Close Encounters of the Wrong Kind

At times, I do wish that the scribblings, anecdotes, ramblings, babblings, rantings and what-have-you that I read on the Net come with a sort of disclaimer that reads something like this - Caution: The Following Blog Write-up will leave a bad taste in your mouth.

When I come upon a piece that teeters on the side of pessissm, or the all-encompassing negativism, I am immediately cheesed off. A gamut of emotions take hold, from anger, to shock, to perturbation.

For instance, a fellow blogger who warned his or her readers not to leave any comment if it's merely a one-liner, in the manner of "I like your blog" "Such an interesting piece" (or something to this effect). He or she asserted that no validation is needed from the likes of us, people of a few words. What?! How unfriendly and downright snooty.

And there's the case of a long piece from a fellow Malay Muslim blogger who defiled the Holy City of Mecca in his narration. I was sick to the stomach after poring over his perverted and arrogant (hey, I'm all that) reasoning. After much rumination, I felt sorry for him but decided that was the straw that broke the camel's back and erased him permanently from my Bookmark. It's one thing to take pride in your drunkard revelry but to descerate the sanctity of Islam is, in my book, universally and irrefutably unforgivable.

Also, when a writer chose to publicly condescend and demean those people that are, at first glimpse, dear to him or her, I question the sincerity and depth of their relationships. If a person makes one wrong move in the eye of another, will the latter look upon the misstep as a yardstick to which the other is worth? Or, if you may, an acid test to the durability of their so-called friendship(s)?

In the cases mentioned above, it's quite unfortunate to brush off these bloggers since they are, in my humble estimation, prolific writers. However, I must qualify myself here since all writings, in essence, are quite subjective to the ones who read them. In other words, I might not be as desensitized as the next person with respect to the topic at hand.

This seemingly arbitrary choice brings me to this next question: Why people have the propensity to write at length about certain specific subjects but not others?

I believe the answers involve a number of intertwined variables - life experiences (from the sweet to the bitter), self-esteem/self-image (from the very healthy to the extremely low), knowledge (academic and general), upbringing (nurture versus nature), spiritual inclination (from philosophies to religions), interests (from the daily mundane to the thrilling) and of course, the all important Motivation.

The motivation behind your writings colors your approach, nuances and style in executing your many 'stories.' Some bloggers just want to share slices of their lives, no matter how big or small, to a captive audience who in turn either live vicariously through the blogger or actively stand by the 'protagonist' of the unfolding narratives. Conversely, other segments rely on their expertise in much-sought-after fields (finance, technology, consultancy, fashion) to garner the popularity of their personal sites.

A wide range of the blogging community however opt for a mixed bowl - marrying their interests in different areas of life with their personal exposures and resultant opinions. I think I dawdle somewhere in this spectrum.

Yet, whatever the agendas, any writing in the world won't amount to anything if it lacks the passion and commitment to follow through your 'saga' on the electronic frontier. If that happens, your piece of work will read as bunch of gobbledygook, or worse, hokum. And of course, no matter what your motives are for blogging, I firmly believe therein lies a narcisstic streak behind all of the rantings and ramblings you impart on this medium. You may assume a pseudonym, or you may never pose any photos or pictures, but deep down in your gut, a semblance of vanity does exist.

As for me, writing acts a form of release from the myriad of emotions, feelings and encounters - no matter how implicit or overt they can be - in this lifetime. By opening the cyber doors into my world, I've partaken in disseminating my 'self-love' to the electronic masses, a decision which is by no means, risky and exciting all at the same time.

Inadvertently, the negative vibes that ensue from my reciprocative bloghopping habit are thus far the only casualty (of the mind). Alas, after much mulling over my distasteful experience, I finally pinpoint the underlying culprit to this whole episode which is this: some people just rub you the wrong way. That way, I need not get all worked up when I come across a highly-charged writing.

After all, life is too short to sweat over the small stuff.