(no subject)
Happy Late Birthday, Aerin and Charlotte! Your cards are in the mail :)
Sam: You don't like raisins?
Joon: Not really.
Sam: Why?
Joon: They used to be fat and juicy and now they're twisted. They had their lives stolen. Well, they taste sweet, but really they're just humiliated grapes. I can't say I am a big supporter of the raisin council.
Sam: Did you see those raisins on TV? The ones that sing and dance and stuff.
Joon: They scare me.
Sam: Yeah, me too.
Joon: It's sick. Commercial people make them sing and dance so people will eat them.
Sam: It's a shame about raisins.
I'm not sure if the middle-class kids of suburbia were really entirely ready for livejournals. This whole blogging thing has just become another link in the kindergarten playground gossip chain. I've been involved in my fair share of internet drama and it's my time to step out permanently. It's a lot like eating dog food.
Like, imagine that you're angry and gutless. You don't have the guts to work out your relationship problems face to face. You need to vent. You whine into your blog, hit "Update," and then start a giant, melodramatic flamewar upheaval.
Here's my metaphor: Imagine that you're broke and hungry. You don't have the money to buy yourself food. You need to eat. You pour Brindy's dog food into a cereal bowl, scarf it down, and then spend the next six hours throwing up.
It doesn't solve your problems. It actually makes people angrier -- since you started the war online, it has to stay online and no one communicate their real feelings because you can't stab people in the face over the internet. It doesn't matter if you use code words, say "an anonymous person," or publish real names. It doesn't matter if you say it straight out or hint at what you feel to let people draw their own conclusions so that you can remain blameless and play dumb. Everybody just gets frustrated and feels sick and wants to stab you in the face.
When you bring your problems with a specific person into an open forum (or, as long as it's open to others, a friends-locked forum), anyone can respond and throw their two cents in. You'll get even angrier when your friends who you don't think are involved comment on your argument or the resolution you're working on. In my opinion, these people became involved when you published your issues in a forum to which they had access. So pffft.
So here are my resolutions:
1.) If I want to whine, rant, or bitch about a specific person, I'm not going to do it here.
2.) If I want to confront somebody, this is not the place to do it. I can talk to them in person or on the phone, I can write them an email or a letter or a friggin text message, I can confront them in any other way. Logging on and reading unflattering things about yourself in a friend's journal is crap and I don't want people to have to deal with it.
3.) If I want to say it to you but don't have the guts to do it privately, I shouldn't say it at all.
I'm not mad at anyone (for once in my life -- it feels strange) and this post is not directed towards anyone. Seriously. I've been reading livejournals since the end of my sophomore year and I got one of my own before junior year started. I'm leaving for college in two days. I believe that this has gone on long enough. A wise man once told me that trash builds up and that the stink gets worse and worse -- no one will address the source for fear that they're the one who smells. The same goes for bullshit. I just wanted to get my opinion out there, hoping it would make people think twice.
PS - Have you ever made a New Year's Resolution and then broken it like, January 3rd? Help me out. If I start to do all these things I said I wouldn't, slap me. Or stab me in the face. Or something.
PPS - ^Did you notice my wrap-around ending?
Sam: You don't like raisins?
Joon: Not really.
Sam: Why?
Joon: They used to be fat and juicy and now they're twisted. They had their lives stolen. Well, they taste sweet, but really they're just humiliated grapes. I can't say I am a big supporter of the raisin council.
Sam: Did you see those raisins on TV? The ones that sing and dance and stuff.
Joon: They scare me.
Sam: Yeah, me too.
Joon: It's sick. Commercial people make them sing and dance so people will eat them.
Sam: It's a shame about raisins.
I'm not sure if the middle-class kids of suburbia were really entirely ready for livejournals. This whole blogging thing has just become another link in the kindergarten playground gossip chain. I've been involved in my fair share of internet drama and it's my time to step out permanently. It's a lot like eating dog food.
Like, imagine that you're angry and gutless. You don't have the guts to work out your relationship problems face to face. You need to vent. You whine into your blog, hit "Update," and then start a giant, melodramatic flamewar upheaval.
Here's my metaphor: Imagine that you're broke and hungry. You don't have the money to buy yourself food. You need to eat. You pour Brindy's dog food into a cereal bowl, scarf it down, and then spend the next six hours throwing up.
It doesn't solve your problems. It actually makes people angrier -- since you started the war online, it has to stay online and no one communicate their real feelings because you can't stab people in the face over the internet. It doesn't matter if you use code words, say "an anonymous person," or publish real names. It doesn't matter if you say it straight out or hint at what you feel to let people draw their own conclusions so that you can remain blameless and play dumb. Everybody just gets frustrated and feels sick and wants to stab you in the face.
When you bring your problems with a specific person into an open forum (or, as long as it's open to others, a friends-locked forum), anyone can respond and throw their two cents in. You'll get even angrier when your friends who you don't think are involved comment on your argument or the resolution you're working on. In my opinion, these people became involved when you published your issues in a forum to which they had access. So pffft.
So here are my resolutions:
1.) If I want to whine, rant, or bitch about a specific person, I'm not going to do it here.
2.) If I want to confront somebody, this is not the place to do it. I can talk to them in person or on the phone, I can write them an email or a letter or a friggin text message, I can confront them in any other way. Logging on and reading unflattering things about yourself in a friend's journal is crap and I don't want people to have to deal with it.
3.) If I want to say it to you but don't have the guts to do it privately, I shouldn't say it at all.
I'm not mad at anyone (for once in my life -- it feels strange) and this post is not directed towards anyone. Seriously. I've been reading livejournals since the end of my sophomore year and I got one of my own before junior year started. I'm leaving for college in two days. I believe that this has gone on long enough. A wise man once told me that trash builds up and that the stink gets worse and worse -- no one will address the source for fear that they're the one who smells. The same goes for bullshit. I just wanted to get my opinion out there, hoping it would make people think twice.
PS - Have you ever made a New Year's Resolution and then broken it like, January 3rd? Help me out. If I start to do all these things I said I wouldn't, slap me. Or stab me in the face. Or something.
PPS - ^Did you notice my wrap-around ending?