Apparently the Internet is killing culture, and the biggest culprit is the blog. According to one writer, I must therefore be one of the biggest criminals around, responsible for the collapse of Western civilization as we know it. It is a heavy burden of blame to bear, but somehow I manage to carry it. I think all the work I do with some of my clients on the difference between appropriate and inappropriate guilt must be having an effect.
In The Cult of the Amateur, Andrew Keen argues that because everybody can now publish their own novels, short stories, plays, poetry, diaries, and random thoughts online, as well as upload their photos and videos onto sites such as Flickr and YouTube, the quality of creativity is suffering. We are becoming used to routine blandness. Skill and craft is being lost. Low-brow is the norm and we are becoming unable to even appreciate anything higher, let alone create it.
In an interesting article in Prospect, William Skidelsky describes a similar debate currently taking place in American esoteric circles about the demise of book reviews. Apparently review staff are being cut-back in major newspapers, and broadly speaking, most reviews are reduced to summarizing the plot with a few sentences on style. Although Skidelsky cites the increasing commercialization of publishing as a major reason for this - in the UK, for example, the book buyers for Waterstones and Tesco, and of the Richard and Judy Book Club have much more power to influence taste and to determine a best-seller than any book reviewer - Skidelsky does also lay some blame at the door of the Internet. With everyone having the ability to publish book reviews online (and a lot of people are doing it - after all, it does fill a blog posting for the day, doesn’t it) the experts are under threat or being forced down market.
I confess that I am not at all worried by the massive, alleged cultural change. There is an argument that the book market is as strong as ever. Publishers are making millions and are adept at creating interest in books using new methods such as book clubs and blogs. The book doesn’t show any sign of disappearing. There may be more ’soft reality’ books around, but that doesn’t mean that ‘hard fiction’ is any more or less popular than it has always been.
The huge amount of creativity that is now appearing on the Internet is a non-threatening, harmless, and profoundly human activity - at the time of writing, WordPress alone had 2,443,282 blogs with 105,076 new posts today. Bloggers are well aware that the fact that millions of blogs exist (and a few are very successful) doesn’t mean that millions of people are reading them. If I were to publish a novel online, I doubt that anyone would read it. Those words may take up space, but it is only cyberspace, which is minuscule compared to the warehouses that would be needed to store the printed version.
People have always written things and taken photos, and made other recordings. They might have been able to show their efforts to a few arm-locked relatives before hiding them in a drawer. Now, potentially the world can see them, but in reality only a few more than their arm-locked relatives might do so. In a small way, that greater visibility can be rewarding. My own photography has improved as a result of peer feedback I have received on Flickr. However, nothing threatening is happening here. People are doing what they have always done. Like me, many of them are creating because that’s what human beings sometimes do, and they live in hope that they might get more feedback, but they soon realize that they will not make a million or appear on Oprah. Amateur creators are no threat to commercial publishing or to culture. Because of the Internet, the amateur may now be more visible, but being visible is not the same as being inevitably bad or destructive.
When I taught English in a boys secondary modern school I was quite clear that my primary purpose in being there was not to promote the high culture that I had so recently spent three years studying at University (some of the students couldn’t read, let alone read a James Joyce short story or a Shakespeare play), but to encourage them to use language in order to learn. I had to create ways of encouraging them to express themselves, and in the process, learn and discover more about themselves and the world. Using language does that. Having to put ideas into words enables you to understand. I suspect that I am not the only blogger who is learning through writing - not just learning about writing, but learning by making content understandable for yourself, and then reinforcing that by trying to make it understandable for others. Writing is helping me grow - growth through language.
They said Amazon would kill bookshops, but it hasn’t yet. Online gambling was going to kill Casinos, but more are about to be built in the UK, and as far as I am aware, Monte Carlo and Las Vegas still exist. The sudden visibility of former private creativity is no bad thing. Different is just different. Who knows, some of it may even be good.
Such an interesting post and right on tune as far as my own singing of this subject goes.
My own journeys of blogging and writing so far have not only taught me to think in different ways but to increase confidence and help me, I hope express myself more effectively.
I asked myself this question very early on as to why I wanted to write:because I wanted people to read and think about things that matter and perhaps help affect some kind of change,particulary in my own field of health care.
Have I got the confidence yet to take anything I have to a publisher?No chance. I have little idea what real publishers look for and rejection is never nice is it!
I welcome the opportunity to write pieces that do not have to be scrutinised by the literal ellit, to pass their tests on quality and acceptability.
This form of communication either written or in another art forms such as photography should not be seen as a threat.
I have BOUGHT more books as a result of this not less. Books about writing, improving English grammar, philosophy, religion, social sciences, fiction- the list could go on.
Blogging and photography have brought me enormous joy and pleasure, there’s nothing wrong in that.
The purist may want to keep all the pages blank for themselves for their own gain and glory.
What is one person’s rubbish is another person’s treasure.
Besides, now I look at things more critically I have seen some not so impressive “published stuff” and thought I could have done better than that.
Up the Bloggers! Long may we write.
Well, if I’m going to be a criminal, it may as well be in the cause of increased opportunities for human creativity and expression. Is a lot of the stuff on the Internet, perhaps especially blogs, garbage? Probably. So what? There’s also a lot of pretty intelligent, thoughtful stuff out there that I’d never get to read if I had to depend solely on print media.
My love for books has not decreased because of my love of the blogosphere. In fact, I frequently read online reviews and discussions that prompt me to add yet another title to my ever-growing list of books to read. I’ve also enjoyed reading some amateur writings online. To be honest, the quality of some of it rivals, and even exceeds, that of some of the “published” books that just happen to get published because they fill particular niches. On the other hand, some of it is really poor, but that doesn’t mean those authors should not have outlets for their ideas. Their writing will never improve if they don’t practice it and, as you noted with regard to your photography, get some feedback and tips from others who are interested enough and generous enough to engage in such discussions.
What elitists really despise is the minimizing of their roles as gatekeepers. Too bad. I want to hear more voices, even though many of them are rough and unskilled, rather than a few polished tones that may have great surface beauty but little depth. Three cheers for our merry, criminal band of bloggers!
Hey -
Forget about Blogs being our cultural downfall - they have a long way to go when compared to the evening news where a story about a suicide bomber killing 80 people is followed by the latest Brittany trash.
Paul
As a full-time blogger and part-time novelist, I’m using my blog, Bob McCarty Writes, as a tool for bringing attention to my first full-length novel, SCRATCH OFF, which is a work of fiction about a fallen soldier’s father and his personal war against Islamic terrorists. By publishing excerpts of my book, I hope to build a following of people who will not only be willing to purchase the book after it is published this fall in order to find out how it ends but also share news about it with others in their social networks.
I think that anything that encourages more people to write and to read is a good thing. There is a wealth of material online and whilst a lot of it may not be deemed of literally merit, it is eminently readable. And I have come across blogs with the most beautiful writing.
I think that blogging encourages a lot of us to engage more with the world and to read more widely as research for posts and just to look at life a bit differently. Like OneThoughtfulWoman I read more since I started blogging - if someone mentions a book in their blog and I can relate to that person as a blogger, I will often seek the book out and read it and recommend it to others.
I certainly think that some of the blogs produced by youngsters are very good. And you can see how their writing and their confidence develops over the months that they write.
But anyway even if it killing culture - I rather like being thought of as part of a criminal posse. I once wrote a piece likening blogging to working for M15 and that is how it is for me - all secretive, subversive and fun.
Happy blogging to us all!
hotoffthepress:
You’re the kind of guy that irritates the mainstream publishers because you’re sidestepping their authority. If you have something worthwhile to say and can say it reasonably well, you’ll find your niche. Go for it!
People are entitled to their opinions, even when these opinions are idiosyncratic or plain daft. Before elitists - for that is what they are - lamented that the Internet (by which they mean the Web, of course) was killing literature or reviews or music or whatever, they were saying the same thing about TV and before that, radio, and before that, no doubt, about the pub piano.
Like you, I think it is a good thing to get people writing, photographing, painting, researching, investigating and, in a word, exercising their brains and, with a little bit of luck, ours too.
They will no doubt soon be telling us that universal education is a bad thing because it is bringing knowledge and culture down to the lowest common denominator and should be reserved only for the elite like themselves.
Not that it matters because I don’t think anyone is listening to them.
Blogging is art; therefore, what is depicted there reflects the state of society, just like a painting does.
In my opinion society is screwed up by irresponsible parenting , corrupted governments, racism, and capitalist propaganda. Blogs just show the reality. They are, in my opinion, a nightmare for those who like to live in Neverland, denying reality, pretending that the bad stuff doesn’t really happen.
I have just StumbledUpon this page and I am very glad I have. Having just signed up to wordpress I have been considering dipping my toe in the water of blogging. This page including all the comments have shown me the worth of the idea.
I think it is very true that there are ‘vested interests’ who do not like the changes they are seeing. The argument that culture is dying is of course nonsense; we are in the midst of a change, a global change, the growth of a global culture that has broken down the old boundaries and is being explored in ways that are profound and new. Change is a frightening prospect for some and exciting for others but ultimately it offers a liberating force that is enabling and powerful for everybody.
Another aspect of this change, apparent in the comments, is that it will be in addition to the previous ways of expression such as books, films and other cultural pursuits. Each addition always adds something and so called ‘old cultures’ are reinforced, adapted and changed as culture has to and always will do. What is wonderful at this time is that we are in the middle of a worldwide change that is challenging the human race to grow.
So blog to your hearts content I say and seek new ideas and ways of expression.
I always wanted to be a criminal, and not get arrested….
Thinkingman — You don’t know me from Adam, but I’m swimming around cyberspace in search of book junkies who might be interested in reviewing ten installments of my soon-to-be-self-published (fall) fiction work, SCRATCH OFF. If you’re interested, please visit my blog, Bob McCarty Writes. Thanks in advance! — Another criminal blogger, Bob McCarty.