Seems like the bloggernacle is jumping with posts on bodies and embodiment. However, one thing I notice about blogging is the lack of embodiment. In fact, I think this facet of internet discussion actually makes it easier to engage in angry, hyperbolic rants and flame wars.
I have never been very comfortable with my body. My own self-image is that I look sort of like a dork (one reason I grew a goatee – to look less dorky). I did have a temper as a child, but I’m a rather non-violent person and (despite having done wrestling and football in high school) have a knee-jerk reaction against any sort of violence (which means you can likely take me in a fight. It also makes me wonder if my opposition to the current war is really a result of earnest thought or just an a priori justification – but that’s another thread).
However, I am over 6 feet tall and I do go to the gym 5 – 6 days a week. Even though I consider myself rather dorky looking, apparently my mere physical presence scares people, especially when I seem to be somewhat ticked off. I’ve found when I raise my voice or even seem annoyed, people get rather defensive, as if they assume this tall, muscle bound (not that muscle bound, though) guy is going to go all postal on them. Hence, I make great efforts in public to never show even the slightest hint of anger.
However, on the web that doesn’t matter. You have no body when discussing things. So it’s hard to seem like the big tough person, little scrapper, or demure whatever. I have no idea what most people picture (if they picture anything at all) when they read my posts. My lack of a body contributes to the times I do fly off the handle and post angry, non-productive rants: It’s unlikely anyone is going to want to run for the door.
I’m not sure what this might mean, other than I have probably dissuaded many of you from ever wanting to meet me in real life. I promise, I’m really not that scary. I wear glasses and read comic books, so I see myself more like that time travelling Japanese guy on NBC’s Heroes rather than as Kevin Sorbo.
I would hope that the most interesting thing about embodiment is the manner whereby gifts of the Spirit are manifest in our own body. After all, Jesus Christ’s glorious resurrected body is the working whereby he is and shall be able to subdue all things (in both senses – cf. Philip. 3:20-21).
This is an interesting Idea Ivan, in that I remember a study back in the 90s (of course I can’t back this memory up with facts) which said people who spend time socializing on the internet are more dpressed than people who have true person to person relationships. It was one of the reasons I quit chat rooms and online games (not condemning any gamers or chatters out there) because I found I was more depressed and it was having a negative impact on my life.
Maybe JS was right that we need a body to achieve a fullness of joy.
I think that’s a bit of a post hoc fallacy. People who have trouble socializing tend to go to the internet. But people who don’t have trouble socializing (other than the time issue) still might use the internet.
Clark, I can’t recall the full findings of the study, but I think it was more to do with the issue of identity fraud, so you may be right.
The comment history for this thread is stuttering an entry for every comment three times. [I get invalid post errors quite often for no apparent reason too.]
I’ve always badly misjudged bigger, taller people like Ivan apparently is. Even today, despite my best efforts, when I see a “jocky” looking tall person, I often have to fight the automatic impulse to label him forever as a jerk. It’s an internal battle I win most of the time these days…
There are many uses of the Internet and some are much less uplifting than others. People use chat rooms, but in practice that is about the lowest form of communication imaginable. Most online games are comparable – just a step above watching a movie with someone else, and swapping stories at intermission.
But writing a coherent web log comment is a first order communication skill – it shouldn’t ever replace in person interaction, but as Americans generally do not learn how to write well in school, I think the web log / newsgroup / email thing is wonderful, at least for those who take it seriously, rather than treating it like a glorified chat room, as some forums (notably Slashdot) always seem to be in danger of degenerating into. It really is a way for people to grow up and get serious and enjoy participating in the world of both people and ideas.
I agree, particularly in a context such as the “bloggernacle” where so many of us actually know each other in real life, and the blogs are just a sort of metaphysical extension of our often strong and deep real-life connections.
But chat rooms are just pathetic- unless you are using them to chat with someone you actually know. For example, when I spent a summer in Lithuania away from my wife several years ago, chat rooms were our saving grace in terms of real-time, inexpensive communication.
Are chat rooms still around? I thought they kind of faded away long ago.
Well, not chat rooms so much as meeting random people in myspace, etc., and IMing there. Besides, it seems that chat rooms must still be around, why else would shows like “To Catch a Predator” get so much response from so many perverts?
But I don’t know- I have not used chat rooms for several years.
I might add that since my wife is taller than I am and also works out, there’s no chance my embodied status seems even vaguely threatening to her (although she does tend to scare people as well, especially since it’s rarer to have a women over 6 feet than it is a guy).
Great comments. I’ve never visited a chat room.
“I wear glasses and read comic books, so I see myself more like that time travelling Japanese guy on NBC’s Heroes “
Do you find that you have an expectation of what some Bloggernacle regulars who you have never met look like based on nothing more than how their personalities come out in their writing? So when they make Bloggernacle- The Movie, for some reason, I expect J Stapley to be played by the Mac guy in those Mac vs. PC commercials.