"The deranging influence of blogs"

"About the deranging influence of blogs [novelist Nicholas] Baker makes a sterling point."-Leon Wieseltier, NYT book review.

Are blogs a "deranging" influence? Is it just the blog readers, like the character in Baker's novel that Wieseltier refers to, who are deranged, or are the bloggers themselves, the people producing the drivel that causes others to be deranged, also a bit off? I already know what my friends without a foot in the blogosphere think--a definitive "yes" to both--but are those with one or both feet in this world self-aware enough to realize that Wieseltier is onto something?

Being deranged, at least in the case of blogs, isn't necessarily a bad thing. (I wouldn't be surprised if Wieseltier would agree, as well he should, given that he's the literary editor of a publication that not only has multiple blogs but also employs blogger extraordinaire Will Baude.) Having a drive to put one's passions into writing doesn't necessarily produce good writing, but blogging is probably a nuttily wholesome activity. On the scale of eating whole grains to creating world peace, I'd say blogging falls between the two, albeit a whole lot closer to the former.

(The rest of Wieseltier's review, by the way, is good, provocative stuff--check it out.)