“Blogging” refers to a technology, no more and no less. Like all technologies (radio, television, books, newspapers, magazines), it’s created a few public cultures. There are celebrities, villains, temporary heroes, scandals, longing and envy, sweetness, cruelty, community, unexpected starbursts of connection; there is paranoia, conspiracy theory, self-censorship, external censorship, snobbery, loathing, self-loathing, obsession, exhilaration, truth and consequences, bravery, “innundo” (as Dinah Lord would say), mini-fortunes made and lost.

Meanwhile, millions of others, using the same technology, do a staggering variety of other things, all the more freely since most of it doesn’t pay a nickel. It’s hard not to follow what’s happening on the big stage, the same way it was hard not to have an opinion about the Taylor/Fisher/Reynolds drama, especially if you were in the wings or the first few rows. Sometimes, it’s hard not to emulate it, or even want to take part. But if you’ll turn your attention to the smaller stages, you’ll find public—just less public—cultures that may be more to your taste. So don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Don’t throw out the bathwater with the baby, either.