Who Are You?

Are you a leader or a follower? Are you a little of both? Do you project a fabricated image to psychologically manipulate the masses into believing your site is professional? Do you accept yourself for the person you really are, letting it shine through in every post? To have great blog in my humble opinion, it must be honest and full of heart!

We live in a world of images, reputations, money and lack thereof. All of these things are heavily reflected in the blogosphere and our daily lives. My good friend Karen from the philosophical blog Waterlearner asked me if I would write a post on self acceptance. Read the post that inpired me, Spiritual Facial. My good friends at NAFASG also helped inspire this article. Read their fascinating post, Don’t Just Watch, Observe! (make sure you watch the incredible video, you have to see this!) It’s been a while since I delved into the depths of the self and I couldn’t tell Karen no!

I will start by using this concept as it applies to blogging and how I perceive it from a multi-faceted detached state of consciousness. To see things for what they really are is one central idea in the structure of my blog. I use what I think of as motivic blogging improvisations. This is based on my life long studies of Jazz musical theory, Taoism and martial art philosophies.

When most of us start blogging, often it is a personal blog. That’s how I started. Other people have a reason for starting a blog like for instance, to make money or support a business. I have noticed some interesting things about the A-list blogs that most have in common. Let’s take a look at a basic time line in the life of a blogger. We’ll call him Blogger-X. This is a specific model to show you my point. It may or may not apply to you, but within, there is a lesson for us all. I am playing a bit of devil’s advocate to make my point, so don’t take it personally if you think of yourself!

The Tale of Blogger-X

Blogger-X starts out writing about his life and and his job. Then he meets some blogging friends. He participates in his first blogging meme and is no longer a web virgin. He gets tagged and re-tagged and triple tags all his buddies having all kinds of fun. He then gets a blogging award and starts thinking about making money on line.

Now that his on line cherry has been popped, he realizes through studying how the A-listers became successful, he wants to be one himself. He notices that A-listers don’t do memes or have friends like the rest of the bloggers.

He stops doing all memes, replaces his blogroll with one that only points to the big blogs, and ignores all the incoming links that don’t have page rank. He no longer cares about all those great friends he made because he is so much more important now. He fears that his newly manufactured and heartlessly fabricated reputation could lose it’s edge if people see a silly meme on his site. He is now a professional blogger who wants money and his blog is a business.

He no longer gives out links or cares about anyone unless they have a pagerank of 5 or better. If you want a link, he will sell you one. The public masses are now his sheep-like customers. Every post he writes is maximized for his niche as he rises higher in popularity . Tons of people trackback and link to every post he writes so that they too can be just like Blogger-X. And so on and so on.

His reputation and fabricated image are an illusion, using very similar mass-mind control and mass-hypnosis techniques that Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte used. Yes indeed, he now makes a truckload of cash and works it hard, optimizing for every cent he can milk from whoever! Things are often not what they appear to be in the blogosphere! Watch Nafa’s video to see some real illusion.

I say phooey on you Blogger-X. I will never stop doing memes and I most certainly will NEVER remove my friends from my blogroll. Can you make money and have friends at the same time? Of course you can. One thing I truly cannot stand is having an A-list blogger (or someone who thinks they are) not reply to my comments. If I take 15 minutes to write a very meaningful comment and you snub me by replying only to the other high ranked commentators on your post, I will never read your blog again. Hire someone to answer the damn reply! There’s an image for you to fabricate! Create the illusion that you care! Of course we will all see through that and you’ll lose all readers who aren’t your sheep!

Honest Blogging Begins With Self-Acceptance

I accept all people from all races and religions and when I make a friend, I keep that friend! I met 2 new bloggers who happen to be incredibly high-ranked who impressed me by taking the time to give me attention and call me by name! Hey, that is what good blogging is all about! These 2 incredible bloggers are: Garry Conn and Tim Nash. Both of these guys are in my opinion, true experts and cool guys. I just met them both and will be studying their blogs. Garry is a master who has so many blogs it will make your head spin. Tim is just plain brilliant.

I want to thank Mark from MeAndMyDrum for introducing me to Garry (please go checkout Marks new header and logo, talk about sweet! Mark has a fantastic blog and has me hooked with his most refreshing approach!). I met Tim because I kept seeing his face in my MyBlogLog widget and wanted to see who he was! I was thinking, “Wow, Tim Nash reads my blog! How cool is that?”

A side note: Have you seen Paula, from Polliwog’s Pond, new look? (she is now an incredible redhead, oh baby!) She looks so beautiful, I just had to give a shout-out to her! I was floored when I saw her new avatar on mybloglog. I haven’t done my long overdue awards post Paula, but I thank you for the award! It’s coming and all of you who have given me an award, I have not forgotten!)

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Garry Conn has written something about me that is one of the most awesome things anyone has said about me. While most bloggers out to make (we all need money) completely ignore me and NEVER take the time to pay any attention, Garry has been given the Revellian dot com seal of approval for fantastic business integrity and blogging ethics! Read the great post he has written here: The Power of One Blog Reader. Thank you Garry Conn for being a class act and I look forward to a lasting friendship filled with happiness and success!

Tags: blogging, blogging tips, taoism