There’s little more exciting than a great thought. To capture that thought in written form somehow solidifies it…photographs it, if you will, or maybe even legitimizes it for the more insecure thinkers…it appeases our own humanitarianly narcissistic need to make ourselves known in this paradoxical world. Paradoxical it surely is as the larger it becomes, the more it shrinks- the smaller it gets, the larger it grows.
Perhaps many choose to use blogging as a window into their own lives. As the world turns faster every day, humans are left screaming at the top of their lungs in the midst of the tornado that we ourselves, ironically, create. The internet and its holdings provide a safe haven in which many feel like their voices, no matter how meek or mild, can be heard. It is a way of staying afloat in the ocean of the years that we endure on this planet. More crudely put, we all just need some attention.
I have often felt that modern society and all of its components, namely, the internet, threatens the legitimacy of, and exploits the evocation of feelings induced by art. I often ponder if one can feel the same overwhelming and sometimes unexplainable passions when their eyes are plastered to a glaring computer screen, as opposed to participating in the act of art by standing five feet from Picasso’s Guernica, or holding tangibly, Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome. I certainly couldn’t, but perhaps I am what some might call “old-fashioned.” The devil’s advocate, however, might call the internet, and the vehicle it creates for society, art in itself. The devil’s advocate may also say that without technology, art could not thrive. For example, records, followed by cassettes, proceeded by compact discs, and now Itunes, have made thousands of songs, voices, emotions, opinions and pleasures, available to those who otherwise would not be able to hear them. Thousands of museums and other cultural institutions might not be discovered if they were not readily found by the clicking fingertips that graze the keyboard.
Two hundred years ago, in order to see one’s neighbor, one might need to travel a considerable distance. If a friend or family member decided to relocate to another state, country, maybe merely another county, they might never be seen again. It is this distance, I propose, that created closeness- a strong bond of humanity that was unshaken by miles, time zones or the elements. Fond memories and letters as physical evidence of sentiment helped maintain nearness. Today, the distance factor has been breached, yet humans have become more and more detached from one another. Or do we? Is it possible to feel the same excitement when a long awaited, quill pen written letter arrives in the hands of the mailman, as when the e-mail inbox sounds “bing” (and alerts its possessor of a typed-in-a-generic-font, paragraph deficient, with a sometimes misconstrued-tone e-mail)? Maybe it’s just different. Diverse, in the same way that blogging might be compared to journal writing, or “Facebooking” might take the place of a phone call.
Who will be the Ralph Waldo Emersons, the Virginia Woolfs and the Jack Kerouacs of tomorrow? Will they be the “bloggers” of today? With the effects of the internet, such as “YouTube,” any ordinary person can become famous. In Blogland, anyone can feel empowered, as if they have made an everlasting mark in the world by somehow sharing themselves with friends, family, acquaintances, even strangers. Then again, one might say that bloggers or “YouTubers” are lazy- insufficient of pulling up their socks to accomplish what they would like on a larger scale. Or, maybe they are contently participating in society by sharing themselves through the apparatus that connects the world.
In conclusion, why blog? Blog because this world is a paradox. Why this blog (besides the fact that I am a former English Major suffering withdrawals and would like to give my friends something to do when they are bored at their desk jobs)? To open a window, to capture a thought, to participate in art… to make myself and those who read it feel a little less alone in the wilderness that is this world.
(On a side note, I have found it utterly hilarious that my spell check device does not recognize the verb “blogging” or the noun “blogger.” How ironic that even computers cannot keep up with these times.)
Perhaps many choose to use blogging as a window into their own lives. As the world turns faster every day, humans are left screaming at the top of their lungs in the midst of the tornado that we ourselves, ironically, create. The internet and its holdings provide a safe haven in which many feel like their voices, no matter how meek or mild, can be heard. It is a way of staying afloat in the ocean of the years that we endure on this planet. More crudely put, we all just need some attention.
I have often felt that modern society and all of its components, namely, the internet, threatens the legitimacy of, and exploits the evocation of feelings induced by art. I often ponder if one can feel the same overwhelming and sometimes unexplainable passions when their eyes are plastered to a glaring computer screen, as opposed to participating in the act of art by standing five feet from Picasso’s Guernica, or holding tangibly, Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome. I certainly couldn’t, but perhaps I am what some might call “old-fashioned.” The devil’s advocate, however, might call the internet, and the vehicle it creates for society, art in itself. The devil’s advocate may also say that without technology, art could not thrive. For example, records, followed by cassettes, proceeded by compact discs, and now Itunes, have made thousands of songs, voices, emotions, opinions and pleasures, available to those who otherwise would not be able to hear them. Thousands of museums and other cultural institutions might not be discovered if they were not readily found by the clicking fingertips that graze the keyboard.
Two hundred years ago, in order to see one’s neighbor, one might need to travel a considerable distance. If a friend or family member decided to relocate to another state, country, maybe merely another county, they might never be seen again. It is this distance, I propose, that created closeness- a strong bond of humanity that was unshaken by miles, time zones or the elements. Fond memories and letters as physical evidence of sentiment helped maintain nearness. Today, the distance factor has been breached, yet humans have become more and more detached from one another. Or do we? Is it possible to feel the same excitement when a long awaited, quill pen written letter arrives in the hands of the mailman, as when the e-mail inbox sounds “bing” (and alerts its possessor of a typed-in-a-generic-font, paragraph deficient, with a sometimes misconstrued-tone e-mail)? Maybe it’s just different. Diverse, in the same way that blogging might be compared to journal writing, or “Facebooking” might take the place of a phone call.
Who will be the Ralph Waldo Emersons, the Virginia Woolfs and the Jack Kerouacs of tomorrow? Will they be the “bloggers” of today? With the effects of the internet, such as “YouTube,” any ordinary person can become famous. In Blogland, anyone can feel empowered, as if they have made an everlasting mark in the world by somehow sharing themselves with friends, family, acquaintances, even strangers. Then again, one might say that bloggers or “YouTubers” are lazy- insufficient of pulling up their socks to accomplish what they would like on a larger scale. Or, maybe they are contently participating in society by sharing themselves through the apparatus that connects the world.
In conclusion, why blog? Blog because this world is a paradox. Why this blog (besides the fact that I am a former English Major suffering withdrawals and would like to give my friends something to do when they are bored at their desk jobs)? To open a window, to capture a thought, to participate in art… to make myself and those who read it feel a little less alone in the wilderness that is this world.
(On a side note, I have found it utterly hilarious that my spell check device does not recognize the verb “blogging” or the noun “blogger.” How ironic that even computers cannot keep up with these times.)
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