Filler

Ian has returned from visiting his parents in North Wales and is, as I type, practicing some of the Handel music I gave him for his birthday on his ever-so-glossy new piano. Sweet.

I am both flushed with pride and horrified to find that Bravo has linked WalkyTalky as a "Top Shelf Weblog" -- I'm assuming from context that "Top Shelf" doesn't carry the same pornographic connotations for him as it does for me :) This is very flattering for a blog that's only been going a few weeks, but does it mean I now have a responsibility to produce something worth reading rather than just spouting the usual bollocks? Ohmigod, how can I live up to that? I console myself that no-one really pays attention to these things anyway. Should someone follow the link and find there's nothing worth reading on the end of it, chances are they'll just think "hey ho" and go on to the next one. Ah, the joys of hypertext.

It does, however, remind me that I wanted to express my admiration for Bravo, who's an inspiring guy. Not something I would ever have expected to say about a privileged Christian Republican, but labels are a curse and Bravo belies them. Of course, I only know his blog, and anything as mediated as a blog has to be regarded as fiction -- but fiction can be inspiring too, otherwise we'd never have bothered to invent it. The fiction that is Bravo transcends his background, and thanks to a sharp mind and the blessing of homosexuality, which together have dislodged him from the complacent, conservative life he might otherwise have led, has become the sort of thoughtful and questioning person who makes me optimistic about the future of humanity. I disagree with him on all sorts of issues, but disagreement isn't a bad thing.

Bravo is just one of many bloggers I've come to know (as far as their fictional online personæ go) lately, and I'm really pretty impressed by them all. Like the Mass Observation projects of the last century, something is going on here that is really worth doing. Experiences are being shared, and each sharing contributes to our understanding of each other and the world. True, the voices are mostly from a tiny privileged minority, but even within that minority the diversity is great enough that it gives a hint of the breadth of experience of our species in the world, and it is deeply gratifying to have even that fraction of humanity expressed in a way that can be accessed from far and wide.

Yikes, what do I sound like? (Yes, Adam, I'm posting inebriated again, could you guess?) And I haven't even got on to Bart, who I honestly believe should one day be President of the United States. Gush, gush, gush.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that communication is a good thing. And boy does it sound trite when summed up like that.

Write on, comrades. Write on.
Posted by matt at August 17, 2003 02:20 AM