Campfyre Stories

At some point in time everyone has experienced the power of words.  Whether it was the singsong taunting of the schoolyard bully, a news report or a passing internet encounter, everyone has seen that others are affected by the words we choose, either to represent ourselves or to describe other people.

In this internet age, words have more power than ever.  People who blog, for example, give their words out to uncountable potential readers.  This can be a good thing in some cases or a truly horrible experience for others.  I have seen the difference in the end results of malicious gossip from the grapevine in a high school to slanderous comments in the blogosphere.  It is incredible how vastly things have changed just in the past 10 years.

The problem that I perceive, though, is that most people have no concept of how much power their words hold.  In the age of immediate information at our fingertips, how we portray ourselves (not to mention others) is more important that ever, but it’s a lesson that many people learn the hard way.

I was having a conversation earlier about swearing in blogs.  Now let me start off by saying that in real life, in my oral conversations, I have a bit of a potty mouth.  However, I make an effort to tone that down in my writings and, in fact, have made a conscious decision that I don’t want to swear at all on the Firing Range.

When you consider that potential employers may be looking at, not only what you say, but how you say it, even something as personal as a MySpace account really needs be showing, if not your best side, something significantly better than your worst.

At 30 years old, I often feel the generation gap between myself and those only a few years younger than me.  Even as little as 5 years is often the difference between my keyboarding class in 6/7/8th grades and real computers in the classroom for those same grades.  I grew up watching the technology come about - many slightly younger than me can’t remember not having it.

As a result, I see these people who are technically adults out in the blogosphere writing about how fucking awesome this was or how this other shitty ass thing sucked donkey balls and I think to myself, This is how you’re being perceived.  As someone who can’t put together a coherent thought without degrading yourself with your words.  It’s the difference between hanging out with your friends and going to your grandmother’s house.  There is a line that needs to be drawn and all too often isn’t.

I’ve always been able to be a social chameleon.  I can adapt to almost any situation and almost any group of people.  I can speak professionally and concisely, I can affect an accent, I can use ghetto slang, I can be a l33t g4m3r, but it’s all about the situation.  When I’m with my friends and family, I can let my hair down and just be me, but often times we forget that the internet is not a living room and that prying eyes may see thoughts and feelings and motives, so it all depends on how comfortable we are with that.

I try to be real.  I try to be true to myself.  I’m not going to hide thoughts and feelings in a personal journal, even if it’s an online one, but this isn’t all there is to me.  I am aware, however, that this is how many people are going to see me - people I may never meet, and even if I let my emotions show from time to time, it’s rare that you’ll find my political stances on my blog.  I used to do that on a specific message board, but even that lost its charm.

So what do you see when you read this?  You see the basic reality, but you don’t really get to see me let my hair down.  There may be entries that talk about feelings that I won’t share out loud with people, but there is so much more that I don’t talk about.

I may write about my job hunt, but I don’t give details as to companies or individuals.  In most situations, I keep things vague.  I may allude to a person, a situation or a conversation, but if it’s negative, there’s little likelihood that it will be published with names or even identifying characteristics.  Honestly, unless we’ve talked about it, you readers aren’t going to know what 25 year old’s blog, rife with swearing, started me on this line of thinking.  You certainly won’t know how I feel about that person or why. 

It’s not merely a matter of protecting my identity or the identity of others.  There is a certain unwritten code of ethics that far too few follow.  You’re angry and ranting and you decide to publish something to get it off your chest - fine.  But is it really necessary to vent that anger (or whatever other emotion) by being petty or, worse, by making yourself look like someone who cannot create a fucking sentence without the goddamned swearing as fucking punctuation?  I see this sort of thing all the time.

One thing we learned, or should have learned, in English classes is that written English is of a higher class than spoken English in most situations.  So, like, even if, um, I can’t really speak great, like, out loud, you know?  No one needs to know that when I write.

Frankly, I see blogs written by people who claim to be writers, but they punctuate with swearing, they forget to capitalize, they can’t be bothered with typing out words like "are" or "you", they have no mastery of the basic rules of grammar or sentence structure or even proper use of punctuation.  I don’t expect perfection.  Even if I could achieve it myself I wouldn’t expect it from others, but if you claim to be something (a writer, college-educated, someone worth listening to/reading), then PROVE IT.  If not for yourself, than for others.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that people mask their true selves or even try to please everyone else, but I think that there are far too few people who are aware that they are conveying themselves in a less-than-flattering light.

Of course, the people who probably need to read this won’t.  Even if they stumble upon it, it’s unlikely that my little rant about personal portrayal is going to sway them in any way, shape or form, but it feels good to get it out.

Even if it probably does have typos in it.  I’m willing to admit that I make mistakes, we all do, but I try to put myself out in a mostly positive light.  I just wish more people put that effort in.