This Just In: Mickey Mouse Selected to Replace CIA Director Petraeus

See what I did there?  Yeah, that headline--it's FALSE.

Before I get in to the big, bad and the ugly side of blogging, let me first say that I actually do think that a blog is a wonderful tool of expression for most (most being the key word here) people.  In many cases it's simply an online journal--somewhere you can put your thoughts and see if you're crazy or if others actually agree with you.  Other times its a way to voice concerns, write reviews, or just a place to vent/gloat all together.

As a communications major starting to enter the work force through internships, I have had more than one occasion where I've been asked to provide writing samples.  This blog has been one of them.  I've also been asked numerous times why I don't have a blog of my own; and the answer is simple:  I don't want you to judge me.  Well, actually, I don't really care about that so much as the fact that I can only write (truly write) about things I'm passionate about.  With that passion, I realize that others will be equally as passionate about the opposite of whatever I choose to write about.  I just don't want to spend my every waking moment defending myself to people I likely don't even know.  Trust me--I wish I could write about rainbows and lollipops and call it a day, but I can't, I won't, and you can't make me.

The problem lies not within the blog world, but with the news world.  The same news sources that we, as Americans, have come to know and trust.  But how can you trust an outlet that is so hasty to post a story that has not even the slightest of fact checking?  You can't, really, but what are your alternatives?  The instance of Gov. Haley that we read about in the article only goes to show that you (obviously) can't trust everything you read.  Stop focusing on all the problems with the bloggers (because, really, who cares what some Joe Schmoe thinks?) and start focusing on why it is okay for NEWS outlets to report these things like they are facts.

I'll step off my soapbox now, thanks.