There’s always a good deal of talk about Facebook. Blah blah blah everyone’s on it. Blah blah blah bosses at work are banning it. Blah blah blah people ‘facebook stalk’ each other. I’m not on it. My absence can be slightly inconvenient sometimes for getting photos of social occasions, keeping in touch with half-friends or finding out about upcoming social engagements, but by and large there isn’t a whopping crevasse in my facebook-free life.
Instead, I have a blog. I’m not on it very much each day. Maybe ten minutes every other day, which comes in at considerably less than the 20min figure I often hear for the average Facebooker’s daily stalking. Despite this, blogs have a harsh reputation amongst a lot of people, especially in contrast with the levels of worship-esque obsession with which Facebook is revered. Blogs, it is argued, are self-important. They are vain, and smacking of the blogger’s elevated opinion of themselves, their intelligence, and their eloquence. Even though Facebook profiles have a link saying ‘view photos of x (1862 photos)’, which to me seems ludicrously vain and narcissistic, blogs (to my mind) have a lesser reputation.
Of course, I do see how these criticisms arise. Up above there is half a picture of me, then my name in big writing, and another picture of me underneath. The blog itself is then peppered with opinions which nobody else need care about or consider. It could therefore be presumed that I think my opinion deserves more of an airing than others’ opinions, but that isn’t personally why I’m doing this.
I have a strong belief (theoretical at least, even if I have trouble adhering to it) that in life one cannot really assert many things as being ‘true’ and that one’s own interpretation of what they experience is almost always just as (in)adequate as another’s. I don’t see the blog as important. Not to me (I could dispense with it easily) or to anyone else (as most people don’t read it). My opinions are no more or less important (in terms of ‘truth’) than anyone else, because I’m just as likely to cock everything up when I’m in a decision making position as they are.
The issue here is not why I write this stuff, because I could do it privately in the form of a diary on my laptop. The issue is why I place it in the public domain. This is for several reasons. I consider that my right to express a considered opinion on a matter is equal to any other person, no matter how ‘expert’ they consider themselves to be. I am also prone to flippantly convincing myself that I am of certain opinions and that I agree with certain viewpoints. When I write here, I am more likely to temper my judgement through a wish to represent my views fairly, and in a manner which I feel is true to myself. Not that I like to change my opinion merely to align with others’ beliefs, but because I hope to assert my beliefs in a manner which doesn’t appear as an attempt to invalidate others’ interpretations. I’m more likely to do this in the public domain than when getting carried away ranting on my laptop. Finally, I like writing, and because of this, I like receiving feedback. Whilst everyone at university seems to think they ought to be the next Guardian journalist (and I don’t, I assure you that), it’s always beneficial and humbling to find out how other people have enjoyed or criticised my style of writing or my opinions.
Finally, I reckon that my blog will give away what kind of a person I am. This will have good effects, and adverse ones which I cannot perceive. That said, I hope and believe that I will ultimately derive more benefit from blogular transparency than I will harm. Maybe I’ll find that people understand me better. I’m not as harmful and bitter as I sound [or, adversely, I am]. Maybe, if people I know read the blog, it will make them aware of ways in which they may not have considered us likeminded.
At any rate, even though the blog often gets due criticism, I’m keeping it up for a little while at least.
And if all of that didn’t sound annoyingly self-important, I don’t know what did. D’oh!
