Torn

The internet has internally displaced me, but this place seems like it could become home.

At first shake, I believe in this project, but I am torn. We have long known that the internet is forever, and prior to that, that we as people are both forgetfully infinite and infinitely forgetful---that the things we do remain both immemorial and unmemorable. The most insignificant of our actions signify something, echoing within the chambers of our tiny but ever-recessing caves, while the most sincere of our intentions and heartfelt attempts at being heard are often met with silence---and not the listening kind. The internet, for all the noise it produces, remains an oppressively quiet place. We walk a fine line between powerful solitude and despondent loneliness.

This nook in the ecosystem is a step in the right direction, I hope. A medium that reminds us of the weight of our words and the value of our voice. Nevertheless, we remain at arm's length from one another, and subject to the whims of electronic forces beyond our control. We live in a world where anonymity is essential, and privacy necessary---a world where all is remembered for someone else's gain, and all is forgotten to our own detriment. This place is trying to make remembrance a gain for ourselves again (a-gain), and only offers forgetfulness through the messier and more humanly route of forgiveness. If I stay here long enough, and keep speaking like this, I will prove wrong in many ways, and perhaps at times will be hurtfully so. But we should rightfully remember those times. Even if a face and a body are never tethered to these words.

I believe the things we create have value, and should be compensated accordingly. In my mind, however, it is a misstep to create things only because we believe others will value them. I realize I am biased in this regard. I believe I would benefit from doing more things simply because I feel pulled to do them, and to not weigh the gaze or opinion of others before doing so. There have been plenty of venues on the internet to go about this endeavor before now, but something about here feels a bit closer to being the right place.

Let us not forget that so many projects before this were accompanied by a promise of democracy and progress, on account of the changes brought about by new media. Many forms that precede us have already been swallowed by power and greed. Are there ways it's already happening here? To celebrate this new permanence and currency unchecked would be to repeat that same, shortsighted mistake. But then again, maybe this will be the one.

I will shamelessly edit my words as long as I can, and I apologize in advance for my pretense.

Hello,

@armchair