At least right now. I find so many blogs that seem utterly self-indulgent to the nth degree, filled with self-important ramblings by self-centered people who somehow attract other self-centered people to validate what I think are utterly boring ideas, concepts, thoughts.
But I guess the fact that I have a blog makes me one of those self-important people?
I spend much of my work life doing things for others--raising money for organizations I care about, that work for the greater good of various 'communities'. And I love my work, don't get me wrong. But this blog is the one public space where I can spout my own f**king opinions, no matter what others think. Don't have to toe the party line, or be 'organizational', or courteous.
But of course, I am all those things. I am what some might call 'politically correct' (a term I abhor because it was actually created and spread by right wing think tanks). I am polite and socially considerate. I don't insult people (well, maybe right wingers, but do they really count? They are SO sensitive!). I don't talk shit about people. And believe me, I can talk shit. In my life outside of blogdom, I can talk massive loads of shit, although my Buddhist training has helped me cut back a bit.
So what fun can blogging be if I'm tiptoeing around so much? But at the same time, do I really want to make enemies in a virtual world that, truth be told, can be so involved with itself that it misses much of what's real and right in life?
Maybe I'll get inspired to blog again after hearing Lakshmi Chaudry speak at the Media Alliance event. The name of the event does intrigue me. And it's been a while since I chilled with the good folks at MA.
We'll see. Maybe I need to loosen up, stop being so prim and proper and prissy on my blog. Maybe I need to start talking shit.
Or maybe I need to stop blogging. We'll see.
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2 comments:
Girl, this is something that I've been going back and forth about as well, and although this is totally cliche about the net (or anything where you have control over), remember that you should do this because you enjoy it. If you feel like talking shit, talk shit. If you don't, don't. If you're making up this blog so that it's about you (which is what I think), then put in the things that are important to you. If you don't feel that blogging is the way to express yourself, then maybe you should take a step back and see why you blog in the first place and take a break, or set up an entirely new blog that fits how you feel. I went through a lot of different blogs and different writing styles before I felt comfortable with blogging, and for me, my blog is self-indulgent, and it's about me, and I rant. And I'm perfectly okay with it. :)
A little correction. The term "politically correct" or "pc" doesn't come from the right-wing think tanks, but from the left. The right wing picked up the term many years later to bash others over the head.
It came from the time in the 1970s when people would occasionally go off the deep end. For instance, "Should we really use the term 'baby' or should we call them 'age-challenged persons'?" When someone said something like that, the response was the gentle putdown "oh, how pc."
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