Empty yourself

I'm having trouble with the video blogs. I can't watch them for very long - they tend to reflect much of our celebrity driven culture. However, it probably makes sense since I don't watch much TV and infrequently go to the movies. When I watch TV, I switch channels a lot and then give up. My wife and I made a resolution this year to see one movie a month in the theater or on video/CD. I think we've seen four so far. My interest in blogs, I realize, is the combination of reading and gathering information. I don't learn from viewing as easily as reading or listening. This has been a real issue for my students, who tend to be visual, and I've had to work hard to change. In fact, an issue with many teachers, according to my lunch conversations with colleagues, is that most of us were the kind of student who could sit still and listen and learn from a lecture. As a result, we tend to talk too much in class and assume everyone is as interested in out topic as we are - wrong.

There was a sad article in the Courant today about a young girl who died of an overdose and how sad her life was. It seems as if many blogs and videos reflect the sadness of this girl. There was a desperate need for her to communicate, to find happiness, but she kept getting in her own way. Instead of finding good, she looks for negatives. What I am saying so poorly is that there is something missing in many people's lives and they are using whatever medium they can to construct a reality for themselves, to fill, even temporarily, the vacuum. I teach Brave New World and I can see the emptiness of that world reflected in many people (it is amazing how prescient he was). Part of the emptiness is the endless circle of using or chasing material goods to fill human needs. People do not seek to grow individually, but try to create an image that will be acceptable to their desired society. The Internet, blogs and video blogs are substitutes for personal communication and creating understanding. And these sites are simply commercial vehicles to sell us more goods. The more I reflect upon it, Gautama was right, we need to empty ourselves to be happy. I think blogging and, specifically, video blogging won't help. It creates, for many, the illusion of communication and connection, not true knowledge and happiness.