Share This Link

"Share" and "Like" this link and you will be put into a draw and possibly win something... Really???

I see this all the time. And what I think when I see it is that someone has been bought and then sold all of their friends for the possibility of winning some bauble...

Oh, I am sure that some people genuinely like whatever it is they have forced onto my newsfeed, and some people genuinely liked it but only came out of the closet with the possibility of a treat. Some people only care about the prize, and some people like me, will refuse to like whatever it is as soon as you start treating me and my relationships as commodities that can be bought and sold for advertising, regardless of whether we like it or not.

This of course puts me in conundrum, because I am working on starting a business in videography... And as such I am forced to wrestle into practicality the ethics of advertising and marketing and sales in general. The problem is basically that I loathe these fields from the very centre of my being and would literally be more comfortable being a criminal defence lawyer than working in advertising. So perhaps I will begin studying for the LSAT...

I know that to level a critique against advertising is easy and demands something more... I also know that many small local companies are doing good work and working hard within the system we have inherited. I just happen to hate the system and I know this means I need to not merely be critical but propose an alternative style or approach. I think what I want is a more genuine approach that doesn't appeal to people's self interest and rest its presuppositions of utilitarian moral theory. Part of the reason advertising particularly relational advertising works is because people trust their friends - they want to trust their friends... and it is actually relationally damaging to take the perspective I have because in my cynicism I run the risk of interpreting peoples actions very negatively, which may or may not be fair. This ironically betrays that my position also hold utilitarian moral theory as a presupposition and therefore finds it difficult to believe that people "liking" links or pages for prizes has anything other than self interest in mind and therefore find it offensive.

This then is what I am trying to escape: utilitarian moral theory. I want to move toward gift language, gift economics... I think that Radiohead moves in the right direction with the "gift" of their album "In Rainbows" inaugurating "pay what you want." I think this moves humanity in a good direction which expects and values trust and relationship over greed and self interest. Radiohead and others have proven this model is not insane or entirely untenable.

I have a friend who asked me what I thought about trying to apply this model to a manufacturing situation. I said I thought it would be difficult... North Americans don't like flexible pricing or haggling over products. Furthermore, we have been trained to think in utilitarian terms and so to do things differently one must simultaneously risk losses and present "pay what you want" in terms that push people out their utilitarian thinking patterns...  For independently wealthy and famous creators of digital media with online channels of distribution these are of course not really risks or challenges at all. For anyone operating in material production and on a smaller scale the risks, of course, increase exponentially. I am sorry that I discouraged my friend rather than trying to imagine with him how to not just pitch his product but a different way of thinking about and doing business.

We write on this blog as a gift. We have created art and video as gift. How do we re-imagine our lives and jobs and businesses genuinely as gift? How do we recenter our live around trust rather than fear?

Gift Economics. Give.

Means Vs. Ends

I am sure that everyone has now seen this:

It has been all over Facebook for the past day.

What are your thoughts? Is it a bandwagon worth jumping aboard? How are we (as Christians) supposed to interact with movements like this? Specifically, those of us who profess to be "pacifist" and see nonviolence as a large portion of the Christian call. What are your thoughts on supporting military missions such as this?

Personally, I continue to be torn. Invisible Children is an organization I have supported in the past. I think their goals are noble and worth supporting, but the means they sometimes use to reach their goals I question. So I pose the question (feel free to challenge the binary I set up): what is worse? To use means I do not fully support to accomplish a good goal OR to sit and do nothing (because I am currently not doing anything or coming up with any "third way" options).

I encourage you to watch the video, if you have not done so already. As for me, I am going to write a few e-mails tonight, and pray that they do a little bit of good.

Polaroid is Time Travel

Are we losing something important as more and more of our lives become contained in digital media rather than in real physical concrete objects? I realize that a blogs is an ironic place to address this question. However, it is precisely this blog and Facebook into which I invest significant "virtual" time... And as I do I occasionally become concerned regarding the value of that time and the intangibility of my achievement... Primarily, what I mean by that is that I invest a significant amount of creative energy into particularly this blog and entrust it to Google. I know I should back it up... but I haven't. And realistically Google is probably more reliable that my computer. So in one sense these words are more secure and certainly more visible but are they more or less real?

In the hypothetical abstract, which the internet is perhaps merely an extension of, we all happily affirm that yes these words are just as "real" as any other words... BUT we also all know that there is something special about getting a hand written letter or a note... There is something very different about physically painting letters onto paper with ink so as to form words and sentences and having people physically move it to its recipient in comparison to the buttons and technology required to send an email. Communication occurs both ways, and one way is much much faster, and yet there is perhaps a closer connection made between the two people in the physical act of writing and sending a letter. The same way I felt connected to people who have for thousands of years have worshipped in the Holy Sepulchre, touched those stones, walked those stairs... There is something about knowing that your friend or lover held that piece of paper, smeared the ink, ingrained their style and personality into their writing as they formed each letter, misspelled a word and crossed it out, folded the paper, licked the envelope... In comparison to the messy and enfleshed difficulty of writing a letter, email offers a near perfectly sterile and virtually telepathic meeting of minds and sharing of information. All my words have been spell checked and all my letters are perfectly uniform in Times New Roman. The problem, of course, as we all know, both from general life experience and even in conversation on this blog, is that humanity depends on tone, body language and context to infer meaning and it is actually far more difficult to communicate through the disembodied word than one might at first think. 

I like to refer to Polaroid pictures as the closest thing there is to time travel... When you look at an analog Polaroid picture you are staring a chemical reaction from the actual light waves of that very moment... In all other forms of photography both analog and digital there is a 2 or 3 step process of interpretation and representation that occurs... However, they don't always come out very well, and you certainly don't get to find out right away. In contrast digital gives you even more instant in your photography experience, which will help you to capture that moment and memory just as you remember it... And yet after its been cropped and photoshopped, no matter how beautiful it is, no matter how much it looks like what we think we remember or want to remember... there is a deep skepticism in me regarding images... A skepticism that is overwhelmed by the reality of a Polaroid... 

I prefer the visceral act of painting on canvas to a digital painting on a tablet. I prefer writing to typing. I prefer dipping pens in ink to ball point Bics. I prefer Polaroids to digital. I prefer Hookah to cigarettes. I prefer organic food. I prefer buildings at least 100 years old. I prefer old cars. I prefer seeing you in person than talking on the phone. 

BUT I prefer Facebook to not seeing you at all. I prefer blogging to not writing. I prefer a digital audience to no audience. I am seduced by the promise of ease and security. I am seduced by instant gratification and eternal life... After all, Google is forever...

Would Jesus be impressed by the miracle of multiplication that digital reality affords us? 

Technology is supposed to make our life better, easier, happier etc... Is it?

Whats your favourite analog experience?

Imagine a world without digital reality... Share your thoughts here on the intertubes...

Is this just nostalgia or has our reality actually been negatively impacted? Cost/Benefit?

Remember?

Does anyone remember myspace? I think a few bands still use it right? or xanga? my first blog was on xanga here. I wrote this:
"Look at us flaunting our lives, our problems and triumphs. Displaying our lives and thoughts for all to see. Things that were once sacred and kept in a diary under lock and key are now published worldwide for everyone to read. And we look and we read in glib fascination of total strangers daily lives. We watch reality tv and read random blogs. Watching, reading.....the unknown listener. Is it that we long for community but can't quite commit? Is some how the internet deemed safer than our neighbourhoods where we pass those who live around us without a word. Is it that its convenient?... I can have friends and interact with them when I want to, and disappear without explanation or trace when I don't. I don't have to worry about schedules, or time zones, or distance. I can scream profanities and blasphemy and complain about everything at all while still remaining in the beautiful safety of anonymity - free from responsibility or consequences from the things I say, free from being confronted by real people and their emotions, which I might hurt. Instead, everything and everyone is kept that beautiful arms length away on the flickery screen. We are all exhibitionists and voyeurs." - 2006

Do you remeber MSN? When we used to actually talk to each other instead of just creep pictures and profiles. Do you remember ICQ? and the question a/s/l? asked often as you talked to strangers?

I think back to 2006 and its difficult if not impossible to measure progress in my life beyond the diploma. I don't think I am smarter or nicer. Maybe I am a little bit more mellow... or maybe not. I am married, which is complicated. I am closer to death but seem no closer to a career. I somehow have stalled and am stuck in ambiguity and so like in 2006 (clearly I haven't changed much) I am trying to process out loud on a blog. Is progress a myth? and how do we measure it? I may be older, more knowledgeable, more experienced, more mellow and more married, but I am still working for free. I wouldn't mind working for free if grocery bills and rent and tuition didn't exist... How do I escape money? Why is my existence worth nothing? I can't even be a surrogate mother! and you have to be over 6 feet to donate sperm! F*#&%!