Question & Answer With Dixie Yid - Glossing Over The Negative

(Picture courtesy of clickhere.gr)

A Simple Jew asks:

We can attempt to search for the kernel of truth in everything and strive to write all our postings in a positive manner, however if we fail to acknowledge that indeed sometimes there may be something negative aren't we being intellectually and emotionally dishonest?

Dixie Yid answers:

Yes and No.

Different blogs exist for different reasons and I don't feel that I need to say everything that I think is true. I wrote about my thoughts on this to an irate commenter here. I try to filter (almost) everything that I post by asking the question, "Will writing about this topic further the reasons for which Dixie Yid exists?"

Some blogs like A Voice in the Wilderness (regarding the Slifkin issue) and Open Orthodoxy (regarding Chovevei Torah) exist(ed) for the purpose of raising awareness in opposition of something bad. While I appreciate and value those that do that, I simply don't have the time or the inclination to wage those battles. The most I do is link to those sites on my sidebar as a way of registering my support for their general perspective. But those fights are not why I started Dixie Yid.

I started Dixie Yid in order to give myself an outlet to share ideas, Torahs and stories that I think aid in my own and others' efforts at getting closer to Hashem. That one sentence pretty much summarizes why I started the blog and it also contains the bar against which I measure any particular post or paragraph within a post.

Although I do occassionaly make exceptions to this policy like when I write about something personal, something funny, or something law related, I generally do that when the topic isn't time consuming and I keep those instances circumscribed.

I generally feel that a blog should have some sort of cohesive topic or theme that unites it to its self. Some people write whatever pops into their head on any topic whatsover, but I don't think this is a good idea. I think it is better to have a specific idea of what the goal of your blog is. After all, it does consume a decent amount of time, and if one is going to invest all of that time into something, he'd better have a good reason. (Better than "just feeling like it," I suppose.)

My rebbe once said that if everyone likes you and you make everyone happy, then you're not accomplishing anything at all. Although I do get irate commenters periodically, generally Dixie Yid is a pretty calm place. So that does make me worry that perhaps if I'm really not making any waves, then I'm not accomplishing anything good either. I'm not sure how to make waves and accomplish things with staying on point with my blog's raison d'etre. Any ideas?