When I first started this blog in November of 2006, it was introduced to me by my friend, Kameelah that I should have an outlet that can be read for the public. I remember back then (now, almost 5 years ago) when most people had no idea what a blog was. The initial reason why I began writing on my blog was to have a place to express myself in a way for my readership to understand me and see that writing really is a passion of mine. Now, when most people think of a blog, they initially think of a gossip site or a music site. On the gossip blogs, people like Nicole Bitchie and Perez Hilton are literally taken seriously as "social media moguls" because they gossip about other people's lives. In essence, these new gossip bloggers are no different from that Globe and National Inquirer magazine that you used to see at the checkout counter of your local grocery store.
Then, on the other spectrum of blogging, you have those that call themselves "journalists or writers" because they simply post music videos and songs and put their opinions on the content. From what I understood when I was studying my Journalism minor in college was that a journalist was a researcher and a explorer of finding new information that they had a passion for writing about. You actually had to intern and study to be considered a journalist. You actually had to write for a publication; now, bloggers hold more weight in most people's eyes than actually truly talented journalists. Any douche-bag or groupie (male or female) with a blog can post music and slate themselves as a "writer" when in all actuality they are NOT a writer. They are a fan with a website!
It's become to easy for people to moniker themselves titles now due to the overload of social media. Any club-going groupie can now say she's a "publicist" when all she does is go out every night looking for a rich basketball player as an insurance policy to her whore-ish lifestyle. Putting "PR" next to your name on Twitter, and having a blog or Tumblr page as your "business page" does NOT make you a publicist. It merely makes you a groupie starving for attention.
Having a Instragram account where you take pictures on your cell phone does NOT make you a "photographer."
Putting up shitty high-school film class-esque videos of your friends rapping in front of your Mom's house does NOT make you a "film maker."
...and posting your opinion on a website does NOT make you a "journalist or writer."
Titles are meant to be given to you by others; they are not meant for you to define yourself as. Calling yourself a "mogul, socialite, or a taste maker" on your Twitter or Facebook account because you have a blog and a few club photos is truly absurd. I remember when I was writing for free for local newspapers (San Francisco Chronicle) and websites (Hip Hop Remix - which isn't around anymore), I didn't call myself a "staff writer." I was a freelance writer and just like any other thing in life, you must start mopping the floors before you can own the building. It's sad to see that most people have no sense of hard work or ambition, and it definitely shows within this "Social Media is my Social Life" generation which I like to call the "Crack Baby Era" (which is most people that are socially detached from reality). We are in a period of time where people don't have emotions; they type smiley and sad faces. We are in a period of time where people are so entrapped in their cell phones that they don't look both ways before they cross the street. We are in a period of time where people would rather text, email, Tweet, IM, etc (whatever the fuck) their problems with another human being rather than call them and speak to them to their face.
You know it's sad when real actual photographers, journalists, film makers, etc. are not taken in the same high regard as self-proclaimed internet celebrities. We are the delusional and heavily medicated. We are "...half awake in a fake empire." (a lyric from "Fake Empire by The National).
1 comment:
This post...pretty much sums up internet culture as a whole. There are millions of self appointed gurus, experts, and specialists out there, making it seem so easy to "be somebody". It makes it tough for real artists and creative professionals who have put in years of sweat equity. When it comes down to real business, the fake empires have a way of phasing themselves out, because they don't produce the results they claim to know so much about.
The original idea behind blogging (expression) seems to be forgotten for the most part. But there are still some good blogs out there (like yours! :-)) Your post has definitely reminded me of why I began blogging in the first place.
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