Highbrow, lowbrow and browbeaten

The Blog Gestapo is menacing a certain junior college in Singapore at the moment. Singapore's last refuge for freedom of speech is being threatened by nameless, insignificant tin-gods. And now, they have reduced me to sounding like a hysterical newspaper writer (I just had to make that dig).

The thing that amazes me is the fact that these people even bother. Displaying an amazing amount of narcisscism, they have actually 1. searched for their names or any references to their selves, 2. bothered to track the writers and 3. taken action. Three words: Get a life!

It is quite interesting to observe the nature of blogging from these incidents. What sphere does blogging inhabit? Private (as blogs are usually for friends), public (after all everyone with Internet access can read it) or somewhere in between? Can there, arguably, be 'defamation' when one is only recounting experiences or expressing hatred?

Not exactly apropos Blog Gestapo:
I have read a range of blogs, either friends' or sisters' friends', and am somewhat amused by some attempts to be highbrow...I call it pretentious. Especially the one which tries to analyze a complicated issue such as the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Long live Darth Brutus! (Sorry, an in-joke shared between sisters. I would rather not mention the unfortunate writer I am poking fun at.)

Well, some do succeed and I salute the wonderful writers. But for the most part, the ones I really enjoy reading are the simple lowbrow, news-y sort. If I want analyses for the masses, I would read a newspaper. Or Darth Brutus. Ha.