Blogging is Dirty
I've noticed to, conflicting trends over the past two decades.
The first is a direct result of mass-communication becoming more wide-spread: we are exposed to the best of the best, and next year, it'll be better. Most recent incarnations of this include American Idol. Any of the people in this season are better than any singer you'll ever personally know, and yet we all feel entitled to say that they suck. We compare everything to the elite model.
Models: there's another example. Actresses (men are, for the most part, exempt, but we'll go into that another day) are all gorgeous. Better-looking than anyone you'll ever know.
Politicians. We won't even consider them unless they appear to be super-humanly squeaky-clean. If you pick your nose in public just once, you'll never win another election.
The inverse also applies, here: talk-shows are happy to expose the worst of the worst of humanity. I won't give examples, but you know what I mean.
At the same time, there is a second trend. And it moves in the opposite direction: we bloggers air our dirty laundry. We take pictures of themselves in the most unflattering states and post them online. We talk about our debt. We share our personal dramas no Live Journal. This is abject reality. It's ugly.
What strikes me as interesting is that it is unlikely that the two can ever meet. Angelina Jolie can't post pictures of herself at 6:00 in the morning. Obama can't blog about how much his coworkers pissed him off. PZ can never run for office. The kids who sing on You Tube will never appear on American Idol.
I don't know what it means. I'm just watching it happen.
Frustration
I've been frustrated lately. Mostly, regarding the propensity of angry flame-warring that usurps the internet.
Today, I read this comment:
The trouble with rational discourse in these situations is that a) there's nothing rational about your opponent's position, so there will be no real discussion, and b) attempts at rational discussion legitimizes their position far more than is warranted. [source]
Food for thought.
Feminism, Fear, and Faux-pas
During the whole permission-to-fondle-your-boobs blogging flame-war (you have heard about this, right?), I was told that I would be violating a woman's rights if I told a female stranger that I thought she was attractive. Specifically, I was told that these kinds of events can be "triggering" for victims of trauma (assault and rape in particular). I can't seem to get this thought out of my head.
I generally don't tell strangers I think they're hot. : ) I do, however, make specific comments, and I make them with some frequency. Things like "that's a really nice necklace", or "I like that skirt", or "what a great tattoo".
This freaks me out because I don't know where to draw the line.
I can't imagine the fear that a victim of assault may have. But I fully understand that the tiniest little things can be triggering events. ...but where does the line of reason stand, in terms of what actions should be considered potentially triggering and those that should be "okay"? At what level does being "safe" with one's actions (and in particular comments) become ad absurdum?
When I think deeply on the subject, I realize that my frustration is because my right to speak freely is being trumped. "Why does your dysfunction have to affect me?" ...And then I realize how selfish it is.
Oops.
So if I've said something to you that caused you pain, I apologize. I would assure you my intentions were good, but I realize that good intentions don't mean shit if you've been hurt.
Housemate's blog
I have a house-mate. She's very quiet, nice, and otherwise avoids complicating our lives... it's been quite a positive experience, really.
My wife and I went to lunch with her the other day, and I asked her what was "on her mind recently" (since she's so quiet). She then admitted that she had recently been bullied into starting a blog*, and that she spent a lot of time thinking about what to post there.
I had to agree. Having a blog kinda changes the way thoughts roll around your head. In fact, I likened the sensation to that of someone who's just taken up photography. You end up looking at the world quite differently.
For me, blogging helped me realize just how connected we are, even those of us who are clearly introverts. It also made it very clear how influenced are actions are by how we think people will perceive them. And finally, it made it crystallized just how "different" a lot of my opinions are from (most) other people's. It's really been an experiment in sociology for me. Not entirely positive, to be sure... but I've learned a lot.
How has blogging changed your outlook?
* I didn't ask for a link to it; I figured it would be fairly private and be awkward to have to filter it for the people she's living with, in case she wanted to bitch about how we run our house. I'll ask when she moves out.
America's BIG.
I grew up in Massachusetts, and long had the impression that it was this tiny little state in a relatively small country (maybe tenth largest?) on the smallest continent on the light side of the world.
Today, I was fiddling with Google Maps and noticed that MA is actually not as small as I thought. It's over 1/3rd as wide as New Mexico (my current home). ...And, hey, the US looks kinda big compared to the rest of the world.
Hey! I exclaimed. How does the US stack against the world?
I was surprised to learn that the US is effectively tied for third with China. This was shocking... I had grown up thinking China was massive. Way-way bigger than we. Oops.
And while I was doing my homework, I made the mistake of searching for "countries by size" (rather than area), and stumbled upon some statistics that point out the size of our armies (by troops) is roughly seventh or eighth in the world... yet we spend 623 billion bucks. Compare that to the distant second of China, who spends 80 billion. ...We get half the army for 7.8 times the money.
We're doing something wrong.
I mean... that I knew... but, still, seeing the numbers just makes it all seem so phenomenally asinine. To quote (appropriately enough) Big trouble in Little China...
"I must be so monumentally naive!"
"You are."
Self-portait Through Time
Here's something you thought about doing, but didn't have the staying power to actually pull off:
Google Maps: I am Looking In Your Window.
View Larger Map
From a technical perspective, Google's new Street View stuff is really very, very cool.
It's slightly scary... though I can't quite place why. It's not like anything they've captured is special. I heard an argument that they're helping criminals "case your house from their couch"... but I'm sorry, I just don't see that. Still, there's something disturbingly spooky about the fact that my house can be viewed on-line from anywhere.
Plus, the fact that they shot our city in the wee hours of a weekend morning (I know because I leave for work before dawn and my car is still there), with empty streets... just makes the whole thing feel post-apocalyptic. I'm reminded of This Silent Earth.
Speaking of Drawing...
I have officially decided to withdraw from CNM (college).
I've taken on a couple of new work projects... and earning money trumps art. ...For now. Thus, I've gone to my last art class for a few years.
A little sad, but necessary. ...Also, I learned that the class was, for the most part, superfluous. It was an excuse to draw on a regular basis. ...If I need to learn more in the future, I know that the best way to do that is to draw on a regular basis.
Blogs
I recently became disenchanted with the nature of this blog. It's all over the damn place, 'cause I'm a guy with lots of diverse interests, and they don't particularly synthesize into a compelling narrative.
So, I've split my blog up.
I will no longer be posting here about science, programming, religion, philosophy, or music. This blog will be "the life and times of Jeremy". ...Goings-on, events, opinions thereon, and the like. A place for friends and family to get updates without my having to repeat myself. ; ) I will also leave my drawing stuff here.
If you are interested in any of the above topics, email me, tell me which subjects you're interested in, and I will point you to the variants containing each.
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