McLuhan on Blogs
Posted on:: December 21st, 2003
Mark at the McLuhan Program Home comments on Rebecca’s piece in The Guardian about blogging (and my comments on her comments). Good stuff. I studied with McLuhan for a year as a grad student and found his core methodology capable of uncovering important truths, although it also can turn up lots of shards, and the occasional old broken button.
Categories: Uncategorized dw
Oy! Hi David, it’s been a while.
I decided to perhaps add to the participatory nature of blogging by writing something back. So here is my contribution to the this post.
Blogging – instant worldwide writing and publishing abitlity at the fingertips of every human being (aparently cats have blogs too, and well, maybe not every human being, some still don’t have electricity) so let’s try again – Blogging – instant worldwide capability to share one’s voice with everyone. Hm… not sure if that could capture it.
There is an aspect of timelessness. For most everyday variety human beings timelessness is something that lasts maybe 20 years, when one reaches for the love letters received what seemed like ancient history type of timelessness, 20 years ago. It could even seem that we in fact could step in the same spot in the river twice (suspend the disbelief for a moment) and relieve the love expressed then and unlocked now in our reading.
This ‘writing ourselves into existence’ notion is quite amazing. ‘writing ourselves’ for ourselves into existence of oneself now as one reads the one’s writing from then – this kind of timelessness.
So let’s try this again. Blogging – every reader a writer, every writer a reader. – this had been said before and it still inspires me. In the last few months I have been mostly a reader. I love the blog-reader function of a conversation. I read even though the blog-author may not know I am engaged in a conversation with them. One doesn’t have to always leave comments for the author to let them know that I am here, the reader is engaged in a conversation. Because I do carry what I just read somewhere else. Maybe like a Bee visiting flowers on the sunny meadow. Well, fuck the metaphors because the real life voices in the blogs I read are far more interesting. I am uncovering the humanity in conversation with itself, uncovering itself in real-time. Perhaps that’s much more interesting than any possible accurate descriptions of this phenomenon. There you can find a sense of awe, wonder and at the same time awkwardness and perhaps embarrassment. It’s all in there, beautiful and messy, raw and refined. Over edited and vulgar. The rebel and the savior.
I always like weblogs being a perfect messiness of life unfolding in real time. Love and hate and petty theft and flame wars and civic movements and complaints and love affairs and crying and death and beer drinking. All faces of humanity all at once in real time. Quite overwhelming it seems. That messiness of life. Pretty fucking exciting. I hope we can sustain this messiness for a long time before somebody starts writing dissertations on blogging and what it is and what it all means.
I would vote to keep the messiness going. Let’s see some more humanity at play. Some more exploring, endless not-knowing of rediscovery of seemingly well known life lived in real time before somebody writes ‘Definitive Guide to Blogging’.
Some think it’s anarchy but it’s just freedom to have one’s voice speak back to us again after it was initially expressed. A chance to step in the same spot in the river one more time and fall in love with the world again.
All the best.
Thanks for your enthusiasm David.
Marek J
“A perfect messiness of life unfolding in real time” – well, that just about hit it on the head for me.
Go messiness! Messiness is life. No shit. And full of shit at the same time.
Test
McLuhan on Blogs .
Go messiness! Go Shit! Hey, that reminds me I penned something about Pigs and Cherries
“Every writer is a reader, every reader a writer. Conversation; moving a coversation forward becomes the central point in blogging. Who happens to be speaking it – perhaps not as important. A Pig sitting up an Oak tree with a bowl of cherries can become relevant if it’s willing to participate and contribute to a conversation that community is eagerly engaged in.”
So Watch out for Community!
Go Dean!
Messiness
David had a post with a couple of links to other people’s comments on blogging. I’ve pretty much wearied of talk about blogging, but I love the conversations that follow up about connections, and people, and contact and ideas. My…
I like the way Rebecca analysis the use of the blog. The reading, understanding and commenting that is presented in blogs when on topic are truly inlightening for me. A wonderful way to learn and express your feelings without feeling guilt for what you said. We can learn so much from others, blogs allow us to listen, which to me is the best form of communication.I will check back and see what is said here later on. I find this very interesting.
Take care and bless you
Steve
Marek:
“I hope we can sustain this messiness for a long time before somebody starts writing dissertations on blogging and what it is and what it all means. ”
Seems a few years later and we already at this point. We have been there for a while. Garbage dumping must now happen.