You’re at a generic Irish pub, wondering how the hell they don’t have Killian’s on tap, when you run into someone hot and interesting.  You strike up a conversation and quickly realize that all she can talk about is female genital mutilation.

Naturally you’re against it, she takes this to mean you’re actually interested in it, and for the next five minutes you are subjected to more details than you ever wanted to know about knives carving up the female body.  Why does she think she can go on and on about this when everyone else is chillin’?

Because she goes on and on about this in her blog, which her friends tell her is insightful and inspiring.  Genital mutilation is evil and should be stopped.  But its Friday, I want fun, and the pub has a special house cheddar cheese they make with Guinness.

Every now and again I wonder about the effect of blogging on our generation. Here we are, a whole slew of people who think the world actually cares about what we think.  Self-expression nets a higher value than self-awareness.  We fill up cyberspace with our two cents, but do those militant bloggers—you know, the ones who spew out world-ready observations in 20 minutes—ever ask themselves what their words are actually worth?

There’s nothing more pretentious than a twenty-something who thinks they’re something.  Is it really a good idea to solidify your viewpoints at such a young age? Expressing yourself is healthy only if you’re willing to evolve with the new experiences and facts coming your way.

I’ve always been a quality over quantity type of person.  I don’t just want to get my words out there.  I want to actually say something worth the time it takes to read it.  I went to a journalism seminar a few weeks ago, and they encouraged us to blog like crazy about things we know.  The truth is, the more you know, the more you realize you know nothing.  But here I am, taking their advice and spurning my own.

There are two types of authors who are interesting to read: people who actually know what they’re talking about, and people who write hilarious crap for the fun of it.  I hope to be a little of both.