HUMMER: BUGGER

Meaning, Hummer bugs me.

I just caught an ad on television for Hummer’s H2.  Maybe you’ve caught it; blonde chick driving around in a school bus yellow H2.  Catchy little rhythmic tune playing in the background.

Tagline:  Slip into something.

Like what?  Slip into something comfortable like a wide*ssed UAV (urban assault vehicle) that handles like a crappy truck?  Slip into absurdity?  Slip into ostentatious over-consumption?  Slip into a rather Republican mindset of materialism?

In spite of the fact I’m the target demographic, they missed me by a mile.  Another American-made drive-by.

4:00:25 PM    comment []

On blogging...

We bloggers have talked about blogging a number of times.  What exactly is it?  Are there rules, ethics?  Now, the question of standards, a set practice of blogging: is there a practice, should there be one?

I can’t subscribe to this concept. 

A blog's whatever it is in the eyes of its creator.  Many blogs are simply personal diaries, shared with the world.  I know as a teen I didn't worry about grammar in my diary, even though I was pretty certain my sister read it!  My diary was about me, my life; it wasn’t about the reader even if the reader was mentioned (often scathingly, in the case of my diary), even if an entry was about a particular reader.  My entries were about my experience, not that of the reader.  Should we be required to have blog-editors on staff before publishing a diary?  How absurd!  (Although I’m certain my sister would have relished editing my diary.)

Some blogs aren't diaries per se but highly temporal snapshots of a state of mind.  Warts and all, sans airbrushing.  I rely on these kinds of blogs to provide a view of something I’d otherwise miss, or to revisit something both the blogger and I find interesting.  If these snapshots were edited, what would be the point?  The view would be highly diluted, muddied, no longer intimate or immediate.

Some of the best blogs…okay, that’s subjective…some of my favorite blogs are those that aren’t grammatically pure or politically correct.  They are written from off the cuff, top of head, bottom of the heart, interior of the soul in such a way that I’m sure I’m reading a brain dump or a stream of consciousness.  They’re a brief view of a person’s life, provided to us through a blog-shaped window.  Some bloggers have given me the gift of a sometimes-intimate peek into their boudoir, their family dining room, their mind.  If some of my favorite bloggers were to suddenly start screening and editing their posts, I’d question their sanity and lose interest.  I don’t expect or want someone to edit their experience of life anymore than I’d expect or want to redecorate my living room at your behest.  On the other hand, with comments enabled, I’m open to critique about my living room and I’m glad to hear I’ve validated your furniture selection in your living room…but the dumpy couch stays, whether you like it or not.

There’s so much pressure on us to censor our thoughts, edit our consciousness.  Why should all of us give in entirely to the Borg and become a part of the collective group-think?  What happens to our individuality?  Have we truly reached a point where freedom of speech no longer has value?  Is not our human right to pursue happiness predicated in part on the freedom of expression?  Imagine Picasso or Kandinsky working to “standards of practice” in their paintings: what tripe they would have produced.  Their only standard was being true to themselves; influenced, perhaps, but never subsumed.  They were highly individuated humans whom we admire for their personal, unfettered expression.  If you don’t like their work, pick another artist.  Pick another blog.

Many fine blogs are journalistic; they’re attempts to fill a gaping void that our highly commercialized press doesn’t fill.  Commercial news must be cost-justified, value assessed, screened only for that which is in alignment with marketing plans and sales projections and estimated ROI (and in all too many cases,  the political direction of the majority shareholders).  Blogs that attempt to fill the news void frequently do recognize a kind of ethics – but it is still up to the reader to be the judge as to the trustworthiness and veracity of the blog, not the blogger. 

Unpaid “volunteers” and hobbyists simply can’t be held to the same level of performance as paid professionals (even if they are better than professionals).  If anything, we readers should be demanding the truth from those we pay to give us the truth.  Majority shareholders would do well to remember that earnings and dividends come from sales; over the long run, lies don’t sell.  No standard of practice is required in journalistic blogging as readers simply don’t spend time on lies.  I might tolerate a lie once; I’ll extend the privilege of my reading time if a blogger is candid and apologizes about lying.  But lie to me repeatedly and you’re dropped off my reading list like a stone.  Worse, I’ll have no problem with telling others I’ve dropped your blog and the reasons why.

Ultimately, I believe that to blog is to give expression to the authentic; in reading blogs, I’m seeking the authentic.  Authenticity isn’t necessarily something that’s sanitized, sterilized for my protection, wrapped up in fancy paper with a pretty bow.  Authenticity is often naked, raw, untouched and ugly, yet innocently unselfconscious, direct, open.  Can I quantify it, the authentic?  Not really, but I know it when I see it or read it.

Hmm.  I guess a quality blog is like sushi.  Some are very pretty, with little garnishes and fancy shapes.  Some are simply a piece of raw fish on rice.  Beauty can be found in either type and the assessment is purely subjective.  I don’t need anyone person or group dictating what sushi I should make or what sushi I should expect to consume.  I’m pretty certain my senses will tell me what’s good and what’s not.

Make mine sashimi, please.

11:02:19 AM    comment []