Our Places in the Library

At the end of the last post, I used the imagery of talking to an empty room to describe this blog's influence. In my first post, I mentioned why I created this blog: a desire for self-expression. But it's easy to ask what the point of self-expression is if there is nobody to witness it. From the outside, it would seem that the self-expression taking place is more about feeding narcissism than any other goal. The self-expression appears to take place solely for oneself and even if it supposes to take place for others, the message is so buried by anonymity that its presumption to be worthy of attention by anyone (concluded by its existence in the first place, which is wholly voluntary) installs a reflex to view any exhibition of someone's public self-expression as a desperate vie for attention and celebrity. After all, the number of individuals with blogs, Youtube channels, Instagram accounts, and other platforms for individual content creation and sharing, is staggering. Out of all of them, very few are famous or popular in any sense. Meanwhile, the number trying to emulate them is, simply put, very high.

Of those content creators and sharers which become popular to any extent, most have simply gotten lucky at gaining a big enough audience to become renowned. It is why the word "discovered" is sometimes applied to these people; they were discovered like gold in a river of stones and dirt, and we, their perceived-to-be untalented peers, are the stones and dirt. For those who are "discovered" who actually have a sincere talent, that comparison can make some sense, but for those who rely primarily on their personality to sell themselves (such as bloggers and Youtubers), it is much more of a game of roulette when showing that you have something to prove--you have to get your audience to like you more than you need to get them to like what you are doing.

The fickle and luck-of-the-draw nature of that kind of celebrity combined with the easily calculable odds of actually achieving any kind of renown makes the idea of putting effort towards sharing oneself in an anonymous public space seem like a waste of time (as well as narcissistic, as mentioned above).

However, we can see even in the earliest recordings of history that the individuals who made impacts on the world and solidified their legacy were just that: individuals. While some were destined to be remembered, mainly those of born into preceding nobility and prestige, many that we learn about and venerate today came from obscurity. It is easy to come up with a dozen names of people who have followed this path. Just the same, it is easy to recall the names of those predetermined to be written down in the history books but decided to go ahead and exceed the expectations set for them.

All of their stories tell us that every individual can make a difference and the key is to believe that one can. Nowhere is this better summed up than in Irving Goffman's "dangerous giants" theory, which asserts that we all have the capability to become entities much larger than ourselves and influence society. We choose not do it because we believe that that we are too small, that it would be awkward and humiliating to try, or that other people are meant to do that but not us.

But time and time again, history proves that it is normal, common individuals who are often the ones to boost themselves to notoriety and leave a lasting impression on humanity. Always central to their success is their belief in themselves and their dedication to their work.

Therefore, while it is very understandable to view individual attempts at becoming known in the public space (and especially the Internet) as so fruitless as to be delusional, history demonstrates that it is a noble effort. It is why this blog was created--not just because I wanted a space to share my writings, but because I believe that the attempt to share them has meaning.

I would encourage anyone else to do the same--the world requires more people to step forward and try to make a difference. If it does not happen, then only the select few who do try will succeed and their success is not always positive for others. By greater participation from greater numbers can we expect a greater world. And, speaking for the individual, consider how big your book in the library of life stories will be. Consider how big the splash from your rock thrown in the ocean will be. Is it not obviously more admirable to try to make your book as thick and colorful as possible, or to make the splash as big and rippling as it can be?

Greatness may sometimes choose us, but only we can choose obscurity.