A BLOG Book Report

Nearly two months ago I got into this business called blogging. To put it more correctly, I created my first Web Log back in the middle of January, but it really seems as though it has been much longer. I am not sure at this moment what led me to create a blog. But I can see that the process of writing every day and therefore thinking about things to write daily has generated a number of new ideas and a certain energy that I now feel about writing.

Thinking about the progress I have made with my personal projects by writing this blog has caused me to spend a lot of my time thinking about blogging and Web Logs in general. Sometimes when we focus our thoughts on a subject we become more aware of just how much that particular subject is evident in our daily life. The best example I can think of is what happens when you buy a new car. As soon as you buy the car you become aware of every other car just like yours. You observe the other people that drive your car, and you think about ways in which they are similar to or unlike you. And so, as I have been thinking more and more about blogging I have become aware of just how prevalent this phenomenon has become.

I have an inquiring mind and so it should come as no small surprise that I have spent time looking into this whole new world that I found. In this regard I consider myself like a Pilgrim that landed on Plymouth Rock. I have discovered a new world. Of course it does not matter to me that there had been “Indians” already blogging in this new world for years before I got here. For me like so many pilgrims, when I got here it was discovered and that is that. I can now only hope for fame and fortune and perhaps some day a state may be named after me. I think that “Harvana” has an interesting ring to it don’t you?

Late last night I finished reading the new book by Hugh Hewitt titled “BLOG - Understanding the Information Reformation That’s Changing Your World.” Hugh Hewitt is the host of a nationally syndicated radio show and law professor at Chapman University Law School. He is the author of the New York Times best-selling book If It’s Not Close, They Can’t Cheat. He has won three Emmy awards for his work on a PBS affiliate, and he is a blogger. You can read Hewitt’s blog at Hugh Hewitt.

I have no illusions that my mentioning of Hewitt on this page will make him any more famous than he already is. I also don’t think that he will honor my page by directing thousands of people my way, but I can dream can’t I? I mention his credentials because I think he has written a book that you must read and sometimes people will only read a book if they deem the author as important. Of course that is a whole other sad point for those of us that hope to some day move from the world of writers to the world of authors. But let’s get back to Hewitt. When I say you must read his book, exactly who am I talking about? The fact is that I am talking to everyone. If you need to get a message out, you should read BLOG. If you are the steward of a company or an institution, you should read BLOG. If you have something to sell, you should read BLOG. Finally, if you read or write blogs, then you should read BLOG. Look Hugh, four mentions in a row!

Hewitt likens the emergence of the blogosphere to the Protestant Reformation. This was for me the “Big Idea” in this book. Without going too long on this here, prior to the reformation the Roman Catholic Church held immense power and wealth in the Western world. The church controlled the very thoughts and ideas of the educated class. Additionally, the church controlled the sacred texts and limited access to those works to only the chosen few. This meant that the average citizen had no ability to challenge the established authorities. Hewitt, I think rightly, asserts that this control of information limited the freedom of the people of that time.

Since this is not intended to be a scholarly piece on the history of Western Civilization, let me fast forward. The reformation began when one man (Martin Luther) gathered his colleagues and began to challenge the teachings of the church. One such teaching was that absolution from sin could be purchased by paying for indulgences. Purchasers would be provided with letters that evidenced their absolution. Holders of these letters would produce them as evidence that they were in no further need of repentance. The time was the early 1500s and this idea did not resonate with Martin Luther. Luther responded in a fashion common to bloggers today. He got his pals together and wrote a blog. Well, he didn’t actually write a blog, but the 1517 equivalent was Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses. The process in those days was that if you wanted to talk about a matter, you posted it on the outside door of the church. Protocol of the time also required that you inform the local authority, in this case Albert, the Archbishop of Mainz. Luther’s actions are also an excellent lesson for modern bloggers. If your blog writes about the company you work for, then you might want to run your thoughts by the proper authorities before you push the “publish” button. If not, you could suffer the fate of those that opposed the church in the early 1500s, and frankly burning at the stake was not fun then and its 2005 equivalent is no fun today. .oO(I think I see the seeds of an article on blogging etiquette here).

I know that anyone still reading this is probably confused or worse lost. Please be patient with me as I press on. Luther’s Theses was written in Latin. In the 1500s Latin was the language of the educated class and so we can assume that Luther intended what he wrote to only reach a limited audience (another lesson for bloggers today is that you can’t know who is going to read what you wrote. Keep that in mind). It seems that immediately after the Theses was posted, someone copied it and translated the Theses into German which was the common language. This translation of Luther’s Theses was known all over Germany within two weeks. Within a month it was known all over Europe. A message moving this quickly in the 1500s was unheard of. The key to this whole story is that at the time of Luther’s Theses, Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press was changing the speed and cost with which information could be provided to the masses in the Western world. The combination of these two seemingly unrelated events led to vast changes within the Vatican, and ushered in an era where the church no longer controlled vital religious texts and thereby brought us Jim and Tammy Faye Baker. Well, maybe we can blame someone else for that, but I think you get the picture.

Hewitt introduces a term in his book called the “Blog Swarm.” He suggests that a blog swarm was responsible for the fall of Dan Rather after the story about the falsified documents concerning Bush’s military service. He attributes the failure of the Kerry campaign, the decline of the New York Times and CNN, and knocking Trent Lott down a peg to the persistence of bloggers. He does not mention it in his book but I will bet you the whole Terrell Owens and Desperate Housewives thing was also caused by bloggers. Of course this is the opinion of a man that is convinced that Ben Roethlisberger hurt his thumb while blogging and thus cost the Steelers their chance at one for the thumb. Hewitt says that every institution, every company, every sports team, and every leader should have a blog and pay attention to blogs that write about their organization. He believes that everyone should have an in-house blogger paid to blog and monitor blogs (man do I see consulting possibilities in this game).

Hewitt makes his point in a very convincing fashion. Of course, he is preaching to a blogger, but I still believe him. His book lists a number of popular blog sites that receive thousands of hits each day. I have listed a number of them below, not because I need to do that to make this point, but a bit of sucking up to the big guys can’t hurt. There are over four million blogs in existence today. The number of blogs is expected to double within the next year. But it’s still early in the game and not too late for you to jump in.

If you read this page and don’t have a blog, then you should get one. Just go here Blogger, or you can go here Typepad, because I believe in equal opportunity. If by some chance you are not one of the ten people that read my page and you think I am right, why not hire the guy that brought this to your attention? My email address is listed in my profile, and since I am not at all famous I will do it for you wholesale. Show this article to your boss. Show it to your Pastor. Show it to your friends, and if you may be so bold link it to your site. Hey, I have little shame after I invested the time to read the book and then write about it. If you don’t do anything else I have said, then just get a copy of the book. I didn’t buy mine and I am not telling you to buy yours either (Hugh Hewitt is doing just fine with that from his own site). I got my copy at the local library, and I will be returning it tomorrow. The entire book is only two-hundred and twenty-five pages. If you took the time to read all of this, then you can read the book over the weekend.

Now this has been a very long book report and I apologize for taking up so much of your time that you would otherwise spend surfing the web or some other such productive thing. Of course, I am getting this out so late that if this is what you are doing on Friday night, then your life is about as interesting as mine. Welcome to the club.

Interesting Blog sites for you to review

Instapundit

Infinite Monkeys Blog

Lileks