Saturday, October 21, 2006

Me, myself and my blog!

I noticed that even after meeting a lot of my dear fellow bloggers i still only read the blogs that i used to read to begin with. This doesn't include the blog of some people i met recently whose personality i absolutely adored so I realized that I click with some blogs and not others independently of the personalities and characters behind the words. It also happens that some people like to read what I write but don’t really like me in person. In retrospect, I think we might also blog (Maya) because we need to present a side of ourselves that doesn’t necessarily come out in our social life, for whatever reason. May that be an emotional, intellectual, romantic, political or even a nasty side. Maybe our true selves are better reflected through the documentation of our observations, reactions and thoughts or is it that what doesn’t correspond to us in person isn’t necessarily who we are and it’s more who we like to be? How similar are we to our blog selves?
at

19 comments:

Eve said...

so true what you said. in my case, and according to some people, me and my blog are not similar at all. in fact, some of them used the word "shocked" here. which is irritating sometimes. I would say my blog and I are two sides of one coin. we are what we write, even if we sometimes write about a totally opposite person that others fail to notice, outside the virtual life. w ba3dein ta3eh la hon, meen hayda yalleh doesn't like u in person? mneb3atlo kam zelm yzabtouh ;)

5:02 AM
Maya@NYC said...

I agree with you Mirvat and Eve and i think a blog is another face of who we are we are. We are what we write. we have to be. a blog/diary/idea is only however, one part of us. a part as big as we want it to be. and i can easily understand people liking my posts and not me, or vice versa..
i always liked your blog. after meeting you, your blog has a new fresh flavor. even more enjoyable.

6:52 AM
Fouad said...

I think the contrast is most apparent when it comes to people with somewhat creative blogs. People who blog about their daily lives or about politics tend to be quite similar to their blogs, although some of them might express themselves more eloquently in writing than in spoken words. Bass when it comes to poetry, short stories, photos, philosophy, introspection, etc. you can safely bet that what you will see on the blog will not be at all who you will meet in person. And that's the point. Now if you spend enough time with someone and get to know them then that might change somehow. But expecting MIrvat to be like the creative portion of her blog is like telling Picasso, dude, you look nothing like your paintings. Don't you think? Now when she talks politics, I am sure the similarities will be much more tangible :)

7:55 AM
Anonymous said...

that's a very interesting topic indeed ,and im glad u opened it
i don't have a blog,im only a reader,i check lots of blogs yours is one of my regular daily stops...
but i must say reading blogs has changed me in many aspects...i'll start by you but please be patient (no hard feelings plz ;)
i was a type of person with some sterotypes in definig ppl
i m not a very strictly religious person but u can say im very practising to most of the religious duties
i 've always thought that for a person to back up resistance groups like HA or hamas he has to be a very parctising muslim ,for someone who enjoys travelling photography,creative writing and poetry,then no time for pHd and ACADEMIA
for someone who enjoys the merits of the american life, no time to still hold on and fight for the idea of the arab identity and lost rights in countris like palestine.simply it goes like this ( if he goes to parties in pubs ,lives in the US,enjoys himself so i guess he probably had forgotten all about those suffering in the other side of the world)
maybe im too young or i was too naive or had lots of stereotypes in my head but the world of blogging taught me a lot,people i would've never ever known in real life coz they were not the right type according to my book,turns out to be people sharing my exact views in other aspects of life....
I maybe somehow different from people like you in my daily socail routines but i must say i relate to someone like you in many of your opinoins than those who share my daily rituals
well consider it the power of blogging or the power of miravt dunno:)
don't ever stop blogging i do consider you a friend through this space
jameela....

10:10 AM
Feras othman said...

dear mirvat

i think that i totally agree with foaud absoloutley cuz this man 3omro atwal men 3omree ;)

when ur blog being unique and diffrent than the general base and has ur own finger print of presence it will descripe u , that so other surfers on the net will never forget u or forget ur thoughts and ideas .
as what u sayed mirvat since i was just a reader long time a go and then decided to be a blogger there is some blogs i prefer to read more than reading a newspaper or magazine they are intresting .
like eve blog i see it much soft also reflex a high taste lady .
yours kman is nice ;)

at the end bloggers might be stronger than u might think when they have a large base of relationships and everyone knows them but from deep inside few does ..so they try to express that through other media tools


and some bloggers have diffrent criteria of personality uses blog as a diary or notebook may reflect many things
but all are trying to do something in the middle of life full of emptyness .

greetings and go on with ur posts

feras

10:42 AM
Hashem said...

Well, me and my blog are definitely one thing, although some may not notice at first.
And yeah...I heard the word "shocked" many times, espicially at the beginning.
It's us talking, but in written words....either, unsuccessfully, trying to hide under fake names, or announcing our true ones.
In poetry, there is always this fantasy/dream/unreal part that make poetry so enjoyable, and the blog reflects this.
Meeting you Mirvat, I just could see your blog in your personality....the ups and downs....the sweetness....the deep thoughts...."el mashkaljeyyeh :)"...they were all there!
I read your post...get a sense of the mood....then I call u, and can feel the same...no?
We are what we write here.
No matter how we deny it.
No matter how we hide it.

12:35 PM
Lirun said...

my blog and i used to be very separate but now we have a lot in common and i have succumbed to opening up to my audience and revealing for exmaple that i am a mad mad surfer who drops anything at anytime for a decent set of waves.. i find my posts become more and more in tune with my history and path but not necessarily my personality or views..

my blog serves as a haven for those who lose hope and they email me the most beautiful emails thanking me for my thoughts.. i think of it more as a project and mission than as an outlet..

in terms of the blogs i read.. i guess the coollest thing i have found is that blogging for me has totally replaced tv.. so now my infotainment is purely interactive and i love that!!

i think of blogging as whatever it is.. without any need to pigeon hole

you know for example how much i love to hate to love to hate to love to hate to love you..

:)

12:55 PM
gitanes legeres said...

a blog is only one reflection of a complex being. like any piece of work it cannot personify the author. that would be diminutive. it's a piece of work in progress though and it evolves with a person like a series of paintings and different "periodes" (like with picasso).

1:30 PM
Unknown said...

telling picasso you're nothing like your paintings.. haha that's funny! but it's true and gitanes you're absolutely right, picasso's early work for once is loosely connected to his post-cubism pieces, it almost feels impossible that it's the same person. that's as far as creativity goes. writing fiction, as largely is the case of painting, might not reflect the person behind the work. gus and i went to visit a7lam mustaghanmi once (we were obsessed with her and gus's dad turned out to be friends with her husband) and i still remember how shocked we were that she was nothing like the femme fatale we expected her to be.
maybe it's true that the more creative the work is, the more 'shocked' people would be..

as for when we write about ourselves in our little posts, yes it is only one side of our personality that might not present itself at a first impression.. i must admit some blogs i had in mind were of people i knew for a lifetime and i was still shocked when i discovered i might not know them at all..

abul hish, same goes to you but you know what you are even more warm in person than in your blog :)

jameela, thank you for your comment, it meant a lot. i know what you mean and i completely understand. we have a lot of work to do bringing opinions closer in the arabic world irrespective of religion. nshallah in better times we'll have the luxury to debate these issues.

be sure you have a friend on this side of the space too :)

3:30 PM
AM said...

Who said a blog should reflect the side of you that people know and are familiar with? I didn't hear of any rules, have you?

I am not gonna assume about others but I know some of us (me included) figure out their deep feelings and thoughts when writing -feelings and thoughts they don't get the chance to talk about or even exhibit during the day. Are we supposed to have the blog lines on our faces when meeting others in person? Probably if we discuss similar subjects but not when confronted with the daily shit of life.
I for one -if you listen to people around me and who work with me- may be one of the strongest and bitchiest you'll ever come across in your life but do I want to write about that side of me who dominates during the day for survival? No. When I write, I write about the *me* who is soft and trying to analyze deep feelings and figuring out lessons at the end of the day, the *me* who is resting, the *me* who plans to enjoy few moments in life, the *me* who tries to learn reading others as well, etc.

5:29 PM
Unknown said...

"I for one -if you listen to people around me and who work with me- may be one of the strongest and bitchiest you'll ever come across in your life but do I want to write about that side of me who dominates during the day for survival?"

but that's exactly the disconnect i'm talking about. i'm not saying it shouldn't be.. just an observation.

also i was mostly surprised when i had seen, through writing, a different side in people i already knew very well which in some cases was very exciting. not people at work of course, that's a totally different level of self-presentation.

no rules..

5:49 PM
jooj said...

Keefik Mirvat?

in terms of how much our blog looks like us. 'Us' as in how we act on a day to day basis.

In our daily life we act based on who/what we are for the most part (if one is blessed with knowing who s/he is). Sometimes we act based on who we like to be, or can or cannot be, or should be ... you know the drill.

Same with blogging. But blogging brings way less pressure and a lot more convenience. And hence we see bigger and more discrete gaps among one's facets.

6:09 PM
Unknown said...

hi jooj, mnee7a merci we inta?
that is so true actually. the lack of judgment or restrictions on the blog (to an extent) gives us the freedom to run and explore each facet of our personality to the fullest.

6:51 PM
Mounir said...

you and yourself are two beautiful things :)

9:30 PM
Unknown said...

thank you sweetie :) so are you and your poetry and words of wisdom!

9:33 PM
Anonymous said...

I think it's all about what readers want. I myself am not much into poetry and novels etc, and that's why I liked this particular post in your blog compared to the rest of the post here and decided to comment on it. However, it's still the same person - you - who write all the posts here, but it's the reader who picks what he likes to read regardless of its writer.

11:04 PM
Mounir said...

:)

9:57 AM
arch.memory said...

Interesting post and comments! What I found very true, as well, is your remark that "I noticed that even after meeting a lot of my dear fellow bloggers i still only read the blogs that i used to read to begin with." Even though I know no one probably has the time, I'd like to know in more detail how the impressions people formed of their fellow bloggers from their blogs differed from those formed in person.

5:26 PM
Unknown said...

it would be interesting if someone did that, arch you start :)

5:53 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)