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the internet and connections
Jan. 17th, 2004 02:25 amI am free of the tyranny of work, and though I must be up early I am drinking a beer while I type. It is a good thing, and I feel as if I have earned this American right to sit down with a beer after work. Honey Brown is a most excellent beer, after all.
Halfway through the evening I called Cate, one of the first livejournal friends I met in the waking world. I miss having her here, and I'm hoping she will crash at our place when she visits Austin. She has a voice that contains so many shades, that I could close my eyes and use it to paint.
Later on, I saw a comment in the journal of one of the people nearest my heart from someone on her feelings. I made what a thought was a rather restrained reply, and recieved a rather over the top reply in turn. While it did provide an hour's worth of amusement while I pondered flood plains and certified properties, the central issue has been on my mind ever since.
These journals exist for many reasons. A journal's most basic purpose, online or on paper, is to exist as a record of one's thoughts, feelings, impressions and life in general. Here on Livejournal, journals can exist for fictional lives, announcements, comics, communities and many other things.
But what is a journal? Why have one? What can you do with it?
I believe very strongly that one should be able to decide the contents of one's journal, and no one should dictate what subject matter is appropriate for it save the writer. These journals are our voices, for good or ill. Especially in America, where our Constitution declares everyone to have an equal voice and the right to use it. (Caveat: I am not addressing journals created for nefarious purposes, or journals wherein the owner uses it as a weapon against someone else. That's another issue for another day.)
One can write about the most personal and the most mundane, post quiz results, letters to the editor that may or may not get sent, political grandstanding, grocery lists, etc, etc. One can expose the darkest secrets of the heart here, in public or in heavily filtered entries. One can record excruciating minutae. However, at the end of the day, the reader must remember that this is only part of the story.
One's journal is a direct line to the person behind it, and as such it provides a highly specific and biased view. It makes no claim to objectivity. Within this electronic medium, one loses certain things like tones, body language, volume, expression and other contextual clues. One compensates for the loss with more specific vocabulary, emoticons, images, and subtle cues written into the posts. The journal exists as one window into the soul.
I have several close friends that I met on livejournal long before I ever met them in the flesh. I have talked several friends from my day to day life into creating their own journals. I know a lot about them, and so it is easy to fill in the gaps with firsthand knowledge. With so many others, I must remind myself that I don't know their lives. I don't, even if I spend hours every week reading about them.
Walking a mile in another person's shoes is underrated these days. We subsitute virtual experience for the waking world. We live vicariously in so many ways. While there is great good to be said of the internet and all the connections it has wrought, it still can not replace our connections in flesh. One must blend the two into something shining and new, and use both aspects to the limits of their potential.
Travelling is one of the greatest things one can do for one's self. It allows one so many opportunities to expand one's perceptions and acquaintances. One day, I hope to get to know so many of you more. I hope to sit down across a table from you, and see what color the windows into your soul are face to face.
Halfway through the evening I called Cate, one of the first livejournal friends I met in the waking world. I miss having her here, and I'm hoping she will crash at our place when she visits Austin. She has a voice that contains so many shades, that I could close my eyes and use it to paint.
Later on, I saw a comment in the journal of one of the people nearest my heart from someone on her feelings. I made what a thought was a rather restrained reply, and recieved a rather over the top reply in turn. While it did provide an hour's worth of amusement while I pondered flood plains and certified properties, the central issue has been on my mind ever since.
These journals exist for many reasons. A journal's most basic purpose, online or on paper, is to exist as a record of one's thoughts, feelings, impressions and life in general. Here on Livejournal, journals can exist for fictional lives, announcements, comics, communities and many other things.
But what is a journal? Why have one? What can you do with it?
I believe very strongly that one should be able to decide the contents of one's journal, and no one should dictate what subject matter is appropriate for it save the writer. These journals are our voices, for good or ill. Especially in America, where our Constitution declares everyone to have an equal voice and the right to use it. (Caveat: I am not addressing journals created for nefarious purposes, or journals wherein the owner uses it as a weapon against someone else. That's another issue for another day.)
One can write about the most personal and the most mundane, post quiz results, letters to the editor that may or may not get sent, political grandstanding, grocery lists, etc, etc. One can expose the darkest secrets of the heart here, in public or in heavily filtered entries. One can record excruciating minutae. However, at the end of the day, the reader must remember that this is only part of the story.
One's journal is a direct line to the person behind it, and as such it provides a highly specific and biased view. It makes no claim to objectivity. Within this electronic medium, one loses certain things like tones, body language, volume, expression and other contextual clues. One compensates for the loss with more specific vocabulary, emoticons, images, and subtle cues written into the posts. The journal exists as one window into the soul.
I have several close friends that I met on livejournal long before I ever met them in the flesh. I have talked several friends from my day to day life into creating their own journals. I know a lot about them, and so it is easy to fill in the gaps with firsthand knowledge. With so many others, I must remind myself that I don't know their lives. I don't, even if I spend hours every week reading about them.
Walking a mile in another person's shoes is underrated these days. We subsitute virtual experience for the waking world. We live vicariously in so many ways. While there is great good to be said of the internet and all the connections it has wrought, it still can not replace our connections in flesh. One must blend the two into something shining and new, and use both aspects to the limits of their potential.
Travelling is one of the greatest things one can do for one's self. It allows one so many opportunities to expand one's perceptions and acquaintances. One day, I hope to get to know so many of you more. I hope to sit down across a table from you, and see what color the windows into your soul are face to face.
