is a family blog possible?
Logging in, on the list of the 10 most recently updated blogs, I noticed ‘The Roberts Family Web Log’. What an interesting concept: a family web log. It piqued my interest somewhat awefully: how could any family possibly cooperate in the posting on a weblog? Of course, I say this from an obviously skewed perspective; I would never be able to do such a thing with my own family. I feel as if my blog is too personal to share with anyone from my family; the thoughts that express themselves through my blog are for the most part intensely personal and defining thoughts. No one in my family seems to comprehend the way things work in my mind, the way I ascribe importances and make connections. This situation makes me feel as if I’m hiding my blog from them, representative of hiding that aspect of myself from them.
Get the gist of what I’m saying? If so, you probably understand exactly what I find so strange about the idea of a family blog. For me, the blog is not only a tool for communication with others, but also for introspective probing and self-discovery (in fact, I am of the theory most people blog solely for themselves). When I blog, I am forced to articulate my thoughts– under the guise of preparing them for external review– in a way that also makes it easier for me to know and understand more fully what it is I accept, believe, and operate on. So, how can anyone bare their soul that nakedly to anyone in their own family, the people who can hurt us most simply by not agreeing with/validating what we find important? My [untested] hypothesis is that ‘The Roberts Family Web Log’ is meaningless noise, a collection of short unimpressive excerpts from filial life recounted in an impersonal manner. Of course, like the Platonic Socrates, I am open to the possibility that it is more than that: that each family member actually records what they find personally moving without trepidation or fear of rejection. But really, how likely is that?
Possibly relevant posts:
- Whistling while I whine (10/17/2002)
- LaTeX blogs– sounds sexy! (8/3/2001)
- is there something [besides the obvious] wrong with me? (8/1/2001)