I love my blogrolling application for simplifying access to the blogs that I tend to read more frequently. If a blog appears on my blogroll, there is a good chance that the blogger has something interesting to say...when I decide that the content is no longer interesting (to me), I do a little housekeeping and remove blogs from my list. It is that simple.
Recently, I noticed that some bloggers are being judged (condemned) for having links to other blogs that contain hate messages, racial slurs, and material not necessarily suited for public audiences (whoever it is that makes that decision is a little beyond me...I generally trust my conscience on such matters, not someone else's conscience). I do find "guilt by linkages" to be a disturbing phenomena.
When I started out in this experiment, my blogroll was pretty much a birds-of-a-feather list...recognizing only a small minority of dissenting voices. Over the last year, I have included blogs written by what I would classify as ultra-conservatives, ultra-liberals, gays, wonks, members of non-Christian groups, the elderly (80+) and the young (anyone under 20). Personally, none of those classifications fit me, N.O.N.E. But I want to hear what they have to say...and I tend to comment (agree or disagree) more frequently to those on my list.
To some, evidently, a blogroll represents an endorsement, and I understand that may be the case particularly among the political party pundits. But to others, myself included, I consider my blogroll to be more of a community of conversations. I do not ask that you agree with my choices...but I do ask that you judge me by what I write instead of what I might read...Please do not judge me by the people whom I engage in conversations. Conversation does not (always) result in some sort of ideology contagion or conversion...the lack of conversation on the other hand results in ignorance and polarization.