Yesterday, Adam Kirsch in The New York Sun wrote

“In fact, despite what the bloggers themselves believe, the future of literary culture does not lie with blogs — or at least, it shouldn’t. The blog form, that miscellany of observations, opinions, and links, is not well-suited to writing about literature, and it is no coincidence that there is no literary blogger with the audience and influence of the top political bloggers.”

I, personally, find that view shortsighted. In a world that is continually moving toward a leadership society, blogs are the conduit of mass creativity. What better way to discuss the literary merits of a book than to open up the conversation via a blog to the masses? Blogs are the new coffee shops, and the quicker people realize that they don’t need a suit or an ivory tower professor telling them what is good and bad the better.

When people come to their own conclusions about what is meritable (either by their own thinking or through lively debate with others), then in my opinion, the world will be a better place. Yes, we still live in a world of sheepeople, but more and more I’m seeing people stray from the herd, and that makes me happy.