me me me!

so i'm not really sure how i feel about this blog thing. here's why: we have reached a point in our culture (and no, i don't think i'm telling you anything you don't already know) where people are going to greater and greater lengths in an effort to insert themselves into people's consciousness.

this is the sort of thing i'm talking about. (note: not work safe; for those of you who can't or would rather not click, it's a clip of a comely young lass gyrating in various states of undress in front of her webcam.)

clearly, the concept of "dignity" has taken a beating recently. and i'm not simply referring to the desire to be famous; i'm quite sure that desire has existed as long as the concept of fame itself. however, i would like to believe that there was a time when people who wanted to get famous at least tried to develop a certain talent or skill. such as writing, perhaps, or sword swallowing. then, a little something called television came along. and suddenly there was all this airtime to fill. people started coming up with concepts like "talk shows", and their bastard stepchild, "reality TV". gradually, people began to notice that you didn't have to be particularly good at anything to garner people's attention. in fact, you could be spectacularly bad at something and it would work just as well. and if the thing you happened to be bad at was, oh, say basic life & interpersonal skills, so much the better.

so now it's come to this. a teenage girl will fondle herself in front of a small camera and make the footage available to millions of people, for no reason other than...well, to be seen by millions of people. why? what does she hope to gain? is she looking for validation of her looks? presumably she already finds herself attractive or she wouldn't have had the cajones to pull the stunt in the first place. perhaps she thinks that talent scouts are coming webcam sites everywhere, looking for the next strumpet to insert into a tired sitcom, or sign to a lucrative lip-syncing contract. money could be a factor if this content originated from some pay site, but it looks pretty home-grown. plus, the look in her eye as she's flashing her wares suggests to me that she's getting something out of this that you can't stick in your wallet and take down to the mall to spend on a new outfit.

anyway, to (finally) bring this back around to blogging, part of me can't help but see this whole online diary phenomenon as simply an extension of the mindless exhibitionism that we seem to be in the grips of. the good news is this: the internet is a medium that we the people (to some extent) can control. you can write whatever you want in a blog. and i think there are many people out there who have taken the opportunity to really dig deep, and share things that give us some insight into how they really think, how they really feel, and - by extension - who we are as a people. so blog away, and don't spare us the dirt.