Tuesday, October 24, 2006

What does a blind man see in his dreams?

I have to tell you. I read textbooks onto tapes for the visually impaired, and I love it. I get to study all this stuff and I get paid for it. It's great.

I also noticed recently that I have comments on my blog. This presents somewhat of a problem. Of course immediately the problem is not appearent. You might think to yourself, "What? he's crazy. Isn't that the point of blogging, getting responses, eliciting feedback on your thoughts, participating in the larger world!"

Well, you may be right. And even I must admit, at least initially, that I do like the idea of comments. But I'm almost afraid to look. What if they disagree with me, or worse, what if they agree. They might bring up good points. These commentators on my simple rantings might even find something interesting to say. In fact, that is usually the case. And what do I do about that? Well naturally, society dictates that I respond. Even if I wasn't the type of guy who likes to get in the last word, I would feel compelled to respond to my readers. (I prefer to think of them as adoring fans, but that may not be quite accurate.) And then what? Do they respond to my responses?

It is an ongoing cycle of madness. Where once I was a simple man trying to just leak my mind into the internet, now I am involved in discussions. DISCUSSIONS! I would never have the time to just write anymore. I would be obliged to just respond to every notice. I wouldn't get any sleep. I would be constantly hounded by thoughts of response.

"Did I say something appropriate?" "Is there something there for me to read today?" "What do I do if nobody commented today?" "Is anybody listening!?"

It all becomes a practice in futility...So the question is; Should I even answer the comments at all? But what if I don't? Then my blog becomes moot. It is completely unknown, and undiscussed. I would never know that someone thinks my babblings are, "trite drivel." And that's important.

What I really need is a large group of people who sit around all day and comment on my blogs. This would incite new readers to come, and the conversations could grow and influence people all over the world, and all I would have to do is write. Hmmmmm. But on the other hand, I would become disconnected from popular opinion and current social trends. I wouldn't know how to interact any more, and my writing would suffer. Slowly my blogs would deteriorate until they were nothing but odd ramblings of a detatched individual.

Boy, I'm sure glad that hasn't happened yet. I guess I'd better answer my comments...the alternative would be unbearable.

2 comments:

Richard Chamberlain said...

Nah. You need not reply to comments, unless they call for it. And even then, it is common to just reply to that person via email. But I would not worry about it. Do not feel pressure to reply to comments. My opinion.

Derrick Duncan said...

Thanks, I probably will anyway. Just because. At least to the comments that interest me. :)