four scores and seven years ago

that's how long it has been since i last updated this page. while i blogged regularly back in ann arbor, i seem to be distracted by so many other things back here in sg. perhaps i'll resume my blogging habits when i return to AA.

i really don't understand what is this fuss about blogs. no, i do not agree that they are simply "online diaries"; i see it as another avenue for ppl to express themselves, and of course make the occasional big buck off them. i read in marvel at the bloggers' forum held a couple of weeks back; ppl have become instant celebrities because of the things they wish to say/expose online (full pun intended of course). well, i always thought that only intellectual thought is valued; these days it seems whatever rubbish ppl post online is read as closely as the Bible. not to say that i've anything against bloggers, since i fully appreciate the fact that i am one myself. but perhaps the cult status we accord them leans slightly on the side of ridicule.

i think this phenomenon ties in with how people value trash-talk, gossip and scandals in general. talk to the average guy on the street, and he may not know who Joseph Stiglitz is, or Alan Greenspan for that matter; he is, however, able to regurgitate the latest tabloid headlines for you. how ironic that given the supposed increase in knowledge capital created by the advert of the internet, we find that the only tangible gain for the lay person is the wider access to global gossip. so now we don't only read about singaporean trash in the papers, we sit at the computer and read about someone else's trash from halfway around the globe.

everyone is a blogger nowadays. and how popular your blog is depends on how juicy, or in the rare cases, how intellectual ppl value what you have to say. perhaps its a reflection of the persona one wishes to project; some ppl might be of a certain social status and occupation, and thus cannot air his dirty linen in public, or be too outspoken on sensitive issues. after all, no one wants to become the next "a*star", if you know what i mean. others possess a truly devil may care attitude, embracing the notoriety and infamy that comes along with each depressing expose about oneself.

me? i choose to err on the side of caution. perhaps i see myself belonging to the former. or perhaps i will be more daring come sept, when i return, and i don't really have to face the ppl i write about here in sg. who knows? i could be the next "online bitch", haa i.e. bark with nothing substantial to say. hoo hoo