UPDATE: Hm. I suck at leaving this blog thing alone. I think I’ve been here more often now that I’ve told everyone I’m not going to be here for a while. Anyway, I dropped by to tell you all that I’ve made some additions to my blogroll, seeing as how you’re going to be needing some extra mind-expanding material while I’m away. Go visit Ronin of the Spirit for thought provoking commentary, and Thinking is Real has some fabulous dissections of every Australian skeptic’s favourite show, The One (really, you have to see it to believe how bad it is – tonight, 7:30pm on Channel 7, if you’re in Australia). And my standby for when I need clarify my thoughts on something: my friend Lee’s Mobile Science blog.
Here endeth the update.
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Hello, people of Earth.
I’ve been having trouble writing meaningful blog posts in the last little while. I’ve been plagued with such questions as:
- “do I really need to add my brainspew to the already brilliant skeptical blog coverage out there?” (no),
- “will writing a blog really help me increase my writing output on my novel” (no), and
- “how often can one eat ramen noodles without getting sick of them, or off them?” (3 times a week, and counting).
There are things happening in my away-from-the-blogosphere life which I can’t really blog about since I’ve been lax in ensuring my real name doesn’t get linked (easily) to this blog. But a quick Google search of my name leads back here quite readily, and despite the technophobia of my overlords, there is always a chance that somehow, they will stumble upon my words of wisdom and will feel the need to assert their power over me in new and creative ways.
It’s not all about them, though. I am feeling a little unsure about what I’m writing and why I am writing it at the moment, so I’m gonna take a step back and try to see it from a different angle, maybe standing on my head.
In the meantime, let me point you in the direction of my blogroll. You should check out those links, if you haven’t already. Feel free to provide me with inspiration and/or random callouts by leaving comments here, by email or by sitting on my Facebook.
I’ll be back shortly.
July 28, 2008 at 11:39 pm |
You have judged correctly: the blogosphere is full.
It became full at 14:23UTC on the 15th January, 2008.
All blogs created since then are physically incapable of adding meaningfully to the global discourse that is the blogosphere.
All hail the blogosphere.
July 29, 2008 at 12:26 am |
As a new blogger of just a few weeks, I share your concerns about privacy and wonder how others fare in their personal lives when they make no attempt to hide their true identity. I’ve been going out of my way to minimise identifiable things that link to my skeptical musings.
Last week I put up one post, started having mild palpitations and deleted it ten minutes later. It was nothing “bad” but I wondered if that was where I wanted to go.
I wouldn’t stop on the basis of being “just one more voice” – if we all did that there’d only be one skeptical blog – but if it’s messing up something you “should” be doing or messing with your personal life then they are things you have to find ways to deal with.
Good luck with it.
July 29, 2008 at 12:42 am |
AndyD – I have been struggling a little, especially in terms of the political content on this blog… I guess that for as long as someone else owns and pays for my time, I’ll have to stay within certain bounds.
I just want to rethink how I use this blog, but I doubt I’ll be able to stay away for too long. I can’t help mouthing off.
In the meantime, I’ll be relying on other hardworking bloggers like you to keep my skeptical muscles in shape
July 29, 2008 at 3:31 am |
Religious perspective dominates the human mindset. The concept of hierarchy is intrinsically religious. The priest and prime minister/president alike are seen as closer to God, and thus closer to the right to rule. The capitalist society takes this already distorted perspective and distorts it further, saying that your value is decided by what you produce. Those who produce the most public interest (celebrities, politicians, popes, etc.) produce the most public interest, therefore, they’re views are worth more than yours. God produced a whole world, great men produce books and law and national visions, they being closer to God are more godlike. You are just you.
I say bullshit.
Don’t write this blog to make a difference. Write this blog because you love to write it. If you don’t love it, don’t write it. You are not a product. Your ideas are not a product. You aren’t competing with others in the blogosphere to sell ideas, your pouring your soul out. Keep doing it, because its moral, whether anyone else ever reads it or not.
I’ll get off my soap box now.
July 29, 2008 at 10:02 am |
Hi truthwalker – I always enjoy reading your comments, so no need to get off the soapbox…
I take your point in your first paragraph – and agree with most of what you are saying. Certainly, some folks in society hold more power and correspondingly have a louder voice than others. Without getting too utopian, I think blogs disrupt that ‘top-down’ approach somewhat. Even though there are bloggers who are more powerful than others, even blogs with small readerships form a ‘community’ where ideas can be thrown around and discussed. I think that might have attracted me to blogging in the first place – I had stuff to say, and I wanted to know what others had to say about that stuff.
I’m not worried about the number of people reading this blog – although I do need a few readers to keep me interested. I think a blog is more akin to a discussion than a diary. Let me rephrase that – I’d LIKE my blog to be more akin to a discussion than a diary.
In any case, I’m happy with the number of readers I have, and the fact that people engage with what I’ve written. It seems that we approach our blog-writing from different perspectives – you write because you love to write and I write because I feel the need to be heard!
I have to disagree with your assertion that I am not a product. As long as I am employed by someone else, whether I like it or not, I am a product to be traded on the job market, and my ideas are bought with my salary. I’m not TOO upset about this – I have the luxury of allowing myself to be bought because it doesn’t interfere too much with my life or liberty, and in some cases, actually allows me to do things that I wouldn’t be able to without a salary. It’s a game, or to be kinder, an ‘understanding’ between me and our capitalist society. I have something they want, and they have something I want. So we dance.
What I write on this blog is (mostly) none of my employer’s concern, but I can’t seem to help mouthing off about work, and that IS something they would be concerned about.
And finally, I don’t think my blog hiatus will last too long. I called it a hiatus, which suggests that even I don’t have confidence in my ability to stop writing
I need to work out what I want to say.
Sorry about jostling you on the soapbox
July 30, 2008 at 12:42 am |
Hi gorgeous (and thanks for the plug, by the way)
I read a while ago some advice over at ERV’s place on scienceblogs – blogging is something you do for you, not for anybody else. If you want to say something, say it. If you feel better being careful about what you say then be careful about what you say. If you don’t feel like like making a new post for weeks on end, then don’t make a new post. Your house, your rules – and fuck anyone who thinks otherwise.
I do hope that you’re not under any pressure from your slave pit, though – that would be awful. I know just what it’s like to get flak in the professional sphere for private-time thoughts (thank you christian parent-controlled schools, you evil pimples of dreadful evil…) – it ain’t fun when you feel that your ability to pay your bills and feed the pets/kids/yourself is under threat.
On a related note – I am thinking of knocking together a post/series of posts on the recent history of a workplace we shared. I would appreciate your thoughts.