I'm now going to write something about Hunter S. Thompson and then try and tie it into the subject of blogs. Watch me fail miserably.

I'd be remiss if I didn't say something about Hunter S. Thompson of Fear and Loathing fame. Because Thompson, really, was a blogger. Of course, that term had thankfully not been invented at the time he wrote his most famous works, and, of course, his stories would not of had the same emotional impact had he been posting them from the road using his Blackberry. But he did what a lot of bloggers try and do today. Of course, he did it far more effectively.

His stories, like many bloggers, contained paragraph after paragraph of descriptive blather ("Outside my new front door the street is full of leaves. My lawn slopes down to the sidewalk; the grass is still green, but the life is going out of it. Red berries wither on the tree besides my white colonial stoop..."). His stories, like many bloggers, were written under the influence of narcotics. And, of course, many of his stories, like bloggers, didn't have much of a point.

But here's the difference: Hunter S. Thompson knew what he was doing. His writing was filled with facts -- of course there were opinions too, but mostly facts -- real, down-to-earth information that was either heavily researched or experienced first-hand.

Bloggers, on the other hand, do none of these things. If something is presented as fact on blogs, it's because another blog mentioned it, and if another blog mentioned it then maybe they researched it first. And so on. Bloggers for the most part do not go and experience the world, instead relying on the experiences of real reporters.

I wonder if Thompson ever said anything on the subject of blogs. No doubt he would of found them a fantastic waste of time.

"I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours."