It has been interesting of late to see the response to JU's "shock bloggers". While this is yet another post on a subject that's been heavily addressed, I'd like to add my perspective.
First, I find that, in principle, shock bloggers borrow heavily from shock jock tactics, only instead of an auditory medium, they use visual. The idea is simply, say the most annoying thing you can think of, stand back and watch the flames, and realize that all the negative attention is good publicity. Shock jocks or shock bloggers are just another tawdry form of pop art; it is the way our teens have chosen to rebel because, in this age of permissiveness, we've left them few areas where they can really make a definitive identity statement for their generation. It is performance art at its lowest, and frankly, I'd rather watch a mime.
I wonder if Springer's got a blogsite yet...
signing off,
Gideon MacLeish