Monday, November 28, 2005
Response to Joe -- Exactly!
Blogging gives us the best of both worlds: informal discourse, PLUS a captive audience. Look at Michele's "cocktail hour" post. We get to chat, connect, feel like we have some cyberfriends, but no one traps you in a corner discussing his colonoscopy, sneezes on your food, or rattles her ice cubes then says, "Excuse me, I need another drink." It's a feeling of connection, without all the awkward body language.
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6 comments:
I guess you don't read this blog
I have to agree with jp. I just don't find the sense of connection with these people. I may find the lives of bloggers interesting, and I may enjoy stopping by and learning a bit about the writer, but in terms of a connection, I just don't get that. I want the sneeze in my drink. It tells me important things about that person. I want the body language, because it provides clues into a person's character.
I never think that blogs are at their best when they allow people to hide behind the social conventions and norms of personal interaction. The blogosphere provides anonymity, but if it is prized simply in order to avoid the challenges of a social situation, this is not good in my opinion.
But this is likely the footprints that Colin speaks of from the blogosphere's founders. Let's face it. Those folks in the MUD's were there for a reason. Why wander around a fantasy role playing universe that lacks any type of physical connection unless there is a reason? Why a cyberfriend when one can have a real friend? And notice your language...you wrote that we can "feel like we have cyberfriends." Why feel? Perhaps because it's true? Can you really have a friend who you don't ever truly know?
Well, I say back to you, "What is a friend?" Or what is a connection? I said on someone's blog (they're starting to blur!), that blogging is a good way for those who DON'T like/aren't as comfortable with in-person interaction to nonetheless form close bonds. I too prefer real people sneezing on me, but not everyone does. Many feel judged for their looks/personality, etc., when they are in "close quarters." Yet very few of us don't need anyone else in our lives to say "hey, you're okay." So blogging is another medium for possible connections, just like penpals used to be.
I disagree with Matt that allowing those socially challenged individuals a forum is a bad thing. Yes, if it foments hate crimes or child porn circles, that's bad, but any form of communication necessarily encompasses "good" topics and nasty topics.
But if blogging allows the shy, the disenfranchised, the wretched masses yearning to breathe free a place for a voice in our society, that's good. We're all equal on blogs. In modern day America, that's one of the big issues: the powerful control the primary mechanisms for communication, and the have-nots do not. Maybe that's why there so many rumblings about regulating websites and blogs.
And JP, as Morrie Schwartz ("Tuesdays with Morrie") said, "Why are we so afraid of silence?"
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How many posts are going to be wasted on this?
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