Given some extra time on my hands this afternoon, I happened to review the content of this blog over the course of the past few months and I’ve noticed a discernible, and disturbing, change in focus.
My earlier posts drew from everyday activities in which I was engaging or interested — including, without limitation, internet marketing, search engine optimization, social networking, Web 2.0, and venture capitalism. Also included were my attempts to refine my writing skills for the ostensible purpose of changing my focus from legal persuasive writing to a more narrative format.
Lately, however, my posts have been reduced to simple, and admittedly mediocre, reviews and/or publication of pre-existing media, music and otherwise. This has occurred for a variety of reasons.
The first reason is that, although I am still irritated about the deteriorated level of intelligent and reasoned discourse as to politics and current events here in the United States, the subject matter no longer raises my ire the way it used to. Perhaps, after having been deluged with stories of unopposed incompetence and corruption for the past 6 years, I've simply become jaded with the entire system – to the extent that even the guilty verdict again “Scooter” Libby and the shame of the Walter Reed Hospital closure are of no greater concern to me than the latest hairstyle choice of Britney Spears. Indeed, based upon reports from our beloved media, one could easily beleive these events are of equal importance in the great scheme of things.
Unfortunately, at this point, the media is probably right. And at this point, even pointing fingers at the fourth estate, which shares much of the blame for such shameful conduct, no longer concerns me. They are who they are, and they cater to the lowest common denominator to which they must cater. There's no such thing as right and wrong; just popular opinion. So be it.
The second subject which I am no longer driven to discuss is internet advertising and online media trends. This has become the case as I have been forced, out of monetary necessity, to abandon the online marketing and retail experiments I undertook towards the latter months of last years. Instead, I have been spending much of my time looking for another paying gig that would not otherwise require me to once again join league with evil Satanic forces – otherwise known as the practice of law. I would much rather put my dispute resolution and writing skills to better use than convincing judges into allowing one evil conglomerate to extort money from another. In this regard, however, I have found that writing about the search for employment is not necessarily the most stimulating of topics to discuss, let alone to read.
This, in turn, leads to yet another subject matter I have avoided discussing of late. The online business world in which I hope to eventually garner wages.
Last week, I fortuitously obtained an interview to work in just such a non-legal capacity, and with one of my favorite internet companies – MyBlogLog. Given the public profile associated with the position (as well as my underlying Jewish neurotic angst), I thought it best not to discuss any of the ideas I have and/or were discussed as to making MyBlogLog even better than it already is – which is, unfortunately, a subject matter I would otherwise very much like to discuss.
I still hold to that maxim to some extent. However, I do believe no damage would be done by simply writing about the fact that I flew out to San Francisco last week to meet with MyBlogLog, and that said meeting did nothing but further increase my desire to work for them. Suffice to say, they have some great ideas and will likely progress into one of the premier “online community” applications on the web (although, quite obviously, their progression would go much faster with me onboard – ahem).
This all leads to an underlying question – as I no longer apparently have the angst to write about the state of politics or current events, I no longer wish to burden the ever-diminishing readers of this blog about my personal exploits, and I am restrained by my own code of conduct from writing about the internet industry I have taken on as a potential second career, what the fuck else can I write about?
Where does this blog go from here? And should I even worry about that issue in the first place?
Ironically, I was talking with Votar about this topic recently. Specifically, to what end do we even have blogs? Is it because we want to obtain what little fame and notoriety that may be available to bloggers in today’s world? Or is it because we wish to use it as a cathartic means of therapy and/or creativity for our own personal reasons? Or is it truly the best way in today's world to meet people of like minds and form new corresponding bonds?
All of those reasons are fine, I suppose.
However, whereas I originally found myself wanting to write about certain topics simply because I thought they merited discussion on a public forum, I now find myself struggled to write about anything I can simply so I have something posted – regardless of the merits.
Publication for the sake of publication isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I started this blog. If it were, I’d have gone to work for CNN.
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