Insomnia sucks.
Alright, I can't sleep again, and something else is on my mind.
A Blog. Also known as a Weblog. An online journal, often used as an open forum to convey thoughts, opinions, and the like. Not unlike I'm doing right now.
However, the blog has become a very innate part of society now, since society itself has taken a turn towards internetizing itself in every way.
The blog originated from webmasters updating a page on their sites on a regular basis, often with opinions. Some blogs were themed, others were just a journal or a diary. Eventually, the blog became something of a cultural phenomenon, becoming more than just the ramblings of people who have webspace and want to yammer away in it. People began to actually read these things, and eventually started getting their own. The advent of sites such as Livejournal perpetuated this phenomenon.
Really, what I want to boil down to is the raw psychological aspects of the blog. Those of us who make our journals a public forum do so to allow anyone, and I do mean anyone, to read anything they post in there, whether it be a very deep personal secret, or the inane ramblings of an insomniac. (Hi, right here.)
Yet, some blogs become censured because of their content. Now, are we not given the right to free speech? Granted, the internet is governed locally in each country (something I don't agree with, but I'll save this for another night,) however, we write in these things to be heard. Sure, I might write to a select audience (and I swear, you're the worst audience I've ever had, no offense, I'm just teasing,) but I do so to be heard. Just because these posts aren't public (though I should make them, so you can direct your friends,) doesn't mean I don't want to be heard.
A friend of mine came under fire one day for making a comment in their journal that could've been read as something offensive. They asked me what I thought on the subject, and that's pretty much why I'm writing this now. I told them simply that whatever they wrote in their journal was their own thoughts and feelings, and people could read it however they want to. Sure, what was said could've been read badly, but in all fact it was the truth, and people have every right to be offended by it, but that's no need to call for censure.
Journals and diaries of the old times were items of great importance, and indeed, great privacy to their owners. They held our innermost secrets, desires, and feelings, and never intended to be leaked. However, the advent of our information superhighway (gotta be megahighway by now,) has created this ability to make our private lives public in any fashion we choose.
Why would we do this?
I have a theory that all humans are by nature exhibitionist and voyeuristic, at least in this generation. We're a generation of perverts; we get off on sharing our lives with others, and with snooping quietly on the lives of others. My computer screen is my shadowy window into the bedrooms of billions of people's lives, if they've left the blinds open for me to look through.
Think about that the next time you post in your blog.
I might be standing outside your window, peeping in on your innermost secrets.
And you might love it.
A Blog. Also known as a Weblog. An online journal, often used as an open forum to convey thoughts, opinions, and the like. Not unlike I'm doing right now.
However, the blog has become a very innate part of society now, since society itself has taken a turn towards internetizing itself in every way.
The blog originated from webmasters updating a page on their sites on a regular basis, often with opinions. Some blogs were themed, others were just a journal or a diary. Eventually, the blog became something of a cultural phenomenon, becoming more than just the ramblings of people who have webspace and want to yammer away in it. People began to actually read these things, and eventually started getting their own. The advent of sites such as Livejournal perpetuated this phenomenon.
Really, what I want to boil down to is the raw psychological aspects of the blog. Those of us who make our journals a public forum do so to allow anyone, and I do mean anyone, to read anything they post in there, whether it be a very deep personal secret, or the inane ramblings of an insomniac. (Hi, right here.)
Yet, some blogs become censured because of their content. Now, are we not given the right to free speech? Granted, the internet is governed locally in each country (something I don't agree with, but I'll save this for another night,) however, we write in these things to be heard. Sure, I might write to a select audience (and I swear, you're the worst audience I've ever had, no offense, I'm just teasing,) but I do so to be heard. Just because these posts aren't public (though I should make them, so you can direct your friends,) doesn't mean I don't want to be heard.
A friend of mine came under fire one day for making a comment in their journal that could've been read as something offensive. They asked me what I thought on the subject, and that's pretty much why I'm writing this now. I told them simply that whatever they wrote in their journal was their own thoughts and feelings, and people could read it however they want to. Sure, what was said could've been read badly, but in all fact it was the truth, and people have every right to be offended by it, but that's no need to call for censure.
Journals and diaries of the old times were items of great importance, and indeed, great privacy to their owners. They held our innermost secrets, desires, and feelings, and never intended to be leaked. However, the advent of our information superhighway (gotta be megahighway by now,) has created this ability to make our private lives public in any fashion we choose.
Why would we do this?
I have a theory that all humans are by nature exhibitionist and voyeuristic, at least in this generation. We're a generation of perverts; we get off on sharing our lives with others, and with snooping quietly on the lives of others. My computer screen is my shadowy window into the bedrooms of billions of people's lives, if they've left the blinds open for me to look through.
Think about that the next time you post in your blog.
I might be standing outside your window, peeping in on your innermost secrets.
And you might love it.