Trying to write about what happened, and what is happening currently, is difficult as hell. The multilayered past and present run together like a child's finger painting at times, begging the question, "Which is which?" I know the difference, but my job is to convey it in a way that the reader can know as well. That's the trick! Just because it is clear to me, doesn't mean it's clear to someone else. Not only am I up against the difficulty in writing it, I am also up against the differing opinions about the legitimacy of the facts themselves, according to who is reading what I write. There are some who question why I am writing about this at all. They, would be those who are either being written about, or have some connection to those I am writing about, no matter how flimsy that connection happens to be. The facebook connection between those who I write about, and who knows who in that configuration, dominates, by far, the scope of reactions, or non-reactions, to these most recent of posts. Like high school clicks, (clique) the friends, and friend's of friends, now enemies, sit back and ponder the rational of what I am doing, and why. Well let's just say I have a talent for pissing people off by doing what I do. Let's also say, that what is important to me may not be important to them, particularly if what I am doing can be considered sour-grapes.
In my way of thinking it is the sides, and side's of sides, standing in their little areas of supposed collective power, while saying, "don't want to rustle any feathers on faceook, because I have friends, who are friend's of friends of those people," who they themselves are no longer friends with. This convoluted mess of virtual non-friends, and friends alike, hamstrings one and all into a forced noncommittal stance, one way or the other. "I am your friend, but I don't want to get involved!" Great for you! Not so great for the one looking around to see if they have any friends who will stand by there side, come hell or high water. The answer is...a resounding no! There are too many cross references for that to occur. If you take a stand here, you will alienate someone over there, so the best policy is to stay out of it. FUCK YOU! That's my answer. Keep your mouth shut and play it safe. Never commit to anything unless it is something that a large majority of people all accept as acceptable. Short of that, which most everything in life is, stay uncommitted. There are some, very very few, who will actually say something that needs to be said, even if it puts them at odds with others. Bravo! But the rarity of this is disheartening as hell. It feels like the coke and cocktail party set, in L.A., fucking each other over for sport, in a never ending quest for popularity and position. I left L.A. a long time ago because of it, but since I've been on facebook I find myself uncomfortably reminded of what it was like, and why I left.
Facebook, and other so-called social media platforms, have degenerated into non-communication entities, where we can pretend to be talking to one another, while in reality we are not. Like a party, where we say hi to everyone, but to no one. A jack of all trades arrangement that never asks for a master of anything. It's hit and miss dabbling for the most part, without human beings being human, to humans. For those who despise real commitment, it is a paradise of opportunity, but fails utterly for those seeking anything truly real. There are some who say it is better than nothing, and perhaps I agree with that to some extent, but on the other hand the absence of real relationships is dangerous, and cannot be replaced by chatting with fb friends forever. Somehow there has got to be more than virtual make believe to remain a real person.....
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As has been true in the past with your blog, the pure reminiscence is cleaner and easier than analyzing and discussing the present. Because this is YOUR story, you share intimate details about your life that, of necessity, involve others as well, and whether it is music industry hustlers, former friends, family members, institutions and their employees, or FB acquaintances, those "teams" or cliques line up to hash out or, more specifically, "defend" their own take on "their" reality.
ReplyDeleteYour last paragraph is a very fine analysis of the possible disconnect afforded by social media as well as the potential for connections. As a truly unsocial person in general (though not actually anti-social), I have made a (small) handful of connections through social media (including MySpace, Blogger, YouTube and Facebook) that I actually do value, but clearly, if one is seeking personal interaction beyond the intellectual or aesthetic realm, social media is antithetical to that pursuit.
As usual, I enjoy your willingness to parse your experience both past and present as well as the artistic vision with which you do so.
Thank you Tim....I have always looked forward to your comments, because they shed light on whether I have conveyed my intent, in my own writing, to the reader...Your take on my take allows me, or helps me, see whether I was successful or not at making my point
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ReplyDeleteThe virtual will never come close imo - ever. It's called "virtual" for a reason. I don't know why anybody puts any stock in it, much less their heart (said the borderline misanthrope)
ReplyDeleteEach to his own but imo, based on years of personal experience dating back to around the early '90s "Prodigy" dinosaur days with virtual/online so-called "friends" - even in rare cases of supposed deep extended online virtual relationships,
in the end they inevitably turned out to be bullshit in the flesh 99 times out of 100.
"Virtual's" main flaw - people are allowed to EDIT themselves, their thoughts, feelings and statements - even photographs - before hitting "send" - unlike in real life.
Combine that with a lack of physical-sensual look, smell, taste, vibe etc ... it's all a charade of potential fantasy / fraud - or more simply put - it's bullshit.
I suppose it beats mumbling to ourselves in times of loneliness, (hence this post)
but often not by much.
(Caution: this comment is bullshit)
I thank you for this comment, and agree with your points made.....and it was the loneliness that led to trust, which in the end is deeply flawed...
DeleteNothing to be offended about here. Just about sums up the situation in your usual well-written way. You and I are acquaintances in a particular sphere. Whether we'd have got on face-to-face at other stages in life - who knows? I'm enjoying this relationship - I hope we both get something out of it, but best not to pretend (as some, unfortunately do) that we're each other's best mates, that what we do and don't do with each other's posts is analysable to any great degree, or that this FB and its cousins are complete replacements for real face-to-face interaction. Cheers, Alistair McC
ReplyDeleteThanks Alistair.....nice to hear from you....
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