Blogging - What is it all about?
Are blogs an outlet for the bored? for those who have been screaming "Hey, I'm over here!" for the most part of their lives? for social recluses? Well, it would be hard to generalise, given there are millions of people who are now web loggers. I guess the question is only important when asked about one's self.
Why do I blog? It's certainly not a Descartian motivation: 'I blog, therefore I am'. Nor an inspiration from Satish Kumar, 'I blog, therefore you are'. I think it was initially more got to do with: 'I blog, because I have fuck all else to do'.
When I was living in Warsaw, I thought it would be a good idea for Irish and Polish people alike to have an opportunity to read about the experiences of an Irishman in Poland. Hopefully it was.
Now that I am back in Dublin and have less time on my hands I blog less. My eyes are grateful. If I had advertisements, the advertisers would not be so happy. I don't, so that is irrelevant space-filling. Which goes to the central point of this posting. The delusion blogs suck one into. That they actually have something interesting to say and that it is worthwhile writing it. I asked a friend recently
how many hours he thought we wasted watching 'Home and Away' when we were kids. He replied: 'If we took a half hour piano lesson instead of every episode we'd be savage by now'. Hmmmm, good point.
One may jot down the finest words and beseech upon the world the most wise thoughts in poetically unassailable language, yet if you don't attempt some form of marketing your 'brand' your wisdom will drop into the ocean and disappear. Which has led me to think deeply about why I have really writing about social justice issues and various forms of activism I have been involved in, or experiences I have had. And I began to realise that a main driving force seems to be fear: of not being heard, of getting a cardiac arrest at 28 and having not roared out in laughter for all to hear, or in anger for all to join in or laugh off. Fear, the basis of my getting up out of bed today. That I wouldn't eat and therefore would have a grumbling belly; that I would miss an appointment with a friend; that it would be pissing down from the heavens soon if I didn't get my arse out of the scratcher!
'I fear, therefore I blog'
Why do I blog? It's certainly not a Descartian motivation: 'I blog, therefore I am'. Nor an inspiration from Satish Kumar, 'I blog, therefore you are'. I think it was initially more got to do with: 'I blog, because I have fuck all else to do'.
When I was living in Warsaw, I thought it would be a good idea for Irish and Polish people alike to have an opportunity to read about the experiences of an Irishman in Poland. Hopefully it was.
Now that I am back in Dublin and have less time on my hands I blog less. My eyes are grateful. If I had advertisements, the advertisers would not be so happy. I don't, so that is irrelevant space-filling. Which goes to the central point of this posting. The delusion blogs suck one into. That they actually have something interesting to say and that it is worthwhile writing it. I asked a friend recently
how many hours he thought we wasted watching 'Home and Away' when we were kids. He replied: 'If we took a half hour piano lesson instead of every episode we'd be savage by now'. Hmmmm, good point.
One may jot down the finest words and beseech upon the world the most wise thoughts in poetically unassailable language, yet if you don't attempt some form of marketing your 'brand' your wisdom will drop into the ocean and disappear. Which has led me to think deeply about why I have really writing about social justice issues and various forms of activism I have been involved in, or experiences I have had. And I began to realise that a main driving force seems to be fear: of not being heard, of getting a cardiac arrest at 28 and having not roared out in laughter for all to hear, or in anger for all to join in or laugh off. Fear, the basis of my getting up out of bed today. That I wouldn't eat and therefore would have a grumbling belly; that I would miss an appointment with a friend; that it would be pissing down from the heavens soon if I didn't get my arse out of the scratcher!
'I fear, therefore I blog'
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p.s. if you've got it (bald spot) - flaunt it! - they're quite fashionable these days (I keep telling myself)
The book I referred to about baldness has some very funny info. I'll keep the hair tight I think. One less job in the morning!