In the wake of NCLB and twitter and everything else short attention spanny, these days there are few places for those of us who really like words. You know who you are -- you're the person who quickly writes out 3 well-articulated paragraphs (or a dozen) on a topic, only to get a snarky "tl;dr" from the next person, or some variation thereof. In an age where most communication is done via the type-written word, and all face-to-face or even inflection is left out, we're also losing the patience for people to fill in those gaps and explain themselves. Even the most complex topics are simplified into back and forth, black and white, one-liners.
No one has the time or patience to read anything. Everyone has far more important things to do these days. But they prefer you text rather than call, and they won't check their voicemail (hell, even I'm guilty of not checking it sometimes -- but I will answer your call). And heaven forbid we actually just meet up for coffee. So basically if an issue cannot be explained in 128 characters or less -- fuck it.
Well -- I am guilty of that cardinal sin often on social media - I don't even try to keep an active Twitter Account, because it just goes against every fiber of my being. I have gotten the errors on even Facebook which doesn't have a specific character limit listed, but still will return an error if you go too long. It doesn't stop me from posting what people call the dreaded "Wall of Text" and that precludes me from getting likes most of the time in an era where anything more than a one-liner is rarely rewarded -- and in an era where the "like" is the only form of social reward we get. It's become the closest thing we get to affection these days. Thankfully growing up I learned that it wasn't important that everyone "likes" me, so I've decided not to whore myself for likes. (If you do, that's fine - no judgment - we all whore ourselves for something, I think).
When there's good and thoughtful information to be had, I'll gladly read it. I remember becoming engrossed in a (for the source) long article by David Wong on the "Monkeysphere" -- I tried to get others to read it and appreciate it, but I found that for too many it was also tl;dr for them. And they missed out on a great piece of art. So I do not expect this blog to be popular among the mainstream. Maybe very few people will like it at all. I'm writing it for me and if there are a few like me who also enjoy context, thought, and elaboration -- and thoughtful elaboration -- not like Henry David Thoreau painstaking more is more elaboration -- this is the place for you.
For those of you who try to message your doctor and get an error back because you exceeded the word limit, for those of you who can't stand twitter, for those of you who are tired of people complaining that no one makes solid arguments but also refuse to read too many words, this is a place for you.
All context and all tangents are welcome here.
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