"Most of us present ourselves as who we wish we were..the conflict between that idea and reality is always fascinating."Actor Peter Sarsgaard
I was just catching up on news last weekend and came across articles on blogging. Its been quite a popular topic because of all the controversies about this 'newfound' freedom of speech.
That brings me to a burning question - what is the purpose of blogging?
In my view, my blog is my personal space for me to voice out my thoughts, my musings. I write to get it off my chest, I write to keep in touch with friends, I write to 'document' my thoughts. The blog is my channel of communication to my friends - I write so that they would be able to get to know me better.
However, there had been many cases of individuals being penalised for voicing out their thoughts. I understand that we have to be responsible about what we say, but should we be penalised for speaking our mind, for sharing our thoughts? I guessed all these would inevitably boils down to the irony of freedom of speech - you are welcome to speak your mind, but only it comes with a price - so in simplistic terms, you are to practise self-censorship - so what happened to freedom of speech?
So perhaps we should just lock our blogs - eyes only! Exclude those who are out of the circle of trust - so that you wouldn't get into trouble for what you blog! I think this is especially true for pple who have the tendancy to blog about work and their collegues. A simple google search could cost you your job!
That brings me to another point, which actually is more relevant to the above-mentioned quote - Do we write for an audience?
There had been a few occasions when I've written in the fit of anger or a surge of emotions, only to delete them later, for the fear of offending friends or being seen in a negative light. Self-censorship! We practise it everyday, whether sub-consciously or not, because often, we are scared of revealing our vulnerabilities and who we really are.
There are plenty of bloggers who write for an audience, so they would only highlight certain events to create false impressions - and I'm sure all of us do that - just to varying degrees.
Just as the song by Savage Garden (Santa Monica) goes
"On the telephone line I am anyone I anything I want to be, I can be a super model, a no-namer, you wouldn't know the difference.."
Of course the reference should be the cyber space. This 'living denial' sometimes get so real that you forget who you really are - in your mind, you become the 'constructed personality'. I think many people don't realise that - that's why they can't truly be happy. Because they are constantly in denial of who they really are.
So are you scared of being you?
Do you write for an audience?
