FACEBOOK aka Friendship: A Quick One Part Two

This is not a pipe.



This one is from a lesson I learned via Scott McCloud in his book Understanding Comics. That is where I first learned of the above painting. The idea of the original piece, should you be standing in front of it, is that you are not looking at a pipe. You are looking at a painting of a pipe. In McCloud's piece, he points out that you are looking at several printed copies of a drawing of a painting of a pipe. So, I must point out that you are now looking at the HTML code of a JPEG of a picture of a painting of a pipe....or something like that. Does your head hurt? Mine too.

So what does this have to do with Facebook? Recently, I CLICKED on an IMAGE of an ACQUAINTANCE to see what she looked like as Lady Gaga. While on the FACEBOOK PAGE, I saw an IMAGE of a pretty girl and CLICKED. I then sent a MESSAGE asking the ACQUAINTANCE about the girl in the IMAGE. As a result, I am told that it is REALLY WEIRD that I am CREEPING around her FRIENDS. Are you with me here? Facebook is only a few years old, social media a bit older and the entire Internet itself, not even as old as me. Yet it has seemingly assimilated reality, or vice versa, in the minds of young people. Think about it. Eight minutes of me staring at my screen like a vegetable while scrolling through random combinations of words and images not only translates into meaningful interaction for others but is grounds for judgment!

Friendship: A Quick One

I heard something about friendship VS. facebook. Something about taking a stand on behalf of REAL friendship by taking action and DEFRIENDING in Facebook. You dont really distance anything or anyone from a "Facebook World" by establishing a holiday based on activity done in the same world. Right now, to me, Facebook is what Im typing and MAYBE the rest of the visible screen. I dont know offhand how many "friends" i have. I never had my concept of friendship confused with Facebook terminology. And Facebook does not play a central role in my life. Noam Chomsky, in some way, says that what keeps our brand of democracy going is a never ending stream of inconsequential "opinions" on which we can fall on either side of, as long as the chatter continues. It is what media exists for. So ill continue to communicate with people on Facebook. Ill state opinions, make jokes. have fun. But does it have anything to do with my worldview? None whatsoever. Does it tell me something about the worldview of everyone else? Certainly. The last I remember an intense discussion over the meaning of "friends" and how many you had was when I taught high school and it was Myspace. Now I can only hope the theme of this blog is supported by a prominent media figure or Im screeeewed.