The Swedish blogging community is still in its infancy, yes, but a made-for-blog event is looming: The September 14 referendum on joining EMU. Can the Swedish blog rise to the occasion, and in doing so carve out a space for itself in the Swedish mediasphere?

It depends. Certainly, nothing is expected of them/usI have no idea if I qualify. I think globally but cannot help but blog locally, right?
 
Two excellent geek blogs that transcend the genre: Tesugen.com and mymarkup.net [Swedish, mainly about blogging].. If we keep to our geek blogs and personal journals, there is nothing to be ashamed of. But it would be a pity to forgo an opportunity to shape the debate in ways only blogs can.

Blogs can shine in part because of what they are not. They are not academic treatises, they are not fact-checked or edited, they are not immutable; instead, they are snapshots of the process of opinions forming. They are places where we can try on ideas for size, invite feedback, and move on. It takes courage to be an exhibitionist with one’s ideas and beliefs, but Pardon my massive breach of trust in foisting this tortured cliché on you…the unexamined life is not worth blogging. Also, it helps to have visitors who are as opinionated as you are. And to have a thick skin.

There is an element of the Hegelian thesis, antithesis, synthesis in the ideal blog. But stress any one element too much and the effort fails. In the Gulf War, for example, I think blogging failed through a surfeit of opinion at the expense of dialogue. Both sides hovered at their respective ideological watering holes, mutually offended by each other’s existence (and secretly loving it). Perhaps both sides were prisoner to a Darwinian conception of their purpose: In their quest for the survival of the fittest idea, ideological front lines were shored up to such an extent there was no more movement possible. It was an intellectual WWI.

In Sweden, if blogs err, they err in their eagerness to build consensus without first clearly defining differences. Afraid of offending anybody, they do not engage in dialogue either. Regarding EMU, it might be considered polite for the two sides to argue past each other, but it certainly does not do the democratic process any favors. Blogs can and should be in people’s faces and stepping on toes, brash and candid, making noise, homing in on sloppy thinking and keeping both sides honest.

So when it comes to making up your mind for the referendum, blog it.When you post, don’t forget to ping valblog.nu/EMU, which will hopefully become a clearing house for Swedish EMU blog posts. Let your post be a thesis of your views on the matter now. Hope for an antithesis to pop up from among your comments or on readers’ own blogs, and let a future post keep something from both. Rinse & repeat until September 14.