If you have a raw nerve exposed, you can bet I’m going to be one of those who tries to tweak it, maybe shock it. Certainly pinch it a bit. OUCH!
Yeah, sorry about that. (But not really.)
And this is of course an exaggeration. I recently, yesterday or something, wrote about all of us being bloggers. 100% of us. And how I thought that that was an issue. Now, many of us here wanted to point out that, and rightly so, it’s not an issue, “exactly.” It is a “thing” and blogging does exist as a club or a membership but, so what? That’s not a bad thing. It’s just a thing.
So, I thought about this, and sure enough, I’ve come to realize that the internet has become an array of vertical stovepipes of membership. It is now Club Internet.
Let me take you back… In 1995 when I first began to “surf” the internet, that’s exactly what I did. It was a wild, unorganized place full of strange and odd and interesting stuff. I recall spending hours and hours just bouncing from page to page. There were no “search” engines, just some primitive DMOZ style indexes and link-exchanges. And there was no membership. It was just a vast, crazy “Woodstock” sort of experience.
Later, when I learned how to code the web, and built my own Web Logging software, there was still not much membership or exclusivity built into the net. My “blog” was just this diary I hung off a few of my sites — as was every other “blog.”
Today? Today the web is nothing if not collectives of “potentially” like minded people who “belong” to membership oriented enclaves. AND THAT’s OKAY.
When I wrote about bloggers being a circular group of people — well, they are, we are. But so are instagramers, snapchatters, fadebookers (I suppose), WeChatters, and so on and so forth. (In fact, nearly every site out there expects you to become a member, or join them in some way, and if you don’t, you can’t participate — period.) But, in the beginning, it wasn’t like that.
I think I was just now coming to grips with the fact that whatever I write here… Yeah, it’s not gonna be read by the “public.” It used to be read (or could have been read) by the public. But today? Only bloggers will read this. And, again, THAT’s OKAY.
Anonymole - apocryphal agitators 
The direct analogy is radio programming, which is coming in a rant of my own. Once the Wild West is tamed the pigeonholes set in. You can guest blog as long as you talk about Jesus and raising small children and blah blah blah. Radio programming. Sit coms. There was a time you kicked on FM and had no idea what you’d hear next. Now? Fromulaic Straw hats or drum machines or oldies or refried down tempo psychedelia and Americana whining. We are presented with sameness everywhere we turn. Communities of agreement. Hey, I’m just like you! How cool is that? Arrrrr. Wires and lights in a box.
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The internet has produced sameness, and ability to be instantly like anybody else. If one does create something utterly unique — within minutes it’s copied and meme’d and made into a perfume being sold by someone who’s last name begins with a K.
Imagine being Chinese (in China) and not wanting to instantly die from sameness?
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Only to the level of mediocrity one finds acceptable. Lots of people go to music school. A lot of them wind up teaching french horn or playing for ballet rehearsals. Few are Myron McKinley or Herbie Hancock. Or Dave Brubeck, whose teachers didn;t want to graduate him for fear his future might embarass the school. If it was that easy to be like some people, the level of excellence would skyrocket to superior. And we wouldn;t have a culture that wallows in the celebutante muck as you described. Unless no one has an eye for quality.
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‘bloggers’ reflect people as much as anything does these days.
some are honest with themselves or others, some are not.
great post Anony
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“When I wrote about bloggers being a circular group of people — well, they are, we are.”
Do you mean like when people who make similar wages live in the same neighbourhoods and buy the same sorts of things? Or how in the old days luxury car manufacturers used to advertise in places where their advertisements might be seen by people who could afford to buy their cars? Or how people who play tennis usually do it with other people who also know how to play tennis?
All of this is old, we’re just adapting from analogue to digital 🙂
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Yes, I agree there are pretty much cliques, factions, groups of every kind that we assemble into. And blogger blogging is just another one of them.
However, originally, the net was so membership oriented. Now, that’s all it is. Sure, I see your point that is just a function of humanity’s desire to belong to “something” — the village, the country club, the Right or Left. I guess I was thinking, no, hoping that “blogging” was bigger than just another internet enclave.
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it takes a bit of time, but non-bloggers do come along. I get emails from non-bloggers regularly with questions about buying/selling art. People wanting to move to our area also contact me with questions. And of course there’s the occasional crazy Christian telling me to repent and threatening me with hell 😀
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It’s all OK bro. “Whatever gets you through the night…”
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Don’t you dare placate me. I’ll hunt down where you live and unleash a box of fleas in your underwear drawer!
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LOL!
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New post up…
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