But something weird has been happening lately. Something that is well beyond my sphere of experience. I'm writing this post mostly because I can't even comprehend it.
I've been getting a lot of comments on my blog posts.
(You may chuckle here.)
The weirder part of that is that these comments are from people I don't even know. Random people who are finding some of my posts, reading them, and actually getting incensed enough to comment on them. (Some with the addition of a little 'colorful' language. I've literally never been called those things before.)
I'm not gonna lie, it's kind of awesome. The idea that my words can reach total strangers out there in the internet world, and invoke emotion-filled responses... it's incredible. But I just have to ask one thing.
Why?
Who am I, that people find my blog, read it, and actually care what I say? I only have 11 followers, and all of them are family, roommates of family, or personal friends.
I'm not famous.
I've never even met anyone famous.
I'm not powerful.
I'm not politically active, beyond the bare minimum.
I've never published a book.
I've never recorded a song.
I've never been out of the country.
I've never created powerful art.
I'm not even GOOD at explaining myself in these blog posts.
So what is it? Why do random strangers suddenly care what I think? Why do people leave comments under the name "concerned reader"? Why are these commenters asking me to post other comments I've received, and why do they ask in a tone of voice that implies that I might offend someone or breach justice if I don't present a fair an balanced new-report-level openness in my media communications?
Why do people care what I say? Who am I?
3 comments:
I was looking for pictures of "that's why we don't eat animals" on google images. I'm an illustrator and I've never picked up that book myself but wanted to see some images. You happened to have some.
You're right, you are nobody. And no one cares what you have to say.
Commenting on your narrow-minded post took literally all of 30 seconds and hardly any sweat for what I thought it was worth.
And boy was your reaction worth it.
Nice to see you get so riled up and defensive. I appreciate the time you've taken to argue back without actually arguing anything legitimate and also the time you've spent reflecting so much on your own self worth. It's refreshing to see someone care so much about saving face and I see that my 30 second comment has truly changed your life.
CONCERNED READER STILL HAS CONCERNS.
Dear Fred,
I read your comment several minutes ago, and I'm still cracking up.
Literally. Laughter tears.
That's the funny thing about words that are unconnected with tone and body-language. We can take them to mean whatever we want.
I do understand how someone who doesn't know me can take my sarcasm to mean I’m defensive and angry. Actually, I get that a lot. I should probably work on that. Sorry to disappoint you.
On the other hand, f-bombs are pretty self explanatory, body language or not.
I suppose this is what it all boils down to:
A) It's my personal blog. I choose not to have people cussing at me on it. There's absolutely nothing strange or entertaining about that.
Call me weird, if you like. Last I checked, the country was still free, and people are still allowed to choose what kinds of media they do and don't surround themselves with.
B) I'm not that good at writing. I frequently explain myself badly (and frequently ramble on and on and on and on and on and on and on... you get the idea). I admit to being frustrated when people misunderstand me. But it's not the end of the world.
C) I do agree about the pictures, though. Whether I like the book or not, the art is good.
D) I don't actually care about the animal argument. That's why I didn't argue back.
Neither do I care about what people who are into the debate think of me. But, like I said, it’s a free country. Champion whatever cause you want to. I won’t stand in your way.
E) I wrote the post in the first place because I saw a book that contradicted itself a couple times, laughed at it, and wrote a late night blog post.
My archives are positively packed full of posts on every random subject under the sun, and not all of them are things that matter to me in the slightest.
I just blog like some people twitter. Whatever randomness that comes into my mind.
F) Saving face? For who? All 11 people who occasionally read this blog? Oh, dear. 11 people. My life shall be ruined forever.
G) Sometimes I delete comments because I hate arguing. It annoys me. It annoys other people. It takes up time that I could be spending doing other things like staring at the ceiling or counting grains of sand. So why bother?
(On that note, why bother to write this amazingly endless comment? Maybe I’m hoping that it’ll convince you to go away without my having to be rude about it. Similar to Vogon poetry in Hitchhiker’s Guide, if you will.)
H) Since when is it narrow-minded to disagree with someone? Once again, the whole free-country thing. I’d say, rather, that to be truly open-minded is to accept that sometimes people don’t believe the same things that you do, and that doesn’t make them lesser people or (insert choice expletive here).
I) I'm putting an I bullet point because I'm wondering if anyone will even read this far into my extensive epistle. And also because I’m starting to have fun with trying to extend this into as annoyingly long a post as possible.
J) Dear Concerned Reader,
Please don't take this the wrong way, but why? As Fred has already established, no one cares what I have to say. This being the case, you could probably extend your concern to some other blog that might actually be of some importance. (Refer to bullet E).
I'm not annoyed, offended, or angry. Just legitimately confused about why it makes a difference to anyone. (Also, refer to bullet F). If you do have a good reason, here, I would like to hear it.
K) If I ramble long enough, I might make it all the way to Z.
L) Nah, I don't have the patience for that. Some Doctor Who episodes are calling my name. I'm pretty sure watching tv is a better way to rot my brain that spending any more time on this.
M) The End.
Ps. If I delete any more of your comments, please don’t take it personally. Refer to bullet G.
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