is blogging scream therapy for the masses?

I started thinking..almost always a bad sign...first about this blogging stuff...
that could be fun...
I can do that...
wonder if people would read it...
man could I get a load off my mind!!!

That last thought got me thinking some more. So much so, that at one point on an airplane a few months ago I filled a couple pages with possible "subjects" for my rants:
taxes
terrorism
religion
taxes
schools
politics
taxes
iraq
service at retail establishments
taxes
gay marriage

Besides the fixation on taxes, I basically had a list of topics butchered in any local newspaper on any given day in the U.S.A.
Topics that may be discussed at work.
(if your workplace is not so diverse as to make any topic beyond
the weather and the Redskins is too sensitive for discussion)
Topics that might be discussed outside with the neighbors.
(if you have even met them)
Topics that may prompt a letter to the editor of your paper.
(if you have the time and a stamp)
Topics that are the fodder for AM talk radio and Sunday morning TV shows
(that you don't have the time, the inclination or the patience to call in and be on hold for 26 minutes just to have the host shout over your comments or cut you off for commericial break)

I think most people have a need to have an opinion, not just express it. Why else would so many people have opinions about topics they know absolutely nothing about? When a person expresses an opinion, they want people to listen. I would go so far as to say many want to MAKE people listen. Especially those in the entertainment industry, who tend to confuse their right to free speech as a right to force everyone else to listen. Further confusion reins as they interpret others' failure to listen as censorship.

Expressing opinions vents a little steam on topics that rile you up. This day and age, you can't do that venting at work, with the neighbors, or to the media, but we do have blogs. I think blogs provide a valuable service, a sort of scream therapy for anyone with access to the internet. This makes the world, certainly McDonalds, post offices and workplaces in the U.S. a safer place.