I am going to stay educated!
Seeing as how I've run out of 'witty', and 'clever', and Mensa Singapore has kicked me out for not paying yearly subscription fees, its pretty much the best I can hope for. In the long run.
Its not a bad deal actually. all it takes is a little effort everyday to...
read
write
converse with people
listen to music
watch movies
try something new!
kay so its not exactly being educated. but something in between educated and cultured. you get the drift.
Janadas Devan has got it right. the guy is awesome. he doesnt show off a whole lot. but when he writes this quality about him shines through. his education. his cultured mature mind. he doesnt use academic lingo to build a barrier beyond the common man to show that he's better. He does it in the most simple of ways. engaging. shining light on new perspectives. introducing new ideas in moderate doses. serving bite sized portions of history, fact and anecdote. never extreme. but clearly passionate and confident about where he is heading or leaning towards.
how do you reach that stage in life? that ability to write so comfortably without falling into old traps doors of a particular niche' audience and crowd.
im thinking experience has to do with it. and a very conscious effort to stay relevant. to stay educated.
Let me contrast that to sXe Phil (Philip de Franco). I watch the guy's show on youtube and there are brilliant moments on quite a regular basis. Not easy considering its virtually a daily show. and i think to myself.
Its certainly possible. If you dedicate that much of yourself online everyday, your bound to come up with enough material to talk about. but dont you wanna move beyond talking about it? beyond mere commentating and reflection.
I guess the internet is full of that. witty comments. insightful and sharp reflections on society.
But blogs (or Vlogs) will never replace mainstream media or the news in particular. because there is no sustained focus online. topics fly and trends die in a blink of an eye.
and while communities might form, like the vlog brothers (the Nerd Fighters) or certain forum communities (even on Yahoo! Answers) these communities tend to be immersed neck deep in their own lingo and inner references and jokes. not exclusive. but private.
and while you can build a reputation for yourself online, also with experience, its simply not sustainable. people will forget you. you can pour your heart into issues over time, and become something of a credible force. but are people ever gonna say, "they wanna be like you"? cause its not gonna last forever. your only popular online for 10 minutes. and then they have their own lives to get back to. well at least for me anyway.
I wanna be popular WHILE im online. and then I wanna return to the normal world, and do normal things.
I guess what Im saying is, I think sXe Phil is a talent. who deserves to get out of youtube and do something bigger for society. cause he really is quite a smart-ass. and i mean that in the best sense. but he strikes me as a talent who is being wasted for an online audience who will forget him when his time is done.
and the other thing im saying is.. you dont get educated on the internet.
you get informed. you get striked with news your allowed to take in, and then you get to comment or blog about it.
you get access to google and wikipedia and dictionary.com and with a few clicks your capable of making obscure witty references and riding on trends and memes only comprehendable to a small few group of online peers.
but because its so easy to get that information, your so unlikely to remember it in the long term.
and when push comes to shove, your at a black tie cocktail party trying to make conversation, your ideas of things to talk about run dry and theres no google or wikipedia to pull you out of that hole.
so yes. I may belong to this wired generation.
but i still believe in education.
god forbid I don't let myself decay.
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