The Great Unread
For more details about people not reading your Blog, moan with “The Great Unread”—and, no, linking to Nicholas Carr’s Blog does not make Nicholas link back to my Blog. It does not matter how brilliant or creative this Blog post may be. Nicholas always runs the risk of being “tricked” by a colored “charlatan” in the eyes of his corporate pals no matter how honest this non-incorporated author may be… Nicholas Carr is not soft on crime! Vote for Nick!
The Blog for me is merely a secondary, self-entertaining extension to my journals written in Microsoft Word since the early 1990s. Journaling helps me to remember what should not be forgotten and to forget what should not be committed to memory. This assistance is crucial in the world of information technology. You can get into a struggle for hours on some stupid computer and it’s shame on me when this struggle presents itself again because I forgot about the previous struggle. Those who do not study their history are doomed to repeat it.
For those who live by the numbers—and you happen to use WordPress—you can consider the ratio of comments to posts shown in your Dashboard. In the rasx() context, we have (as of 8/23) 187 over 417. This is about 45%—so people (including my self references) respond directly to almost half of what is said here. This number adds quality to the net monthly Blog hits which hover around 2,500 (but dropping lately). In the rasx() context, self referencing across relatively large amounts of time is not a sign of masturbatory egocentrism. It is a sign of consistency and integrity. We don’t need to be flaky. You can think of Robinson Crusoe marking the days in the tree when you really need to do that sort of thing…
Another phenomenon which may seem surprising to those that think they “know” me is my tendency to ask myself, ‘What the hell was I doing for the last three months?’ This question is asked in frustration when measuring my progress. It implies a dissatisfaction with myself (gasp!) and is indicative of my self-criticism and my will for self-improvement (two more gasps!). Now that a Blog is at my disposal, there is a more exact measurement of, say, how I have not been working on MOTF since February 2005.
Most of the people in my few circles do not use computers and the Internet for the social purposes that guarantee an “online community.” Never have I heard my friends and colleagues ranting passionately about exploring the Internet and organizing over the Internet—and, “I just can’t wait” to actively engage something on the Internet. So it’s a real plus to have about 2,000 people every month measure my loser-ness up to the minute. Now I’m no Dave Winer but my other point is that I was Blog writing before the slang word existed. The Funky Knowledgebase at SonghaySystem.com has entries dating back before 1998. This work is largely for my health. And you, reader, being constructive during my process, are a much-appreciated addition.
There is very little sympathy with me for those who are “hurt” about being “ignored” on the Internet. Nick, don’t feel for me. The Internet is not my mother. Hell, the Internet is not Africa. No one ever said to you in primary school that the technical innovations of Western civilization were designed to nurture and care for you (in most of my childhood classrooms they only implied this). On the contrary: those that are so “hurt,” many of them, would like to hold an adoring audience captive in a prison of sorts that resembles the mind-control factories of traditional, centrally-controlled media. Hollywood swingin’. Me been there. Me wished for that. Candles on that cake blown out a long time ago…
A centrally-controlled media needs access to your native language. It is most convenient not to “deal” with your native language when it is not one of those spoken by the G8. It is ‘easier’ to eliminate your non-G8 language and ‘standardize you’ according to a more “widely accepted” language. This activity is what the missionaries, European and African, undertake in Africa to this day. To ‘wish’ that everyone in, say, Africa can read my Blog in English is selfish destructiveness. I would not ‘wish’ the English language on my worst enemy. Any language that provides by design an egocentric worldview is dangerous—there are a whole lot of dangerous languages—imperial languages—all over the world… English is the Java of the European Imperial Application Framework. There are virtual English machines running in the strangest, “exotic” places. Have you seen the new remoting technology from Rupert Murdock? Of course you have… Me dealing with what I have—and here is the last sentence of the last paragraph (Click!).