Is blogging a useful tool? For who?

My presentation in class was based on the reading “Who do you think you are?” Race, Representation, and Cultural Rhetorics in Online Spaces by Andre Brock. We talked about how Kanye West was viewed as an outsider from the perspective of Black popular bloggers. I mentioned one of the terms which was “third place” a place where a diverse amount of bloggers can voice their opinions about certain topics that they cared for or felt very opinionated about. I also mentioned in my presentation that one blogger named Michael Bowen who had a negative connotation for hip-hop music. He considered hip-hop as a pose that tries to justify itself as revolutionary. Blogging has become a place for individuals to speak politically and personally as “outsiders”. The concept of outsiders refers to individuals who become objective and speak from a different perspective; it can be considered a form of alienation. Yes, I value that blogging is an important factor to see how people from different races contribute to their idea on what is right or wrong and how they justify it.  Blogging creates this space for individuals to think and self-reflect. Although comments can turn vulgar and irrational after certain post, it is essential to understand that it still embodies values and beliefs of people from different races.  Today we will examine how alienation can lead to marginalizing oneself.

One essential idea that I did not get to discuss as much, due to time limitation during my presentation was the concept of marginalization, which one blogger names TA- Nehesi Coates did when he wrote his blog on Reverend Lowery speech during president Obama’s inauguration (Pg. 27).  Although Coates identified himself as Black, he still considers himself as an outsider who is discovering the positive and negative connotation of Blackness with his audience. By doing this he is marginalizing himself by being different from other Black people. This is an important factor to consider because most of his audience that read and responds to his blog post are biracial, white or foreigner ethnics.  This gives us the idea that he is segregating himself from this “black community” that is formed in these online spaces. One concept that pertains to this is that “third place” before was considered a place where Black individuals were limited to Black owned barber shops and beauty salons for public discussions. 

Although public discussions are open to everyone, this concept gives us this shift from days where Blacks felt comfortable talking about Blackness in closed spaces to Blacks discussing and understanding how they themselves consider attributes that pertain to being Black. By acknowledging that there is a shift to talking about discourse in closed spaces to understanding discourse in open spaces, such as blog websites it helps better understand that self-reflection is important.  

Coates discusses reverend Lowery as a way to understand the emotional factors that contribute to his speech. By using his blogging tools he is not only being critical of his comprehension of Lowery speech, but we get to examine Coates own self-reflection of what he sees as Black as in this modern society. Coates states “It must have been embarrassing—sort of like hearing the conversation around black life being dominated by the murder rate” (p.g 27) . Coates not only highlight the discomfort of talking about Blackness but he also highlights that learning about racism in society in an ongoing progress where each individuals has to be challenged and discover the love and hatred that comes with being Black.

Yes, I would agree that blogging is a useful tool because it gives people time to self-reflect on their own ideas and concepts. Furthermore, Coates followers on his blog are from different ethnicities, which shows that people are on a constant battle to learn reflect their idea of race based on their circumstances and situations.