Welcome to My Vanity

It goes without saying, I suppose, that anyone who has the expectation that what they have to say, or how they say it, is important enough for anyone else to bother reading, must have a certain amount of vanity. This has been true of artists throughout the history of mankind. However, there has historically been a certain level of commitment required to produce a painting, write a novel (and get it published), or learn to play an instrument and actually play or sing in front of a group of complete strangers.

Enter the Internet.

Now, there is almost no price of entry in order to expose one’s grandiose ideas to anyone in the entire world who either has, or knows someone who has, access to a network connection. This has resulted in a deluge of garbage content…what I have repeatedly referred to as the Bread-And-Circuses of modern mankind. It is no longer necessary for those with a desire to influence the masses to actually bother creating content with the intent of distracting them from the realities of our world. No longer is it necessary for them to wave their arms proclaiming “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”, because people are so completely distracted in todays world that they didn’t even notice there was a curtain or anyone standing behind it. Ironically, it is now the unwashed masses who provide their own distractions. It started simply enough with personal home pages on the World Wide Web…how many hours have been spent looking at the picture of someone’s cat or hearing about their kid’s great work in school? This has, of course, progressed to the point of the personal Blog…which I am now beginning to take part…I guess that makes me a bit of a hypocrite. (Don’t get me started on the nightmare that is…YouTube.)

On the one hand, technology has made it possible for a person to reach millions of people with his possibly unpopular opinions in an easily accessible and affordable way. At the same time, this technology has made it possible for a person to spew unbridled garbage for millions of people to endure in an easily accessible and affordable way. It is an ironic dichotomy.

Regardless, I suppose we can only make the best of the situation. So, I have decided to pull my vanity out of the closet and put it out there for everyone to see.