Seeking out the like-minded

“Many blogs quickly gel into micro-ecosystems that feed in on themselves, and start to amplify extreme bias if not outright hatred,” said Dr John Seely Brown, one of the leading contemporary thinkers on the influence of technology on modern life, in a recent interview with the Today newspaper in Singapore.

Now that is an interesting observation... It happens because blogs by their very nature and direction tend to draw the like-minded. You subscribe to a blog because you can identify with the writer’s way of thinking and his arguments dovetail with that of your own. In the same way as smokers seek each other out and tend to congregate because of a shared passion, bloggers too tend to group in a shared private corner online. It would be rare for a blogger to subscribe to sites that oppose their fundamental philosophy and interests. Simply put, no one wants to be told that they are wrong in their thinking.

Describing Singapore as being moderately relaxed about bloggers, Dr Seely identified a “spectrum of radicality” among those here, with many blogs that are openly critical.

To say that many blogs are openly critical may be a bit much in the way of sweeping generalisation. There exist, certainly, a fair and perhaps growing number of bloggers who see a need to be radical in their thinking, their views and their blogs simply to set themselves apart from the masses, to be the lone voice of dissent amidst the sea conformity. How true this really rings is anyone's guess. I would suspect that a fair number are out for the hits - the reads, the pat-on-the-back comments for their refreshing and enlightening views. Being different always draws attention and isn't that one of the reasons why some people choose to blog in the first place?

If one does take a detached view of the situation, it quickly becomes apparent that something is missing here. We read to widen our minds, to learn of different opinions, to critically evaluate our own thinking and test if it stands up to public scrutiny.

The "hate blogs" will always be there. They reflect at best, a one-dimensional view-point. In the worst case, gathering the like-minded and shutting out opposing views with valid merits, tends to reinforce perverse, radical and isolationist perceptions and when rational thinking and evaluation is throw out the window, that when things start to get dicey.

If we consciously or otherwise seek out only opinions which reinforce our own mantra, we would certainly be losing out on the great opportunities provided by the Net and the inter-connected spectrum of human interaction available online.

Reading beyond our "comfort zone" give us all fodder for enriching our minds providing thought junctions to stop and reflect - a move which is always uplifting for the mind and soul.