Thinker or Linker?
The question is not “To be, or not to be?”
The question is “What to be?”
I was reading about the tendency with blogs lately to fall into one of two categories. It seems that people are either thinkers or linkers. Thinkers tend to write their own articles. Doesn’t mean that they are brain heavy on most of them. Just means that they do a different kind of work than linkers, who basically find interesting stuff and bring it to their readers. I think the success of sites like the Drudge Report, YouTube, and Digg are responsible for this kind of activity. They act as aggregate collectors for the internet and filter out some of the lame stuff. Admittedly, trolls are increasingly active on the social sites where content is controlled by a great number of people. Even spammers have their way with the Digg crowds recently. But, the idea of entertainment, or rather, the ideal of entertainment - for me, at least - is for someone else to get something interesting and let me enjoy it. (You know, how you argue over who will go rent the video?) Well, on these kinds of sites, the content is just kind of brought up by the community. They have a tendency to get whiny and old sometimes, but I find tons of amusing things on those sites. They are where I head for mindless enjoyment. They are also, coincidentally, where I head for some very mindful enjoyment. I read a few blogs, and I follow links and discover things and viewpoints that I hadn’t considered before. I find them refreshing, and really am entertained - just in a more active than passive mode.
My issue is - to be a thinker or a linker? I love linking to random junk, but you can get that pretty much anywhere. So…be a thinker? I have no problems with writing, but…let’s face it…I am never going to be of Pulitzer quality. I am kind of a joke. I write armchair commentary about things I think, or wishes, or irks, or whatever. But there is no reason a crowd will draw around for that stuff. Thank goodness I am ok with nobody reading this site. Ha ha. It is mostly intended for friends and family and people who are curious about what life is like on a remote Japanese island.
So…for now I choose to remain unallied, because, like I said before - I don’t know what this blog will look like yet. Ha ha. Just mentioning it. I assume that this entry would be marked “thinker” - but it isn’t particularly heavy stuff. Thank goodness. Till next time.