And it came to pass that evil entered the host of the people, whispering, Why dost thou follow? Are thy thoughts not the equal of those that would lead you where *they* would? And the people embraced the corruption of the asterisk, of eyes made of colon, and of phrases abbreviated, and then did grow wroth saying, OMG, verily all *should* know of my offspring’s feats, and of our pilgrimage to the Garden of Olives this very end-of-week. :) And so the voices of the Lord of language were drowned in a sea of look-at-me, and sticks of bread never ending.
And from this sea there arose a beast, and its mark was a Book made of Faces.
Cheek full of tongue folks...I really do like and participate happily in FB (and most conventions of typed language), but that's in spite of the fact that the same social vampires swilling quiet desperation and breathing need into your face everywhere else are in there with us. Speaking of mild rants...
I've been online 'chatting' with folks for 30+ years (not quite back to pneumatic tubes, don't laugh) and a constant negative of social networking in Al Gore's genius lovechild (conceived in a lockbox?) has always been that you can pretend to be anything you want (sexual predators and extreme fetish-folk are excluded from this discussion, I'm talking about people we know); creating a persona that is entirely wishful thinking and social promotion in a nearly consequence-free environment. For example you can plagerize egregiously, and self-describe as a scholar/athlete/Buddhist, then tout your 'independent' thoughts, produce no scholarly work, only dabble in fitness, and not understand or believe in the basic tenets of Buddhism. Look at me! Look at me!...I’m quirky and eclectic! Honest! Plenty of people out there that want to believe.
The courageously real is increasingly rare on the wires; know it/love it when it shows.
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