Reading Response #3

So here we are at another reader response! Let's get right to it.

Reader Response: "The Age of Autobiography"

by Will Manley

Okay, it's going to be hard not to come off as downright shrill in this post, but I promise to do my best.

We discussed this reading during the lecture titled "Shifting Modes and Mediascapes: The Blogosphere and Social Media."

This was the class where me and fellow classmate Nikki were the DI's, so we had to look rather closely at the readings for this week.

And, let me tell you, this post was particularly painful.

Maybe this is just because I've become a bit dedicated to blogging thanks to a geek culture blog I kept up for another class, or maybe it's just because I like the idea of anybody being able to publish their thoughts on the internet, but I got a little miffed when I was forced to read through the many opinions of Will Manley.

Mainly the opinion that "The Internet is choking to death with autobiographical dreck."

Let me tell you, it's difficult even now not to let out a string of curse words at how blind this guy clearly is.

If I had the chance to talk to this author, I'd probably look him straight in the eyes and say, "Hey! Buddy! You're missing the entire point!"

Sure, blogging doesn't fall into the same template or class or whatever as published autobiographies by people such as Elizabeth Smart and Arnold Schwarzenegger. I get that, I respect that, it's completely understandable.

I work at a bookstore, and believe me, if I had to sell books in our biography section that boring, inconspicuous people had published after writing about themselves in a blog, I'd probably have a problem with it too.

Luckily, book publishers know of the distinction and are usually pretty good at being able to weed those people out.

But the thing is, you have to look at the internet as a form of self-expression. Think of it as a blank canvas for a painter, a blank page for a writer. The same ideas apply.

Sure, not everything found on the internet is going to be worthy of anyone's attention. But is that really the point?

The internet has allowed people to connect in ways that they haven't been able to before. Whether it's through writing or just shared interests, people are able to feel like they're part of a community with like-minded people even if they've never met them in person.

Twitter is a blessing for me that way. I use Twitter as a means of connecting with like-minded people. And I've attempted to do that with my geek culture blog as well, and I enjoy being able to write in a way that I not only feel will apply towards my desired audience, but that is also a form of self-expression.

After all, look at the young fashion blogger we looked at in lecture, Tavi Gevinson.

She isn't as active as a fashion blogger as she used to be. Now she's expanding her horizons and making friends at her school and trying out new things. She documents these events in her blog. Does that make her writing any less worth.

I don't think so, and I hope others agree with me and won't side with the "egotism, self-absorption, navel gazing" that Manley has presented us with.

That's about it for now! Cheers! And happy blogging!

~ topCAPcritic