I have been instructed to read an interview with a well-known blogger. This has been done in order to invoke the creative muse to write this blog. I have never heard of any of the individuals on the blogger list my professor gave me. I chose to read an interview with Fred First, because his name sounded the most interesting. Fred First sounds like the name of a punk rocker or an author to me. Fred First started blogging because he lives in a small town. He wants to communicate with others and express his opinions in an unrestricted manner. Fred First isn't afraid to speak his mind, which I admire greatly. He doesn't really cater any specific audience as far as I can tell. In his writings, he strives to find his own, distinct tone of voice. These are natural and understandable desires, no?
I'm starting to bore myself a little (sorry Professor Macek if you ever read this and I'm doing it wrong so to speak), thus I am going to describe why I started blogging. I am narcissistic and love talking about myself. If you are repulsed by this, then I will admit this may not be a blog worth spending your undoubtedly precious time on. At least I have the gumption to admit my character flaws. Anyhow, I actually have to blog for class, less my uber-important grade take a beating. As we all know, nothing is static. Now I have another reason for wanting to continue this blog... read on to have your mind effectively blown by my insight.
Where I live, which I will not disclose for a variety of reasons, is what I consider to be a veritable wasteland of hyper-conservatism and primitive thinking. I hope to reach out to at least a few people who think in a similar fashion. Drinking in bars is alienating and a major waste of money. Clubs in the city are pretentious and too many people try are overly self-aware. I don't care what sports team gets which player. It will have literally no effect on my quality of life. Let's stop this prescribed self-indulgence and create something. Let's harness the power of the stars and create a wormhole. I resolve that I will create something soon and blog about it. If I do that, then I ask anyone who reads this to not listen to Lady Gaga or Jutsin Beiber for a month. Also refuse to buy clothing from a name brand store or read a celebrity gossip magazine. If this happens, I'm relatively sure we'll all be one step closer to enlightenment.
Hi Brett,
ReplyDeleteYour blog has piqued my curiosity. In general, blogs always struck me as somewhat self indulgent, rather "blah, blah, blah, me, me, me;" but I'm willing to give them a deeper look in the name of scholarly research. As the "nontraditional student" in our class--the one getting up there in years--I worry more about things like short term memory loss than bars and clubs. Still, I like the idea of pointing a mind in the right direction and using it to create. I look forward to reading your next post to see if you have started work on the wormhole, or at least have come up with a creative way to do this blogging stuff.
Not listening to Lady Gaga is harder than you think: I was walking down a street in Venezia last October and something by Lady Gaga was playing blaring through some shopkeeper's radio.
ReplyDeleteBut I totally agree with not indulging in popular culture...it seems to have an all-around bad effect on the population.
Interesting, but is being truly "enlightened" involve disregarding what others consider entertainment. Personally, I don't endulge in any of the above mentioned activities, but I just ignore it, it's not my thing. On the same hand, I will never downplay the significance a Bieber or Gaga song my play in another individual's life. The Beatles' early music had just as much meaning behind it as Justin Bieber's does now, and how many important musicians have they influenced today. Michael Jackson made a song about monsters and demons almost 30 years ago, and people still get excited when they hear it (every damn Halloween!!!). I guess what I getting at is I believe enlightenment is discovering what is important to you and how you can accomplish the things you need to feel fufilled and self-actualized, and understanding everything else is just entertainment. I should really be doing homework right now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with JP; it's not enlightenment if we ignore pop culture simply because it's popular. While I must admit I don't see any redeeming qualities in Justin Bieber, I can't say the same about Lady Gaga. Personally, I'm not a fan of her--musically or lyrically--yet I can't help but admire her creativity. She's an artist (an annoying artist, perhaps, but still an artist), and being popular doesn't negate that in any way.
ReplyDeleteDo you want to really be "enlightened" when it comes to media? Then ignore popularity entirely! I certainly encourage you to seek out obscure content to consume--Lord knows *I* listen to plenty of bands that nobody's every heard of. :) At the same time, don't be afraid to enjoy and appreciate something just because people say it's "too popular" or "overrated". It's great to listen to an under-the-radar local band, for instance, but it's also fine to listen to a multi-platinum pop star if that suits your fancy.
It's not their popularity that makes Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber dangerous--in my opinion--but rather the fact that they (and other stars) are so rapidly changing modern global culture. To have global popularity isn't necessarily a bad thing--it's the fact that foreign countries would rather listen to Lady Gaga and buy Disney toys than enhance their own culture While I was abroad, it was somewhat difficult to get immersed in the culture of the countries I visited because of the fact that I was constantly surrounded by popular AMERICAN culture.
ReplyDeleteI find it rather disturbing to go to a foreign country and see Disney stores and Pizza Huts scattered around instead of that country's own stores and restaurants.
As one of my professors over there pointed out: "to be different is a good thing." Blasting American culture around the globe isn't.
and there's my two cents ;)
Yeah, I totally agree with you on that. It does seem like all too often "globalization" really means "Americanization".
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement about being different is good, except when being different is done without conscious effort. When one goes out of their way to be "different" is that really any better than falling into the traps of popular culture?
ReplyDeleteAlso, the spread of American culture isn't necessarily a bad thing. We can't forget that this world works on the basis of supply and demand, so there has to be a demand for Western culture if it spreads througout the globe at such a rapid pace. Its not such a bad thing to have a McDonald's in Italy, we've been eating the crap for years now, we might as well pass it to somewhere else.
While it will be an enormous sacrifice, I agree to refrain from Lady Gaga for a month. Don't know what I would do without the Beib, though.
ReplyDeleteNone of these things are bad on paper. It is the perversion of potentially good things by poor consumer choices and media manipulation which lead to the devolution of our culture and virtually everything else by association.
ReplyDelete