In the present state of the country, there are few things thataren't on the Internet. One can post just about anything, eventheir personal thoughts through blogs and journals. There are sitessuch as www.livejournal.com that allow users to sign up for freeand post their thoughts on the Internet.
I have been using livejournal.com for about three years mostlyin secret, and most of my posts are in the private sector of thesite where only I can access them. I find it easier to read my pastthoughts when they are typed rather than handwritten. I did thisdue to the fact that my personal thoughts caused some dissention inmy group of friends back home. When some of them read what I wasthinking they didn't like it very much, so I took my thoughts intohiding for a good amount of time and only relayed the big events inmy life through the journal. I kept my friends posted on stuffgoing on when I left home to come here through the journal. Yet,lately in my group of friends, there were a few journals poppingup, so I figured I would make mine public again.
The problem with allowing people to know about my journal wasthey weren't expecting honesty in a personal blog. Some of thethings I posted were slightly offensive to some people.
Now, I never intended to offend anyone with my thoughts, Ithought most people who would be reading it knew me well enough toknow that I would write about anything and everything and not holdany thought back. I was wrong. The thoughts that were written werea little bitter, but the thoughts were my honest thoughts and Ididn't think that it would be that big of a deal. It was!
People will react badly to almost anything that is said in ajournal, unless it is sugar-coated. There will always be someonewho thinks that it is all about them, when in reality it could beabout someone they have never met. The problem with being honest ispeople aren't faced with it on a daily basis and don't want to heartrue feelings. They want to hear about hearts and flowers - notabout things that make you mad. It is funny to see how people willreact when faced with honesty.
That is the problem with live journals and blogs; you can't behonest if you don't want people to get mad at you. If the link to ajournal is posted in an AIM profile or handed out to friends, itmost likely will be read. But when considering the people who willread it, people will usually not be honest when they write anentry. Livejournals are a far cry from the old style of journalsthat people wrote in by hand and never let anyone else read. Yetthey are still a good form of venting, even if it means that somepeople will read them and get a little mad about randomthoughts.
Journals were originally created as a way to let feelings outwithout anyone knowing what you were really feeling. Now with thehelp of the Internet, any random user can find out what you arethinking. They bring honesty back into the mainstream. Whether yourfriends like it or not.
Write to Steve at
smbristow@bsu.edu
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