Blog-jectivity

To begin... Isn't that always the hardest part? A blank page can be intimidating. As an amateur poet and screenwriter, I know a thing or two about procrastination as a way of delaying the onset of reality, as if the walls of a meticulously-constructed dream world will come crashing in on themselves if I fail in the endeavor and must face harsh truths.

Self-doubt has always been the most difficult aspect of the process for me. The passage of time has been the only and best remedy for such maddening inertia. Staring at a lifetime of blank pages, like some physical or digital embodiment of regret, can be just enough of a purpose to transcend an otherwise interminable delay in action.

However, there are other, more complex problems in blogging effectively. It is not merely enough to write. I'm sure most all bloggers nurture some unspoken, unwritten desire to be read by others. Color and controversy are two ways of provoking a response, achieving a reaction, initiating a dialogue, yet what is sacrificed in the trade-off is a dispassionate discourse.

Some people would claim it to be an inevitability, that objectivity (or "blog"jectivity in this case) does not truly exist. So, assuming that objectivity truly is an illusion, knowing that I must alienate some to attract others is a tough proposition for someone like myself (and I don't necessarily mean taking sides or feigning exclusivity or revealing my biases). There is, in fact, a far more subtle means of removing the chaff, so to speak. I would propose that a simple declaration of purpose might serve the same function.

Thus far, I have managed not to do this (one might think), and believe me, the irony is not lost on me that, by not doing so, I have still sent the less-inclined among you to greener fields (or at least the promise of them made by the "Next Blog" link). Even so, maybe I have exposed my fascination with understanding mediums, in this instance: blogging as a cross-cultural phenomenon. It's a good thing because:

• I haven't the desire to sell a product (though I do take donations)
• I cherish my anonymity far too much at this point to part with it, but that, of course, is subject to what is at stake or at risk. Nevertheless, I am certain the enlightened reader could probably discern a great deal about me by deconstructing this blog to determine what makes me tick, in general.
• I won't post poetry or writing samples because copyright protection and anonymity do not play well together.
• I cannot bring myself to thrust my politics or opinions upon you.... much! :)
• I have learned the futility of persuasion as a means of overcoming individual perceptions of what is plausible.
• I do not believe the Socratic or dialectic method (http://www.str.org/free/studies/socratic.htm) of exchange exists in the common tongue any more and certainly not with the untenable and finite reality of online posts. (A poem that might relate a little of why I think this to be true is "The Silver Swan". It's very brief. You can take a look here: http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem874.html)

Nonetheless, I love to write, and I do not begrudge others the freedom to engage in these activities. Hell, I think that's what makes blog-hopping so darned interesting. Variety is the spice of life, right?

An interesting movie on the subject of factual reporting versus color pieces in journalism is Shattered Glass. It tells the true account of a young, ambitious journalist who began to deliberately invent stories (either in part or on a whole) for his magazine, The New Republic, in an attempt to spice up what would have otherwise been standard, slightly-stale reporting. Even if the conflict of the story never moves beyond the office politics surrounding his ultimate downfall, it still paints a stirring portrait of an individual caught in the spiralling web of their own lies. It is the third act of a tragedy. He is a study of facades where, in a superficial sense, he is confident and charismatic, but beneath this is a deeply troubled individual masking a host of insecurities and desperate to hold sway over the tenuous, self-gratifying acclaim that his pseudo-journalistic fabrications provided for him. Good story, and if not, at least positive proof that Anakin Skywalker (aka Darth Vader, aka Hayden Christensen) can act.