As a lesbian or a Christian or whatever, I've always believed that the only way to change someone's views, stereotpyes and perceptions of lesbians or Christians is if they get to know me and I don't exactly fit those views, stereotypes and perceptions. It has to be on an individual basis. Same for me, if I don't know any people who are pretty different from me, then I can depersonalize those types of people and see them as - well - them. And we all know what "we" can do to "them".

Blogs have the ability to bring a lot of "we" into conversations with a lot of "them". That's the value of reading someone write about a lot of topics over a period of time, I'm more likely to find something we have in common, which makes them a little less "them".