Ryan's Journal

Writing a journal in public 'just for yourself' is exactly like choosing your clothing 'just for yourself.' That's the opposite of reality. The appearance you give to the world may very well be the only thing someone will ever know of you, and what you chose to purchase to throw onto yourself tomorrow morning is very much for the mass of unknowns as well as the set of knowns and yourself. Were you to truly not care what the rest of the world thinks of how you look, I would guess you might buy your clothing at random.

At least the fashionistas aren't being hypocrites when they lay down their paychecks for clothes. They know people are looking, and they care. That doesn't make sense to me, but they aren't trying to mask it under a false pretension of self satiation. Somebody else is going to see that dress, and you know it.

Why do I bother keeping a 'journal' online. Clearly it isn't just for me, though it is partly for my sake (mostly my memory's sake). The online journal is a manifestation of belief in Shakespeare's assertion that all the world's a stage; whether anyone is actually reading or not can be quite irrelevant in this medium, because, after all, it's in that great cyber-out-there for all to see, if only they would come by to look. Maybe not today, but sometime.

I wonder what a self-unconcerned journal would read like, if such a thing exists. Would it be like self-unconcerned clothing?

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