Gimmicks of mass distraction

Cornel West published a very powerful op ed piece in the New York Times today. The dedication of the new Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial has been postponed because of the oncoming hurricane on the eastern coast of the USA, and West was musing about how King might respond to the current state of affairs here.

The line in the piece that strikes closest to home is "Clever gimmicks of mass distraction yield a cheap soulcraft of addicted and self-medicated narcissists." Ouch! I can drop the self-medicated part, but I worry sometimes that these gimmicks of mass distraction on which I depend for so much of my human contact and creative expression are...well, addictive. That I am addicted to distraction. Narcissistic. That I would spend my time more usefully some other way, with greater focus and concentration. And so sometimes I intentionally don't Blip, I do other things. With concentration.

Sometimes I rationalize, justify, argue with the wise, eloquent, grizzled West-voice in my head. I tell the voice that I LEARN on the computer/on Blip; that I am ENGAGED (virtually, but still); that the camera, and comments, and connections with the international array of photographer/mini-bloggers that are my Blip-friends and to whose "Journals" I am subscribed...that these connections constitute a COMMUNITY. Virtual, but still. And despite my arguments, sometimes I lay my head down on the table and ask myself who I am, without all these electronic gadgets: laptop, cell-phone, camera. I wait to know the answer.

Publishing this concern in my Blip Journal is a little like going to the bar or the pub to discuss with my drinking friends the fact that someone has suggested I might be drinking too much...and that I can't help wondering....

Update: Wonderful comments, thanks so much. Ceridwen's second comment sums it up eloquently: "rewarding social forum where thoughtful, creative and stimulating minds can meet and exchange ideas. Yes, it can be difficult to switch off but the urge to post a new blip also, for me, provides an incentive to get up, get out, or get thinking in new directions." Yes. And so here I am, and will remain, not driven to post EVERY day, not commenting on EVERY subscription daily, but engaged with "thoughtful, creative, and stimulating minds" and thinking, feeling, making images, and mini-blogging in virtual community.