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When I logged into Gaia, this morning, the splash page gave me pause. No, I wasn't oggling the blue mermaid. Rather, I was a tiny bit stunned by the caption to the left of the mermaid, as well as the overall implication of both text and image.
The headline was "Be The Real You," and it went on to advertise how, here on Gaia, you can do just that by (this was the implication I took away) reinventing yourself electronically.
That's nothing new for the internet. This is not a new revelation to me, nor do suspect it'd surprise anyone else.
My interest in logging my reaction to the page is stimulated more than a little by my recent re-reading of Hugh Nibley's article "Victoriosa Loquatcia: The Rise of Rhetoric and the Fall of Everything else." Pardon any misspelling of the Greek.
His article discusses how rhetors managed to work their way into positions of power, using rhetoric to debauch society over time, the result being a more or less mindless society that only cared for "theatromania," which I think is readily apparent in our own society.
Real thought gave way to blind, externally stimulated emotions, and critical thinking to swallowing wholesale the sales pitch of someone who sounded convincing.
So what does that have to do with the splash page? Well, if you look at the mermaid (no, not the fact that she's practically nude), you'll see in her face and posture an utter sense of the carefree. She seems so relaxed, so happy. I suspect that's the exact image the artist intended to convey.
When you couple that sense of easy liberty (note that I specifically avoid using the word "freedom" wink with the text urging you to become your "real self" (as opposed to the flesh and blood entity you really are), it's an easy lure.
"Hey," the thinking goes (conciously or not). "I've got these problems with life, and I'm not happy because of it. If I join Gaia, I can escape my problems, and get footloose and fancy-free, just like that mermaid!" I suspect there may be some people who secretly wish they could be that mermaid (and probably some adolescent males who wish they could be with her).
So right from the doorstep, Gaia Online is promoting self-deception and a shirking of personal responsibility. Harsh much? It might seem that way if you don't think about it.
With that in mind, yes, I post here too. Have I wasted time on Gaia? More often than I should have, and I need to change that.
Am I decrying a bit of escapism or entertainment? Not at all. I think that a balanced life includes such things, to a moderate degree.
Sadly, were I to post this blog entry as a thread (even in the vaunted "Extended discussion," which seems to have severed most ties to intelligence), I would be openly attacked and ridiculed for the generalities I make. I would be assailed by numerous "What ifs" and "You're wrongs" and so forth, simply because people would fail to recognise that--in this case-- a generalised argument is precisely what I'm making.
I don't have enough information, time, desire, or ability to make a personal evaluation of every last person who would post on such a thread, let alone on all of Gaia. Therefore, I'm left to examine broader trends and attitudes, as well as the implication of those trends and attitudes. What are we thinking? Where are we headed as a society? How will today's thoughts and actions impact tomorrow and beyond?
It's not that I don't recognise exceptions, even if I don't explicitly state them. And yes, I'm wary of even my own blanket statements, and try to avoid them, or properly qualify them.
And in all this, the critical thinking, the actual comprehension of my point, the potential for self-evaluation and deeper understanding of oneself and how one is influenced would get lost in a deluge of petty arguments and accusations, if this were put up for public discussion.
Thus it is with many of the threads I've posted on in Extended Discussion. I very quickly gave up posting in General Discussion (I rarely even visit it anymore) once I realised how utterly inane and puerile it was. Not to mention shockingly immoral and just plain stupid, in so many instances.
But alas, the rhetors of my day have ensnared us, just as the rhetors of Rome, Greece, and Asia ensnared their people. So I stand somewhat alone, a truly dissident voice who will get written off as "arrogant," "self-pitying," or "detached/clueless" because I don't pander to the masses.
Fair enough. I wouldn't be the first.
An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex.
- Aldous Huxley
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
- Robert Frost
 Llandygai · Tue Jul 01, 2008 @ 02:42pm · 2 Comments |
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