One of the best things about publishing your almost-innermost thoughts in a blog is that sometimes you get candid feedback about what you’ve written from people when next they happen to meet you in person. Yesterday was such a day and for the purpose of posterity I will share the highlights, such as they were, here. The main points follow, in no particular order.
It was mentioned that my demeanor in writing is very different from my demeanor in person. Judging by my blog posts, I am a strongly opinionated person with unwavering beliefs that brook absolutely no argument from anyone. I have firmly and completely made up my mind and, seemingly, anyone disagreeing can “taketh themselves unto Hades” as my grandfather used to say, but in slightly different terms. When you sit down to talk to me in person, it was observed, I’m “slippery” and “evasive” and “one never really knows what I think on a particular topic.”
Admittedly, it took me no small time to digest this feedback. I pride myself on honesty and forthrightness if for no other reason that I haven’t the time nor inclination nor memory for subterfuge. I will admit that there is a distinct difference between the outward appearance of these two aspects of my personality. In writing, I do seem more determined and opinionated but this is merely because I know what I’m going to say, I’ve chosen the topic specifically because I feel strongly about it, and there’s nobody else here to contradict me or contribute. If I seem forceful or opinionated it’s not because I am unwilling to hear other voices in the discussion but merely because there ARE no other voices. If I leave room for them in my writing for voices which will not speak then those spaces will appear only as holes. I have not mastered the rhetorical arts necessary to write only half a story.
In conversation, I will of course appear softer because I want to leave as much room as possible for the other side of the discussion. Good conversation is something I treasure above almost everything else. If I presented myself with the abruptness and directness of a blog entry then everyone else would quickly become bored. If the result of the conversation seems oleaginous or evasive, then it is only because real face-to-face interaction is not about a getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Whereas writing is a full-out sprint from starting point to finish, a good conversation is more of a dance between two people who agree on a starting point and work together to come to a conclusion. This isn’t evasiveness but instead partnership. A good conversation has two sides. At best a piece of written work can have but one.
Secondly, I was taken to task on a specific point of fact in a blog entry from 2006. In the post I talked long and vehemently about alcohol and its place in American Society. It was one blog among many but the commentator pointed out, quite correctly, that my current lifestyle was contradictory to that single post. The question was, simply, why hadn’t I corrected the post to indicate my revision of opinion on the topic? My response to that, while a weak one, was that I had no interest in being a revisionist. I cannot be responsible for every bit of fluff that I knock off half a decade ago. Looking back on the post, I still agree with the content in spirit, but don’t adhere to my own previous standards. I wish I did, but I don’t. I’m not sure what else to say except that I have addressed the topics at issue though not with the vehemence of my original proclamation. Perhaps I’m embarrassed at the failure and don’t wish to publicize it? Who can say really.
I think the larger point is that a blog isn’t about the now so much as it is a history. The value isn’t in maintaining a pristine image of where you are so much as figuring out where you’ve been. Perhaps where you’ve been isn’t so great. I’ve written plenty of things that I’ve later realized were complete shit. One need only follow the posts on religion to realize that. I put out an opinion on the topic and the world came together to beat me back and correct me over the subsequent seven years. I consider there to be no better outcome for a writer than to be proven wrong by his readers. When that happens it means not only that you all cared enough to tell me that I was full of shit but also that I was accepting and receptive of it and that YOU, my readers, my friends, my family, changed me for the better. For that, I thank you.
Lastly, one recurring topic that my commentator hit upon frequently is to ask simply, why I would bother to blog at all. Why have I, for seven years, sat down at the computer and typed out what I was thinking about? Why would I bother to invest in this endeavor? What would I possibly have to gain from it? In all honesty, the endeavor was a search for friendship. Through my years on this planet I have sought to connect and to find people with whom I could share my life. For the most part, because of my own attitudes, I’ve been unsuccessful. I’ve come across as demanding and antisocial and generally an ass because I categorically reject, sometimes forcefully and insultingly, many things that people hold most dear. That’s a pretty poor way to make friends and looking back on this blog, it’s only exacerbated the problem. While I pour out my thoughts on things I also doubtless find a way to alienate just about everyone who reads it. This is sad because in some very specific way I value every one I come in contact with in a way that I’m just terribly and ironically bad at communicating. In some ways I feel like I can communicate in a masterful and convincing way and in some ways I feel like a hopeless and wordless child who accomplishes the exact opposite of his intent.
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Monday, April 25, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Antisocial Society
One of the benefits of carrying the equivalent of a computer with me all the time in the form of an iPhone (any modern cell phone or even a scrap of paper would do here) is that I keep a long list of future blog post topics in a small document handy at all times. Any moment that the mood strikes me I write down a short and effective blurb about whatever struck a nerve with me just awaiting future attention in a posting. In this case, the only words that needed to be recorded were somewhat contradictory “Antisocial Society” and these words from a solid two weeks ago were sufficient to call forth the following random banter…
I recall with some distinctness, in a time not so long ago but much more clement than today, sitting on a bench in a public park next to some playground equipment. Amanda and Izzy were doing the usual playground thing, sitting (somewhat conspiratorially) in a secluded nook of the playground with a mysterious third party. A small girl had joined them and they seemed to be bantering playfully end joyfully enough. Personally I was glad that they found a friend or at least someone who is as close to being a friend as you can be given they’ll never see each other again. All was well until a woman with a hawkish proboscis and a severe hairstyle swooped in, said something to the girl and took her away to another part of the playground.
To be honest, I was a bit mystified. Neither of my children has any outwardly obvious signs of plague. There was no conflict between the three. They seemed to be getting along swimmingly yet for some reason beyond my ability to conceive, it seemed appropriate to the woman I shall refer to simply as ‘Hawknose’ to break up the trio. After Hawknose’s intervention, the little girl played briefly in another part of the park and then slowly gravitated back to my girls who had since moved on to some other activity. Apparently there was a brief emergency at The Hall of Justice or something for a bit because Hawknose was not to be seen in the area to break them up again until considerably later when it was time for her and her child to go elsewhere. Whatever it was that caused her to intervene before was apparently only temporary.
I couldn’t help but view this whole episode as a bit on the antisocial side but then I took a look around at the parents of these children. The children, as a group, were doing their best to mingle a bit but the parents stood around as if on their own separate islands. No two islands touching for more than an instant, a glance, a passing word. For a social animal that is supposed to thrive on interaction, we certainly seem to do a great job of isolating ourselves. It’s a pity too because most of the islands looked pretty damn bored staring at their kids and hoping that they don’t slip and break their necks on a banana peel or some bit of random trash on the ground.
I recall with some distinctness, in a time not so long ago but much more clement than today, sitting on a bench in a public park next to some playground equipment. Amanda and Izzy were doing the usual playground thing, sitting (somewhat conspiratorially) in a secluded nook of the playground with a mysterious third party. A small girl had joined them and they seemed to be bantering playfully end joyfully enough. Personally I was glad that they found a friend or at least someone who is as close to being a friend as you can be given they’ll never see each other again. All was well until a woman with a hawkish proboscis and a severe hairstyle swooped in, said something to the girl and took her away to another part of the playground.
To be honest, I was a bit mystified. Neither of my children has any outwardly obvious signs of plague. There was no conflict between the three. They seemed to be getting along swimmingly yet for some reason beyond my ability to conceive, it seemed appropriate to the woman I shall refer to simply as ‘Hawknose’ to break up the trio. After Hawknose’s intervention, the little girl played briefly in another part of the park and then slowly gravitated back to my girls who had since moved on to some other activity. Apparently there was a brief emergency at The Hall of Justice or something for a bit because Hawknose was not to be seen in the area to break them up again until considerably later when it was time for her and her child to go elsewhere. Whatever it was that caused her to intervene before was apparently only temporary.
I couldn’t help but view this whole episode as a bit on the antisocial side but then I took a look around at the parents of these children. The children, as a group, were doing their best to mingle a bit but the parents stood around as if on their own separate islands. No two islands touching for more than an instant, a glance, a passing word. For a social animal that is supposed to thrive on interaction, we certainly seem to do a great job of isolating ourselves. It’s a pity too because most of the islands looked pretty damn bored staring at their kids and hoping that they don’t slip and break their necks on a banana peel or some bit of random trash on the ground.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Schrödinger's Other Blog
Very nearly six years ago I wrote an entry about how the mere act of observing someone’s blog creates the potential for that blog and its contents to change (link). I had no end of fun comparing the world of online authorship to that of Quantum Mechanics. Now, half a decade later, one of my readers has indicated that it’s just possible that I’m white-washing my past and, in fact, my own persona, for the purposes of making a good impression on my readers. The sad fact is though, that like every writer who expects his work to be read by others, I am.
Some things have to be revised because it’s just not proper to be absolutely candid when other people are involved. There are certain people in my life that I don’t write about and that I will never write about because their stories are not mine to write. It’s all well and good for me to reveal myself as the opinionated and mildly assholish person that I am, but it’s entirely another for me to tell the world anything about the few people who currently or at one time found themselves in my innermost circle. So in that respect, yes, vast tracts of my history are missing from the chronicles of my life that this blog and my autobiography (link) represent. While some might see that as revisionist I see that as simple common courtesy. If you find yourself saddened by your absence from these pages or upset by your reduction to a single pronoun within them, then I apologize. It is not because your presence was not appreciated in my life but because I simply wish to respect your privacy and let the story of your life be written by the one who was closest to it. It is to the detriment of this blog and to the detriment of my story that you are (all) omitted, but it seems only right that it be so. If you wish to be heard, read one of the 27 entries I’ve written on the topic of “why you, yes you, should write” and write your own story.
Vast asides spoken in poorly enunciated stage whispers behind us, the other half of the comment was that I’m white-washing my own personality, preferences and desires as I portray them here. I would posit that any writing of a personal nature portrays who we want to be and how we want others to see us. Nothing I write here is untrue. I aspire to be all that I describe here. The things I write constitute my own moral compass, my standard for behavior, my sense of right and wrong. However, that is a much different thing than saying that I can adhere to my own image of absolute moral rectitude with 100% regularity. The very definition of humanity is at least in part one of admitting that we are all flawed and I am no less so than anyone else despite the somewhat egotistical bent to some of my posts. Further, since I don’t subscribe to religion of any sort, I must sieve out right and wrong in my own way and my vehicle for doing that is what you see before you. I claim no divinity or perfection even in a religion crafted carefully around my own deeply-held beliefs.
To summarize, yes, I agree that sometimes my writings do fall away from strict and absolute truth, but I think the reasons for this are both clear and necessary. On both accounts I wish it were not so. I wish that society was open and honest enough with itself that we could all share our stories openly and honestly and without reservations. That we could all sit down and read every side of every story. I wish too that I was perfect in the execution of my own belief systems, cobbled together so haphazardly from my own experiences. The former I have no remedy for. The latter I can simply say that I will persist in my attempts to do better. I value those who have the courage to come forward and tell me if I deviate from the truth in any item no matter how seemingly minor. I will take your observations to heart and do my utmost to stay on the narrow but meandering path that I have chosen for myself in life.
Some things have to be revised because it’s just not proper to be absolutely candid when other people are involved. There are certain people in my life that I don’t write about and that I will never write about because their stories are not mine to write. It’s all well and good for me to reveal myself as the opinionated and mildly assholish person that I am, but it’s entirely another for me to tell the world anything about the few people who currently or at one time found themselves in my innermost circle. So in that respect, yes, vast tracts of my history are missing from the chronicles of my life that this blog and my autobiography (link) represent. While some might see that as revisionist I see that as simple common courtesy. If you find yourself saddened by your absence from these pages or upset by your reduction to a single pronoun within them, then I apologize. It is not because your presence was not appreciated in my life but because I simply wish to respect your privacy and let the story of your life be written by the one who was closest to it. It is to the detriment of this blog and to the detriment of my story that you are (all) omitted, but it seems only right that it be so. If you wish to be heard, read one of the 27 entries I’ve written on the topic of “why you, yes you, should write” and write your own story.
Vast asides spoken in poorly enunciated stage whispers behind us, the other half of the comment was that I’m white-washing my own personality, preferences and desires as I portray them here. I would posit that any writing of a personal nature portrays who we want to be and how we want others to see us. Nothing I write here is untrue. I aspire to be all that I describe here. The things I write constitute my own moral compass, my standard for behavior, my sense of right and wrong. However, that is a much different thing than saying that I can adhere to my own image of absolute moral rectitude with 100% regularity. The very definition of humanity is at least in part one of admitting that we are all flawed and I am no less so than anyone else despite the somewhat egotistical bent to some of my posts. Further, since I don’t subscribe to religion of any sort, I must sieve out right and wrong in my own way and my vehicle for doing that is what you see before you. I claim no divinity or perfection even in a religion crafted carefully around my own deeply-held beliefs.
To summarize, yes, I agree that sometimes my writings do fall away from strict and absolute truth, but I think the reasons for this are both clear and necessary. On both accounts I wish it were not so. I wish that society was open and honest enough with itself that we could all share our stories openly and honestly and without reservations. That we could all sit down and read every side of every story. I wish too that I was perfect in the execution of my own belief systems, cobbled together so haphazardly from my own experiences. The former I have no remedy for. The latter I can simply say that I will persist in my attempts to do better. I value those who have the courage to come forward and tell me if I deviate from the truth in any item no matter how seemingly minor. I will take your observations to heart and do my utmost to stay on the narrow but meandering path that I have chosen for myself in life.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Happy 2nd Anniversary to me
For those that don't remember, flashback to one year ago today. (You know, isn't that just the greatest thing? I can negotiate a flashback to my personal thoughts from a whole year ago in this thing with a few keystrokes.)
Yes indeed, it has now been 2 solid years (and a day) since I have had regular face-to-face contact with any humans other than my family! As you might have guessed, I am now utterly and completely insane! Because, as we all know,
All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy.
All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy.
All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy.
All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy.
All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy.
All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy.
Now where'd I put that axe?
Alright, alright, very real murderous thoughts aside, let's look at this with a bit of impartiality.
OK, so as far as any personal office relationships I might have had two years ago... yeah, those are shot to hell. I go into the office and half the people don't know who I am. Apparently I carry myself off with enough aplomb that people don't call the cops at least. So if it ever comes down to "let's fire the people we know the least about" I'm as cooked as goose liver in a fancy French cafe. That said, I *am* logged into my work computer at 9 p.m on a Friday night (rather than down at the Harley Motorbike Rally with one of my honeys) waiting for a customer to email about some problem or other so they'd be mega-silly to get rid of me. *hem* Never mind that there's no space for 'personal blog' on my time sheet.
My blog is officially a piece of shit. In the old days I had an hour or more a day to let my mind wander over all sorts of random topics. Now I'm lucky to find time to actually do my job, get the random household chores done that I'm responsible for, get everyone where they're supposed go to in the morning and back home at night before it's suddenly time to go to bed again. Frankly, I'm not sure how I ever managed to do all this and commute to work as well. All that said, our house has never been tidier.
All that said, most of the mind-bending isolation has worn off utterly. I'm now completely accustomed to the fact that for the most part I go weeks only speaking to my wife, her parents and our children. In fact, I don't remember the last time I spoke to anyone else face-to-face who didn't want to either take money from me or rip teeth out of my face. Granted, I have a horrible memory but one shouldn't have to look at a CALENDAR to answer such a question. Such is the life of the modern, American misanthrope I suppose.
One thing I have done is replace the random office chatter. Now rather than listening to the inane conversation floating over cubical walls I listen to inane nationally-syndicated talk radio. The only problem with that is that it's often the same sad crap from one month to the next. One can only listen to narrow-minded conservative talking heads complain about how narrow-minded the liberal talking heads are for so long before one goes completely mad. That's when it's time for a little bit of TV-land reruns from before I was born. Talk about TV that was made to ignore.
Lastly, I seem to have reverted to a lifestyle I adopted as a child. You'll recall from the autobiography that I spent a lot of my 13-year stretch at the Sim's Street Academy for Unruly and Incorrigibly Sneaky boys reading anything I could lay my hands on. Lately I've taken to that practice more and more but haven't completed the process by documenting what new ideas came out of whatever I was reading.
When I was in the office, I would take in the office babble, assimilate it and then poop it out into blog entries. These entries constitute what my wife refers to the 'interesting' part of my blog. Whenever she tells people about this thing she always makes a very clear distinction between the 'interesting' bits and the politely termed 'other' bits. She's completely right of course; nobody gives two poops about my opinion of 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' but they might give a crap (or at least get really pissed) if I wrote in more detail about what I think the book has to say about Americans and their bigoted and self-centered attitudes. The blog's focus for far too long has been on the specific. I need to return to the practice of taking the very personal events of the day and distilling them into a more generally meaningful output that anyone can relate to.
When this transition finally happens, I think I will have officially recovered from the loss of community and 'inner quiet' that working in an actual office and driving to it each day provided.
Yes indeed, it has now been 2 solid years (and a day) since I have had regular face-to-face contact with any humans other than my family! As you might have guessed, I am now utterly and completely insane! Because, as we all know,
All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy.
All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy.
All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy.
All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy.
All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy.
All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy.
Now where'd I put that axe?
Alright, alright, very real murderous thoughts aside, let's look at this with a bit of impartiality.
OK, so as far as any personal office relationships I might have had two years ago... yeah, those are shot to hell. I go into the office and half the people don't know who I am. Apparently I carry myself off with enough aplomb that people don't call the cops at least. So if it ever comes down to "let's fire the people we know the least about" I'm as cooked as goose liver in a fancy French cafe. That said, I *am* logged into my work computer at 9 p.m on a Friday night (rather than down at the Harley Motorbike Rally with one of my honeys) waiting for a customer to email about some problem or other so they'd be mega-silly to get rid of me. *hem* Never mind that there's no space for 'personal blog' on my time sheet.
My blog is officially a piece of shit. In the old days I had an hour or more a day to let my mind wander over all sorts of random topics. Now I'm lucky to find time to actually do my job, get the random household chores done that I'm responsible for, get everyone where they're supposed go to in the morning and back home at night before it's suddenly time to go to bed again. Frankly, I'm not sure how I ever managed to do all this and commute to work as well. All that said, our house has never been tidier.
All that said, most of the mind-bending isolation has worn off utterly. I'm now completely accustomed to the fact that for the most part I go weeks only speaking to my wife, her parents and our children. In fact, I don't remember the last time I spoke to anyone else face-to-face who didn't want to either take money from me or rip teeth out of my face. Granted, I have a horrible memory but one shouldn't have to look at a CALENDAR to answer such a question. Such is the life of the modern, American misanthrope I suppose.
One thing I have done is replace the random office chatter. Now rather than listening to the inane conversation floating over cubical walls I listen to inane nationally-syndicated talk radio. The only problem with that is that it's often the same sad crap from one month to the next. One can only listen to narrow-minded conservative talking heads complain about how narrow-minded the liberal talking heads are for so long before one goes completely mad. That's when it's time for a little bit of TV-land reruns from before I was born. Talk about TV that was made to ignore.
Lastly, I seem to have reverted to a lifestyle I adopted as a child. You'll recall from the autobiography that I spent a lot of my 13-year stretch at the Sim's Street Academy for Unruly and Incorrigibly Sneaky boys reading anything I could lay my hands on. Lately I've taken to that practice more and more but haven't completed the process by documenting what new ideas came out of whatever I was reading.
When I was in the office, I would take in the office babble, assimilate it and then poop it out into blog entries. These entries constitute what my wife refers to the 'interesting' part of my blog. Whenever she tells people about this thing she always makes a very clear distinction between the 'interesting' bits and the politely termed 'other' bits. She's completely right of course; nobody gives two poops about my opinion of 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' but they might give a crap (or at least get really pissed) if I wrote in more detail about what I think the book has to say about Americans and their bigoted and self-centered attitudes. The blog's focus for far too long has been on the specific. I need to return to the practice of taking the very personal events of the day and distilling them into a more generally meaningful output that anyone can relate to.
When this transition finally happens, I think I will have officially recovered from the loss of community and 'inner quiet' that working in an actual office and driving to it each day provided.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Visiting Yesteryear - August
Someone asked me about my blog at the company meeting and I gave a sort of vague response on it as recently I've not been thinking about it much. The purpose of this blog has shifted dramatically over time but in every case the key point was to archive some things about what was going on that I've completely forgotten. To be really useful in that regard though you have to actually go back to those old posts and look at yourself as you were a year ago or five years ago or whatever. It makes me wish I had some written record of the rest of my life. At any rate...
A year ago I was having fun reveling in my first real wordworking project having just sold off my coin collection to buy tools. When I wasn't doing that though I was giddly being amused at my own silly interpretation of Genesis Chapter 8. For some reason, I now see that assessment of the Bible as somewhat stupid. The literal words of Genesis are, frankly, meaningless. The important part is how they've been used to form a whole body of belief for millions of people. I'm still not ready to join them in that but the odd traditions of thousands of years ago are meaningless to any argument of validity in the belief system itself. I guess as long as I was amused at the time it wasn't a total waste. *sigh*
Most importantly though, I was apparently assessing myself in a number of goals I'd set that June. I threw away the obnoxious habit of 'collecting' things with no practical purpose. Of the 5 goals I had at the time that's the only one that was really all that important and it seems to have left a positive mark on the subsequent year. I'm not attached to meaningless 'crap' any longer but I have had the nagging urge to learn a language again for no good reason. That, at least, is a bit of suffering that I think I can live with though.
A year ago I was having fun reveling in my first real wordworking project having just sold off my coin collection to buy tools. When I wasn't doing that though I was giddly being amused at my own silly interpretation of Genesis Chapter 8. For some reason, I now see that assessment of the Bible as somewhat stupid. The literal words of Genesis are, frankly, meaningless. The important part is how they've been used to form a whole body of belief for millions of people. I'm still not ready to join them in that but the odd traditions of thousands of years ago are meaningless to any argument of validity in the belief system itself. I guess as long as I was amused at the time it wasn't a total waste. *sigh*
Most importantly though, I was apparently assessing myself in a number of goals I'd set that June. I threw away the obnoxious habit of 'collecting' things with no practical purpose. Of the 5 goals I had at the time that's the only one that was really all that important and it seems to have left a positive mark on the subsequent year. I'm not attached to meaningless 'crap' any longer but I have had the nagging urge to learn a language again for no good reason. That, at least, is a bit of suffering that I think I can live with though.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Why Blog?
A blogger I read religiously said simply, "I'm absolutely not doing this for your satisfaction.” I think that’s true to a certain extent; we don’t blog entirely for the benefit of others but clearly our potential readership must have some role to play in motivating us. If it didn’t, why wouldn’t all these blogs merely exist as text files on our harddrives? It would be easier to maintain and certainly less likely to cause trouble in our personal and professional lives than airing all our opinions on the world-wide forum of the internet for all to see and hear.
So no, we don’t do this for anyone else’s satisfaction. We do it for our own satisfaction but a lot of that derives directly from our readership. Every single person who blogs has to admit to themselves that they WANT to be read and appreciated by someone somewhere. To a large extent, I think we blog just for that potential alone. Just for that remote and tiny chance that someone from the remotest corner of the world will notice us by absolute random chance and say, “Wow, I agree with that. You’re great.”
This is not to say that we’re all freakish attention hogs. I’ll admit shamelessly that I am. I’m sure that everyone I actually know and talk to in real life is long tired of hearing quotes and references from my blog and my endless litany of blog self-promotion. But, like many bloggers, my blog is actually more ME than I am. As a real person, I’m introverted to the point of tedium and wouldn’t be noticed in a crowd of 10,000 clones of Gary Coleman.
In my blog persona though, I’m erudite, thought provoking and will ramble on for hours about anything and everything. My outward physical persona is who I really am. My blog is who I want to be, how I want people to see me, what I would make of myself if I had a single wish or an unlimited budget on one of those personal makeover shows.
Perhaps I don’t speak for the majority of bloggers, but for me, this is an exercise in self realization. My blog exists outside me to house all my varied wants, hopes, dreams, fears and aspirations without the bounds of reality. Every time I push the ‘Publish’ button, a half dozen lonely mariners on the sea of the internet are randomly directed through my dream and quickly leave for other shores. It’s my hope though, that some few will see the jeweled crabs scuttling on the beaches and listen to the soothing waves long enough to think this a place worth coming back to. Until that time, my halcyon home will be mine alone, a respite from the hustle-bustle of cold, hard reality.
So no, we don’t do this for anyone else’s satisfaction. We do it for our own satisfaction but a lot of that derives directly from our readership. Every single person who blogs has to admit to themselves that they WANT to be read and appreciated by someone somewhere. To a large extent, I think we blog just for that potential alone. Just for that remote and tiny chance that someone from the remotest corner of the world will notice us by absolute random chance and say, “Wow, I agree with that. You’re great.”
This is not to say that we’re all freakish attention hogs. I’ll admit shamelessly that I am. I’m sure that everyone I actually know and talk to in real life is long tired of hearing quotes and references from my blog and my endless litany of blog self-promotion. But, like many bloggers, my blog is actually more ME than I am. As a real person, I’m introverted to the point of tedium and wouldn’t be noticed in a crowd of 10,000 clones of Gary Coleman.
In my blog persona though, I’m erudite, thought provoking and will ramble on for hours about anything and everything. My outward physical persona is who I really am. My blog is who I want to be, how I want people to see me, what I would make of myself if I had a single wish or an unlimited budget on one of those personal makeover shows.
Perhaps I don’t speak for the majority of bloggers, but for me, this is an exercise in self realization. My blog exists outside me to house all my varied wants, hopes, dreams, fears and aspirations without the bounds of reality. Every time I push the ‘Publish’ button, a half dozen lonely mariners on the sea of the internet are randomly directed through my dream and quickly leave for other shores. It’s my hope though, that some few will see the jeweled crabs scuttling on the beaches and listen to the soothing waves long enough to think this a place worth coming back to. Until that time, my halcyon home will be mine alone, a respite from the hustle-bustle of cold, hard reality.
Friday, December 02, 2005
Survey of the Blogsphere
In the past year or so I’ve basically used this blog as a convenient way to keep a registry of my opinions and various states of mind. My interactions with the rest of the blog world have been relatively minimal and I’ve made no attempt to really see what other people were doing on their own blogs. Well today I broke the pattern and surfed around to at least 200 different blogs. Here’s what I’ve found in my completely unscientific survey...
About 25% are in some language I don’t read fluently enough to understand. Unfortunately, these all look DAMN interesting and it’s annoying that I can’t access those wells of infinite knowledge. No doubt the answers to all my most pressing questions are contained there in indecipherable Estonian.
Yet another 30% are either incomprehensible or inane. The majority of these are comprised of entries like this:
so then I went over to Jessica’s house and we played playstation for a while and then we called up Joe and Jack was there with him and he said hi so we said hi too and Jessica and I talked about how totally geeky Jack was so then we went to get some nachos at taco bell but they were out of cheese and that sucked because I just love cheese...
These basically amount to online diaries. Clearly, these are of great interest to the author but for the rest of us it’s a complete loss. No harm no foul in my book, at least they’re taking the time to write out their thoughts which is never a bad thing.
Another 25% of these seem to be dedicated to commenting on and archiving the news. Some of these are of course a total waste of time; you can only reread the same news article so many times. It might be amusing to look back on in a dozen years, but in the here and now it’s just so much more repetition. On the flip side, some of these are genuinely interesting. I especially enjoy the viewpoint of the blogger at http://islandmonkeyworld.blogspot.com/. For some reason, the opinions of people outside the U.S. always interest me, especially when the involve the various ways in which the U.S. is screwing up abroad. The award for best artwork goes to this blogger: http://neilshakespeare.blogspot.com/. I half expect to see President Bush conducting the construction of Bruegel’s ‘Tower of Babel’ the next time I view the page. The owner of http://farkleberries.blogspot.com/ falls into this category as well and has one of the best looking blogs I’ve seen so far. All that said, there are a LOT of people in this category so I’ll officially leave it to them and keep all such content out of my blog entirely. I dare say they are much more interested in it and better informed than I am. Keep up the good work!
The remaining 20% is a mishmash...
A significant subset of them seem to be selling some specific product or advertising a business. I’ll admit that I don’t understand how blogger really serves that purpose adequately. I guess if all you want is a free website then it does what you need it to.
Some just like to provide information. For example this blog is full of somewhat random facts about Ancient Rome: http://ancientromeblog.blogspot.com/. I categorize my own ‘Rob Reads’ blogs in this category. Clearly, it’s not the best vehicle for transmitting this sort of data but it does have the advantages of being easy to do, cheap and easy to share. Not exactly the first place you’d want to cite in your PhD thesis but good for a casual read or two.
Saddest of all is the ‘dead’ blog, an idea that just never quite managed to make it past the first post. Examples abound: http://lacassosrue32.blogspot.com/ and you have to feel somewhat sorry for them. Who knows what this person would have written if they’d just managed to keep going.
Anyway, in summary, I find that my cynicism about the content of the Blogsphere was only partially justified. There’s some really good content out there but sadly it’s buried in reams and reams of worthless blabbering. Not surprisingly, the contents of blogger reflect humanity at large. Luckily it’s much easier to detach yourself from a stupid blog than it is to extract yourself from a stupid conversation.
More importantly, this excursion into all these other blogs has taught me a few cardinal rules of creating new entries:
1. Never talk about the news. There are already plenty of people doing that both on the internet and on television. People don’t need MORE news commentary.
2. If you find yourself using the name of someone you know, stop. Nobody will care about whatever you’re about to type except you.
3. Just after you finish your first blog entry containing a piece of your original poetry, immediately delete your blog and burn your computer.
4. Nobody ever reads more than the two most recent entries of your blog. Everything after that 2nd posting might as well be deleted because nobody has the patience to go any further.
5. Don’t worry about what other people might think of what you write in your blog. There’s no way they’ll ever be able to find you in real life. At least not without knowing how to use the internet... or a phone book... or directory assistance...
About 25% are in some language I don’t read fluently enough to understand. Unfortunately, these all look DAMN interesting and it’s annoying that I can’t access those wells of infinite knowledge. No doubt the answers to all my most pressing questions are contained there in indecipherable Estonian.
Yet another 30% are either incomprehensible or inane. The majority of these are comprised of entries like this:
so then I went over to Jessica’s house and we played playstation for a while and then we called up Joe and Jack was there with him and he said hi so we said hi too and Jessica and I talked about how totally geeky Jack was so then we went to get some nachos at taco bell but they were out of cheese and that sucked because I just love cheese...
These basically amount to online diaries. Clearly, these are of great interest to the author but for the rest of us it’s a complete loss. No harm no foul in my book, at least they’re taking the time to write out their thoughts which is never a bad thing.
Another 25% of these seem to be dedicated to commenting on and archiving the news. Some of these are of course a total waste of time; you can only reread the same news article so many times. It might be amusing to look back on in a dozen years, but in the here and now it’s just so much more repetition. On the flip side, some of these are genuinely interesting. I especially enjoy the viewpoint of the blogger at http://islandmonkeyworld.blogspot.com/. For some reason, the opinions of people outside the U.S. always interest me, especially when the involve the various ways in which the U.S. is screwing up abroad. The award for best artwork goes to this blogger: http://neilshakespeare.blogspot.com/. I half expect to see President Bush conducting the construction of Bruegel’s ‘Tower of Babel’ the next time I view the page. The owner of http://farkleberries.blogspot.com/ falls into this category as well and has one of the best looking blogs I’ve seen so far. All that said, there are a LOT of people in this category so I’ll officially leave it to them and keep all such content out of my blog entirely. I dare say they are much more interested in it and better informed than I am. Keep up the good work!
The remaining 20% is a mishmash...
A significant subset of them seem to be selling some specific product or advertising a business. I’ll admit that I don’t understand how blogger really serves that purpose adequately. I guess if all you want is a free website then it does what you need it to.
Some just like to provide information. For example this blog is full of somewhat random facts about Ancient Rome: http://ancientromeblog.blogspot.com/. I categorize my own ‘Rob Reads’ blogs in this category. Clearly, it’s not the best vehicle for transmitting this sort of data but it does have the advantages of being easy to do, cheap and easy to share. Not exactly the first place you’d want to cite in your PhD thesis but good for a casual read or two.
Saddest of all is the ‘dead’ blog, an idea that just never quite managed to make it past the first post. Examples abound: http://lacassosrue32.blogspot.com/ and you have to feel somewhat sorry for them. Who knows what this person would have written if they’d just managed to keep going.
Anyway, in summary, I find that my cynicism about the content of the Blogsphere was only partially justified. There’s some really good content out there but sadly it’s buried in reams and reams of worthless blabbering. Not surprisingly, the contents of blogger reflect humanity at large. Luckily it’s much easier to detach yourself from a stupid blog than it is to extract yourself from a stupid conversation.
More importantly, this excursion into all these other blogs has taught me a few cardinal rules of creating new entries:
1. Never talk about the news. There are already plenty of people doing that both on the internet and on television. People don’t need MORE news commentary.
2. If you find yourself using the name of someone you know, stop. Nobody will care about whatever you’re about to type except you.
3. Just after you finish your first blog entry containing a piece of your original poetry, immediately delete your blog and burn your computer.
4. Nobody ever reads more than the two most recent entries of your blog. Everything after that 2nd posting might as well be deleted because nobody has the patience to go any further.
5. Don’t worry about what other people might think of what you write in your blog. There’s no way they’ll ever be able to find you in real life. At least not without knowing how to use the internet... or a phone book... or directory assistance...
Sunday, April 24, 2005
On the Balance of Blogging
Today begins the new blog with a new set of principles to guide it. In my previous and sporadic ramblings, I have sought to write on various topics of presumably common interest or pose interesting problems and for the most part I’ve found these explorations of my internal psyche to be at least mildly amusing. Apparently some other people have as well. Unfortunately, while I’m busily espousing the validity of this or the insanity of that what has been lacking is the acquisition of new knowledge. I can, and have, been busily building up my own opinions into tidy little entries but during that time I haven’t really acquired any new information. There have been various positive outcomes in real life: people attempting to convert me to Christianity, some very diverting conversations and small pockets of agreement and new theories to some interesting questions. This is all well and good but at what cost does it come? While I’m variously outputting my own opinion I’ve forsaken the input that it takes to build new opinions.
The 60 to 90 minutes it takes to generate a blog entry that is probably of no interest to anyone but me could certainly be better spent in study of some sort. This is not to say that the act of creating the entries themselves is frivolous. It certainly does aid one in solidifying one’s thoughts to write it out in painstaking detail. The point is that at the end you don’t really know anything you didn’t know before. You’ve only massaged an existing belief into something which is 98% similar to what you had previously.
To the ends of building onto rather than merely rearranging my mental furniture, I begin the hybrid project to annotate a few key pieces of literature as I read them. No doubt the same sort of observations will be made as in the previous ramblings but in a context that allows me to also add to my own repertoire of knowledge while also massaging it into something more concrete as I go. Wish me luck.
The 60 to 90 minutes it takes to generate a blog entry that is probably of no interest to anyone but me could certainly be better spent in study of some sort. This is not to say that the act of creating the entries themselves is frivolous. It certainly does aid one in solidifying one’s thoughts to write it out in painstaking detail. The point is that at the end you don’t really know anything you didn’t know before. You’ve only massaged an existing belief into something which is 98% similar to what you had previously.
To the ends of building onto rather than merely rearranging my mental furniture, I begin the hybrid project to annotate a few key pieces of literature as I read them. No doubt the same sort of observations will be made as in the previous ramblings but in a context that allows me to also add to my own repertoire of knowledge while also massaging it into something more concrete as I go. Wish me luck.
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