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[Warning: this may all sound pretentious (etc.), but you got off likely: I was going to go HTML crazy and bore you all crazy with loads of links to other threads (etc) to illustrate the following (phew!)...but I didn't want to aggrevate anybody more than I may already be...etc]
I'm not sure what prompted it, but I've been thinking about the kinds of interactions that develop between users of message boards recently..
I'm really glad you typed this. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of members and other lurkers on Barbelith have been thinking about the various issues involved in and evoked by this thread of late (i.e. before the thread was posted). I myself have recently been fascinated by this (our) virtual model of a progressive society (as one may see it); and the various layers of synchronically and other such parallels with all kinds of social arenas, etc. e.g. the accepted and comprehensive use of social mores versus an accepted, shared accurate language etc.
A friend of mine, a particularly spiritual soul, has just come back from India and described how (as many people do) that she had rediscovered herself again, because the real 'her' was what survived when all the usual social baggage had been left at home. While she was saying this I was drawing parallels between her holiday, and my recent acceptance into these hallowed virtual halls.
Indeed, as a virtual model, this place is a great way of seeing yourself, refining and enriching your knowledge and behaviour, and also understanding / tolerating others. I guess there will always be a need to re-examine oneself and identify new and / or old habits, etc. But although, I'm more than happy to be slapped down, etc, when needed and / or deserved, sometimes it's hard to tell the tone in which the telling off is delivered. My Dad used to wind me up rotten when I was a kid, and when he really told me off I used to laugh thinking he was joking, until I saw the "look in his eyes". Kind-of like the reverse of 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf'?
I've wanted to start a thread about this, but I'll bet there's an old one gathering dust somewhere around here which answers all my questions for me (?), so I'm still holding back on this till I'm sure it's needed.
So what do you reckon? Interesting or a load of old bollocks? [joke?} |
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