Does it surprise me that he has some valid points? Not really, he is bound to. But if the larger premise upon which he is basing his criticism is wrong, doesn’t that sort of tarnish all the areas in which he may have gotten something right?

To say that blogging, the internet, etc. is hurting the arts is ludicrous to say the least. I have discovered so many talented, creative, outstanding artists solely because of the internet and I champion their work any time I get the chance. It is even more crazy to champion the idea that the amount of time spent reading blogs is cutting down on the amount of time one spends reading…as if there is a 1:1 correlation between the two. I might spend my non blog time working, playing computer games, taking a walk with my dog, staring at mindless television, sleeping, etc…all activities with varying degrees of value. The fact of the matter is that since I started blogging 3 years ago my book purchasing has gone up several hundred percent over what it was before blogging…and that is all about my time spent on the internet and the many books I read about and want to buy because of the internet. My reading output has tripled during the years I have blogged. And I am just one example of many. The internet not only spawns interests in literature because everyone is talking about the books they are reading, but it also spurns people on to spend more time reading simply because of the peer pressure to keep up with those in your circle of blog friends.

I have also purchased more artists’ work in my years blogging and being on the internet than in all the years combined before I started blogging.

I consider myself a reasonable, marginally intelligent, gentle soul but reading stuff like what Keen has to say (and I admit that I am basing this solely on blurbs about his work, some from the man himself) makes me want to act like a monkey with a typewriter and beat his ass with it. I cannot believe people get paid money to spout off their superior dogma like that. Praise be to free enterprise!

By the way, I think it would be safe to bet that over 90% of his book’s sales will be attributed to the internet and blogging, etc. Otherwise relatively few people would ever hear about what he has to say. Sort of ironic, isn’t it?

But then I started and found that it was good exercise. I always promise myself that I’ll stop when I struggle to find something to say. At my peak, I was posting three or four entries per day on about three different blogs - but that was when I was in a boring office job.

Since a career change, I’ve spend less time on my computer and post only three or four times per week, but I’m still enjoying it. I don’t care how many people read it, really - and I’ve actually deleted posts that were getting too much search traffic!

I’m 45 and, like you, I don’t know anyone (personally) my own age who blogs or reads blogs. It’s a strange thing: millions of bloggers, but you don’t tend to meet many in the flesh.