I’m taking my subjectivity and putting it into a jar.

Why?

Well, I’m saving other tech bloggers a lot of work. Left unleashed on the world my subjectivity is highly problematic. Instead of doing the pole dance between technology evangelist or technophobe I make ugly assertions. For example:

There is more old than new in new electronic communication technologies!

Electronic communication technologies are like the blush brush and the lever – something none of us Westerners can live without!

The online/offline dichotomy is as phony as any nation-state border!

And so on. It’s much easier to conduct reviews of Alltop (the online magazine rack)  like @guykawasaki (aka Annie Colbert) with billions of subjectivities in jars. It’s how journalism, democracy and western culture has been practiced for a century. As long as you have a strong rationalizing metanarrative (we do!) nothing can stand in your way.

Complex analysis belongs in onerous books that no one reads or, as I’m conceding here, jarred like a snake embalmed in formaldehyde. It’s curious fun if you have the time to get self-reflexive. No one does! Analyzing your own relationship to what you are writing, why you are writing it and how it reproduces harmful power relations is goofy. Moral, but goofy.

Morality be damned! Ignore all but you own subjectivity in the name of progress! Put any and all interloping subjectivities in jars like trophies and carry on.

And look! I’ve already got your collection started for you.

Many thanks to Neal Wiser for inspiring this post!