Thanks, Caleb. I think you are quite right in your post about the connection between the two. I might add: academia isn’t the only field which makes totalizing claims (good phrase) on its members. In the corporate and government worlds the fear of blogging probably has more to do with the possibility of airing dirty laundry or inappropriately appearing to speak for the institution. I have friends in those lines of work who have been called onto the carpet for online comments about their work place or their industry in general that seem incredibly innocuous to me as an academic.

I’ve added a thought of my own at the end of this post. I think your two major points here are closely and causally related.