an interesting idea
so sometimes i find myself worrying about going on the record with things – even the Spoken record – when i’m not sure what i really think or i worry that i am being controversial. i don’t think this is that uncommon a worry, nor do i think that resisting it is that uncommon a goal.
don’t be afraid to be yourself, we say.
speak your mind, we say.
don’t let other people get you down.
and yet, the world is full of people playing CYA (definition two (but if someone wants to build that yachting page, go to!)) when there is the slightest hint of real danger, and it’s one of those things that it’s so much easier to point out in others than step up to ourselves when we’re the ones on the line.
i think these things.
i don’t know what else to say about it.
it’s kind of a ‘that’s the way it is’ sort of conversation, where we shrug and move on to the weather or thoughts on a new flavor of potato chips, trying our best not to feel like small, small people who are unable to tackle big, big things.
but then yesterday i found myself considering whether the idea that we should be picky about what goes on the record is becoming ridiculous because there are increasingly more and more situations where the record is beyond our control. then i found myself considering whether the rational thing to do is now to take the Opposite approach – put Everything on the record, and the wackier the better.
the argument goes something like this:
given that there is no way for us to know whether we are being recorded at a given moment or not;
given that the sort of things that we are likely to be doing at these moments where we may or may not be recorded have the potential to be embarrassing in their frivolity and lack of context;
given that people are going to get used to this kind of information about us, making it less scandalous to see us at our less-than-polished moments;
given that the more we put out there in an intentional manner, the more likely we are to tip the balance towards signal and away from noise;
given that, the more we say, the better we get at saying things;
April 19th, 2006 at 9:45 pm
[…] as i try to think of something to do that doesn’t piss me off, i realize that i don’t need keys to unlock the internet, so i use the excuse to sit outside in the gloaming and write a blog entry, which has the unexpected bonus of drawing my attention to the large collection of tulips in the flower box between rawles and swain, and that flower box makes me think of rabbits, because once i saw a whole mess of very tiny bunnies in there, which makes my brain picture a whole warren in my cutaway imagination. these thoughts appease my brain, and i realize that life isn’t all bad. my only hesitation is that i was just arguing about the potential power of personal blogging today. and one of my points was that it doesn’t Have to be fluffy or boring, so i feel a slight temptation to not birth this particular post today. but i quash that pretty quickly, in the spirit of bigger thoughts that i haven’t articulated yet, but soon may attempt to begin […]