[I am reading Sidewalks in the Kingdom... by Eric O. Jacobsen]
Something that Laura and I talk about is the strange world that people who blog tend to live in. You might know it as that world where you would write to millions of people the very sort of thing you’d never say to those same people in person?
I’ve seen on my blog (and on others) the phrase, “Thank you for your transparency.” I mean no offence to the person[s] from which the phrase has come, but when I write this blog, there is some vague sense of anonymity. When I read other blogs and see the sort of things that I don’t believe people would ever tell me in person, I tend to think that they believe that they are writing anon as well.
This lends to what I really don’t want my blog to be, and to what most blogs really are – an arena for venting your frustrations. I guess the medium exists due to the very fact that so many of us feel so absolutely disjoint from our fellow human beings.
The question begs, “Have my friendships become so superficial that I feel my only hope for respite is found on some hard drive in Mountain View, CA?”
I don’t think that I’m being very vulnerable if I write my thoughts and feelings online. The next time I see you, the conversation we have probably won’t revolve around what you’ve written on your blog unless one of us brings it up. Sadly, it’s a heck of a lot easier for folks just to ignore what’s written in the blogosphere and never have a real dialogue about what’s really on their hearts and minds.
I’m not trying to rant (of which the artist formerly known as West Coast Rev will say that I am).
What I am saying is that vulnerability here is not real vulnerability unless I am willing to come to you as a fellow human being and lay my life naked before you – in person. There is no true transparency on the web because all of us are sitting away from the pressures, from the questions, and from the judgments of others when we tippity-type from our computers.
It is always easier for any of us to write whatever we wish when there is no one staring us in the face asking, “What?” or “Why?” Still, we propagate the strange construal that writing anything in the blogosphere is akin to bearing our hearts.
*note, I assure you that this blog has nothing to do with what anyone has written about me; I am speaking of generalities. As far as I know there are no derogatory comments about me in the blogosphere @ this time. If you know of any, feel free to let me know.
8 comments:
Thank you for being so transparent. Your vulnerability is really something.
unfortuneately, hardly any of my posts dive into the levels your speaking of... i really can't say sharing stories about shark's tooth necklaces is vulnerable... but blogging and reading others does make me feel a little more connected and up to date, even if the posts are just silly slices of life.
oh, and i guess that's why i've never been thanked for my transparency on a blog!
True, true. I know what ya mean. I agree that it's easier to be vulnerable on the internet than in person, although I will say it's better than bottling yourself up. If blogger.com the only outlet at the moment, I say do it (not to say you're discouraging internet vulnerability).
Shocker, but not sure if I agree.
Who reads your blog there Geno? Mostly your friends, people who know you and for some crazy reason come to your blog to read what you have spewed forth in your lastest "rant". We do know you, we know your heart, I think being honest in your writing is being vulnerable to a point. No, we are not in your presence, but is face to face contact the only way to be vulnerable? I dunno, but I don't really think so.
When Gene and I had discussed this earlier, I told him that I'd read a blog of a friend of mine where they were disclosing things that I know they NEVER would have discussed with me in person. I was actually quite embarrassed by what I read! Although this may be cathartic, it’s artificial transparency.
I see what you mean, Laura. If someone is bold enough to write something on their blog, they need to be bold enough to talk about it in person.
i like to think i'm really getting published when i write a blog-so i wax poetic and bask in my own glory once reviewing my creation.
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