On blogs, pre-existing narratives, and "packaged" events

Can this blog work? From a college classmate, David B. Black, whom I know (I think) only via our email listserv:

> I'll add my voice of support to the others I'm sure you're getting.

> The pattern is large numbers of people who are obsessed with a
> particular meme, and they come to every event that looks like it fits,
> and apply their pre-existing narratives. The result is no learning,
> reinforcement, and fueling of passion and division. This pattern
> applies to pretty much every element of political spectrum. Smart
> groups are getting "wise" to this, and starting to stage or package
> events to serve as focal points for this kind of passion -- the
> Mohammed cartoons are an example, transparent because they elicted no
> passion on original publication, only when packaged and sold.
>
> People who look at events dispassionately, and bring up all relevant
> points of view, including ones that lean against their preference are
> rare.

And on the Meta Question

From John Farago, an undergraduate classmate, now teaching law:

i admire your willingness to blog, and share the implicit frustrations with the medium you express there ...i pretty much have avoided starting a blog because i find those frustrations overwhelming and unacceptable, and i'd suggest you may want to reflect a bit over time on whether that medium really works for what you are trying to do...at present i think it's a bit of a poor fit, but i have no idea whether to suggest adjusting your goals (to ones that better fit a blog's disturbingly rigid interactions with the dimensions of time and space) or adjusting the medium (to one that better suits your epistolary voice) or adjusting your friends (to avoid people like me who carp [OR CRAP?] without invitation on the meta-question of Whether This Was a Good Idea...)