What a bold subject line to lure a reader into a winding path of paragraphs. It comes off as if I’m attempting some sort of shock tactic for click bait, but in reality… it’s just blunt and honest. Blogging is terrifying. The very idea of putting your thoughts into words and then posting them on the internet for others to interpret, take at face value, or take entirely out of context should scare the shit out of anyone. Especially since most of these 1s and 0s (that’s binary for those of you that have never known a world before the smartphone) are being stored for a seemingly indefinite amount of time. Not by any sort of archival entity interested in documenting and preserving culture, but by companies hoping to exploit the market value of your digital existence. All in the hopes that some data set might improve an algorithm that will find that perfect moment to suggest a product when someone is in a state most compatible with making a purchase.
It’s terrifying. It’s scary to think that the words that I type on this specific date, by the person I am today could be used years from now to somehow define the person I will have become and that all of the context may or may not matter. Who knows? Yet, I’m still taking the time to sit here and conjure up these words. Fear has extinguished many sparks before they ever get a chance to shine. The problem is, most of us want to hide our mistakes and the various imperfections because we’re afraid of being judged. The thing is, those mistakes and imperfections are what make us similar.
Today, as I’m checking in on the various headlines and attempting to contextualize the current state of the world… something I tend to do on most mornings and/or early afternoons whilst I imbibe coffee and plant matter… the world is just sad. Talks of civil war and general distrust dominate news and media. I can’t help but think that we’re all turning on each other instead of focusing on the things we all have in common. There’s a reason I’ve turned back to the blog platform. Social media is currently not the place for long-form ideas and rhetoric. It’s become a daycare that does everything it can to prevent its ward from experiencing friction.
Facebook should have imploded long ago. It should have been prevented from buying up competitors and gone the way of myspace. That’s the natural evolution of the internet. Anyway, the point of this message is simple… we shouldn’t be fighting each other. Here we are, arguing and fighting amongst ourselves for the tiniest sliver of pie while 99% of it is being consumed by those that are fully pleased that we’re bickering amongst ourselves. We could have it all. We really could. If we just focused that frustration in the right direction, we could accomplish so much.
That’s it for this session. Maybe it’ll come back to haunt me in 10 years. I hope you all have a great Sunday.