Why I Write Where I Write

I seem to spend a lot of time offline explaining to family members exactly why I write in the places I write. Apparently me commenting on blogs, in the comments section of random newspaper articles, and on places like Yahoo!Answers is just a waste of my time, and I should be writing more at higher ups in autism organizations, political candidates, and assorted other "influential" people. The "nobodies" on the Internet are not worth my time or somesuch.

Well, the "nobodies" are the ones going on fundraising walks, promoting quack cures, sending their kids to potentially disastrous "therapies," perpetuating dangerous ideological memes, and supporting the higher-ups. They're everywhere, and they communicate, because that's what people do. Some of the things they communicate need to be refuted.

I just read Daniel Quinn's Ishmael this past weekend. (I might write more on that later, I know it articulated a lot of things that I've wanted to have a way to say for years.) Anyway, exploring his website after I read the book, I found this quote from an essay that perfectly articulates what I'm going on about.

Where there are two with changed minds, there can be four. And where there are four, there can be eight. And where there are eight, there can be sixteen. All because of that one that started the whole thing by saying, "I've got to change these two minds."

That's why I write where I write. And I have successfully changed people's minds. I don't know if they spread on what they learn, but I figure there's always the potential. It's definitely better than some piece of writing ending up in the "recycle" folder of some authority's e-mail inbox. Not that people shouldn't contact people in positions of power (and I think that contacting the media can be very important, as newspapers, radio, and television are all major parts of informing the general public), but those of us who mostly hang around below the radar shouldn't be devalued either.