Why begin a blog? Why throw myself to the hungry masses of armchair generals and internet commentators? Why endure the afflictions of the Web 2.0 experience in a much more personal form?
I guess that I am intrigued by the idea of sharing my thoughts with the entire world. The sense of anonymity is enigmatic, empowering. Previous generations endured the messy pen and the diary – a keepsake stored away in the attic – only to be discovered years later, by close relatives, covered in dust and buckling under the process of deterioration and time. Everything written online is permanent and instantly available. Nothing is sacred. Everything can and will be read and criticized and scoffed at and loved and bookmarked. Like scattering the feathers of a pillow in the wind, each word becomes indelibly stained on the global network, never to be returned to it’s owner – a memento vicariously indulged by young and old, tech savvy and tech challenged alike.
Never before have we been so connected in history. The fact that you are reading this now from anywhere in the world is testament to that. By starting this blog, I throw myself into the sea of blogs, videos, memes, comments, forums and life that has characterized the evolution of the internet.
Do I lose my anonymity in the process? Possibly. But perhaps under the watchful gaze of the 24/7 media, identity cannot be concealed in any practical manner. It waits within, lurking for 15 minutes of fame, or a lifetime of notoriety. And so it is with me. A personal memento of my inner thoughts and observations transmitted through ethernet cables across inviolable borders to you, now. Perhaps we will never meet in real life. But as of now, the bonds of curiousity have been forged, and our paths meet – if only for a moment – before we throw ourselves back into the shapeless, faceless sea of the internet.
Diasporism 