Signal to Noise

When you think about it, in the context of an infinitely possible universe, with the possible existence of any manner of sentient life across it, we're all relatively insignificant. What does one voice matter in the cacophony of thousands, of millions? In this universe, hell, just on this planet, there are several billion other people with thoughts, hopes, dreams, and so on and so forth that might be like yours, might be completely different, might have thoughts significantly more profound, more intelligent, more eloquent than yours. So, what's the point? In this world of ants marching, with someone who's going to be better, faster, more efficient, more intelligent, more insightful than you, what the fuck are you still doing here? You're nothing, just another insignificant speck on a tiny blue marble in a vast black sea.

Kind of harsh, don't you think? If the world really were like that, that one voice didn't matter, you may as well just consign yourself to oblivion right now. I mean, you don't matter, you shouldn't be heard, we need the fucking space for another Starbucks.

I give in to too much drama, granted, but this is essentially the argument held by one Matt Brady, of Newsarama fame -- a site devoted to the egregious amount of comics "journalism" which usually amounts to so much regurgitated press release pap, in case you didn't know what it was or what I thought of it --, as he said on the Brian Wood Forum:

That should be a question in the EULA agreement on EVERY blog host:

"Do you really, honestly - and we mean honestly, not that 'honestly' you use when you ask yourself whether or not you look good in that pair of jeans - think anyone gives a shit about what you think?"

If they did that, and people were 100% honest, there would be no "blog culutre."

His argument is largely levelled at the "blogs", which for some reason or another seems to have raised his ire. Mayhap because we don't kowtow to his bandwagon, or -- in context of the thread itself -- don't all bow down and worship in the house of the pimp or some other febrile nonsense. ...and, of course, anyone who doesn't agree with you should be silenced. What a fair and balanced outlook from a surprisingly conservative media standpoint. (Everyone rush out and buy some more Marvel and DC shit right now so Matt can go to bed happy, thinking he's done a good job being a shill "journalist") ...but I get away from myself.

The key point, the one where this becomes a reductio ad absurdum argument -- despite the obvious self-defeating qualities of the 'who gives a shit?' question in the first place, with a reflexive view back on the query -- is that in the world painted above, in the world where one voice doesn't matter, there would be a silence. There would be no art, no literature, no joy of creativity. Quiet little sheep. Head down. Go to sleep. No one cares what you think.

Endless fields of white, an existentialist's dream. Yet, if no voice mattered, and we were all essentially "shamed" into silence, there'd be no thought of those blank pages, because the necessity for the pages themselves ceases to exist. Electronic bandwidth ceases to exist. Communication becomes perfunctory, utilitarian, and sterile.

The counterargument is simple: every thought matters. Every voice. Every single ounce of any idea. Good or bad. Maybe it doesn't matter to me, maybe it doesn't matter to you, but it certainly matters to someone, even if just for the cathartic release of getting something out of your head. Basically, in some way, fashion, or form, the blog entries -- even if on endless trivialities of what you ate for breakfast or that neat thing your kitten can do with a bowl of milk -- it matters to the person posting it. Possibly a lot, possibly just as a passing notion, but it matters. It's communication. It's information. Without it, human beings, as social animals, cease being human beings and become some other. Some form of automata.

The trick is finding those similar souls, talking about things that matter to you.