II.
It was that promise, above all, of change
(A word these days - not then! - so common outside blogging)
That brought so many flocking to the cybersquare. Patience
And hard-fought understanding of this new world masked
Insidious changes brought about with slow familiarity: some dumb show
Of loyalty to party, person, place, ideal caused new thinking to retreat.
III.
And creativity, in that slow but certain agonized and prophesied retreat,
Found itself supplanted by the link, insidious antidote to change.
Though always part of what was done of course, as commentary, or to show
The ways in which the media had erred - the blogging
Was the thinking, not the confirmation from the source that masked
The Truth to start with: the Truth discerned through dialogue and patience.
IV.
Alas! As with any other medium instant judgments overcome the patience
Needed to unravel thoughts quite separate from personae. Thus the intellectual retreat
Afforded those who looked for refuge from common wisdom - masked
Off (as it were) from the omni-minded world of fleshly cares - could change
Itself in an instant to the gratifying world of blogging
For the sake of self-agreement. The Balkanizing soon becomes the show.
V.
In an ever-shrinking cyber habitat, how can one show
Others any hope for talking and looking for understanding? Patience!
The only hope for any progress in the world - blogging
Or otherwise - is to speak to others with whom one disagrees, not to retreat
To the cheap blandishments that make the currency of thought small change,
To the bland currents that change small thoughts to subterfuge, masked.
VI.
If we take on the manners of those whom we feel are masked
(or otherwise suspicious) and present those manners as the mask to show...
Our wit? Our power? To deny the other's substance? Who knows...? The change
Wrought is not in the objectified persona falsely rendered, nor in the patience
Needed to counteract such artificial games, but in the retreat
From principles that guide intelligible conversation in blogging.
ENVOI
In short: What can we expect of others if we have no patience
For the shortcomings we see in our small world, when we would retreat
From what we know is right to score some cheap victory in blogging? |
