Asks Ted Ernst in a comment he posted on my entry Need to Convince a Blog Sketpic. In that entry I write that I want to convince a blog skeptic into a fan through convincing articles and worthwhile blogs. But Ted writes:
Why feel the need to be the blog missionary? Yes, clearly blogs have become a very important communications tool for many people, and beyond that, have helped people connect with one another in a new way. Great! So do it. Why the need to convince?
Because as I think about what blogging can and should be versus what it is today, I think that the more people who read blogs and blog themselves the more powerful it will become. The majority of my readers are bloggers themselves. Hence, the more people who start blogging the larger the potential audience is for me. And the larger the audience, the more feedback I get, more ideas germinate, the more transparent and accountable I become, and the more connections I build. Of course that’s from a “me me me” standpoint. The blogesphere as a whole will only improve, the technology will only get better, when more brains are thinking about it. Blogging will become what it can and should be if every blogger embraces an evangelical mindset and doesn’t let uninformed skeptics go unchecked.
I have the same reaction to evangelism when it’s from bloggers as I do when it’s from atheists or so-called free-thinkers. In my opinion, it’s way more efficient use of time to just do the work to make the world a better place in your own way, however it seems best to you, and let the skeptics figure it out on their own (or not!).
When we believe that people other than ourselves can think for themselves, that’s when both we and they attain true freedom.