Look! Squirrel!

When I started this blog I made a commitment of sorts that I would regularly post, mostly as a way of continually working through whatever creative urges I might have.

Since then I've picked up other hobbies: other blogs, playing bass, heavy reading and study, wasting time on Facebook, and, now, I'm administering another website.

I've not forgotten this little blog, but work, family, the grind of daily life, hobbies and other stuff have kept my focus elsewhere. I hope to write more here in the coming months.

"I don’t tolerate intolerance."

I saw that sentence in the "about me" section of a fellow blogger's blog. At first I thought, "Gee, that's good." But then it dawned on me: isn't it intolerant to not tolerate intolerance?

I don't know if that's ironic, hypocritical, or simply inconsistent, but I can't seem get past the obvious contradiction.

Oh, sure, I know what the blogger was trying to say, but what he actually said is a contradiction. There are no two ways about it.

This is one of the problems with the absolutist-relativism (another contradiction, an oxymoron perhaps) of the politically correct elements of society. It "I'm OK, you're OK. . . as long we agree." Discrimination is acceptable as long as it is directed at those with which you disagree. Or, put another way, only the "tolerant" (narrowly defined) are "tolerated."

Maybe he should've just kept his rule simple by saying, "Don't say anything mean about anyone else." I think we could all agree that's a reasonable rule.

Why do bloggers blog?

I was listening to a talk radio program today that focused on the negatives of the communication age. In the opinions of the host and guest, the internet, computer games, cell phone calling and texting, social networking sites like myspace and facebook, and IM'ing all too often disconnect us from "face-to-face" communication. We substitute real human interaction for electronic chatter. I had to admit that I agreed, but the the host and guest really said nothing new.

What stood out in that discussion was the guest's assertion that these things tend to be very "me-centered." The host called myspace, facebook (not blogging specifically but by implication), and other internet vehicles "emotional capitalism: the self is the commodity."

Now that jumped out at me. I had to ask myself why I have 4 blogs (each with different themes), post on various music and sports message boards/forums, and others focus much of my leisure time in this kind of electronic self expression.

The dirty secret is that I started this blog in the hopes of making money. I got hooked. My varied interests in life seemed to dictate the need for another blog -- one for each interest. I found myself talking with virtually no one around to respond, challenge, criticize, agree, question, supplement or otherwise add to my knowledge or understanding about these things. And I never made a penny.

The goal then became to use my blogs as something of a journal. Th was what I told myself, and there is some validity in that. But, if blogging for me were about chronicling my life (thoughts, emotions, ideas, history), I don't need to be on the internet to do that. I could just write that stuff down on my computer and/or on paper.

So why do I write for public consumption? I think I need to feel like my ideas matter. Deep down, I'm probably looking for recognition, perhaps even praise, from others. Maybe this is my way of feeling like a "somebody." In reality I am a "somebody" but what better (surface) validation can there be for that than the recognition of complete strangers?

I don't think I can answer the question posed in this title, at least not about other bloggers. But I think I answered it for myself.