping is commenting on a NYT article about the perils of blogging.

Now I'll admit that there is a certain cheap thrill to getting a link from another blogger and this could be perilous to friendships if they are shallow (or the blogger is).

But bloggers, like everyone else, need to realize that there is a certain level of responsibility that has to be maintained. A blog can be personal, but you have to be ready for the consequences if you spread stories that shouldn't have been spread. A blog is no excuse for ignoring basic human decency.

I have to agree completely with Mr. Sensing on this point:

This is probably the most superficial look at blogging I have ever seen. We are informed, mostly through implication and insinuation, that bloggers can't be trusted because we don't have editors........

Actually, I can't be trusted because I just make this stuff up as I go along.

So we can't trust bloggers because we don't have editors. We can't trust the NY Times because they do have editors - that don't do their job. So who can we trust?

What ever happened to independent thought? Neal Boortz puts it pretty well: "Don't believe anything you read or hear unless it is consistent with what you already know to true or you have taken the time to research it." (I might be off a little, but it gives you the idea.) If you don't want to be an intellectual lemming, a little effort is required.

Trust yourself. To trust anyone else without verification is to abdicate your responsibility.

Besides, how could you ever trust a bunch of ego-trippers like the blogosphere? Our only goal in life is to get blogrolled by Glenn Reynolds. It's not like we might have any personal knowledge, experience or insight that might be useful, informative or correct.

After all, we don't have editors to make us smart or honest.