In this interview of Jacques Derrida he shares with us his feelings of how powerful writing truly can be. Every time I sit to write on my blog I take authority in what I am saying. I don't go to others and ask for opinions or ask if what I am saying is right or acceptable, I just write how I feel on the given assignment. When I am exposed to an article, poem, or multimedia message I have a personal reaction to whatever I have just read or saw, and then the reaction is typed up and put out there for the entire world to absorb, talk back to, or hate on. When writing for a more formal assignment, the opinion part is a little more tricky and I understand how fear might be inspired within a writing who is commenting on ideas that are meaningful to the world. What you say must have evidence to support it. Most of the time their is ample evidence to support multiple sides to an issue, and from their you must make your own judgements. Who says what writing is good and what writing is bad? Who has the authority to make judgements on social problems, poetry, or news paper articles? Most of us don't, so when we do put our opinions into writing we are taking a chance by putting our thoughts out there. It is completely open to criticism and discussion. Fear comes from how powerful writing may actually be, and who it affects. Your subconscious mind is more likely to attempt this writing timidly, with caution not to offend however our active thoughts are less in our control and more willing to lend themselves to paper. As a writer I feel like you are more likely to take a chance when you are thinking strong opinions on the topic you are assessing.
Just on another note on this topic, I just realized I know exactly how Derrida feels about what it feels like to fear writing. It hit me like a brick to the head: facebook. Sometimes I feel like I am just over flowing with feelings about things in general. Like how I hate forcing myself to post positive statuses yet I think people get sick of my constant downer quotes and lyrics in the status bar. And just when I do find something positive I agree with I have the worst day in the world and I just want to post mass amounts of random things about how I hate school, life, girls, and people in general. The reason why i don't exactly post what I am thinking about 24/7 is because I'm scared of what others are thinking when they read it. They're not in my head, they don't know how I feel... so how can I expect them to understand. It's the fear of being judged. That fear completely controls my writing because I know on facebook that every body judges statuses and posts and what not. That fear has so much power over me that I look for other outlets for places to just bombard with all my real thoughts. Facebook is like Fakebook and I realized its because I'm scared to be real.
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I completely agree with you about how when one judges writing, what constitutes good and bad writing is subjective. What is impressive for one, may be boring and non-notable for another. By posting blogs, all of us are putting a little bit of ourselves up for criticism which can be tough and hurtful at times. And indeed, it is strange to think that words on paper can have the power to affect others so strongly. When one writes, if one is writing from their soul it is not you who is in control but a force within you. Such an aspect of profound writing is what evokes fear. Should you not be in control of what you write?
ReplyDeleteI love, love, love this! This is exactly what I like to hear; that we should not care about what others think about what we write. We should take in the constructive criticism to help improve our writing, but for those who just criticize and disagree for no reason, who cares! We do become better writers when we can express what we believe, and give proof as to why we feel that way. Our ideas can be just as right as theirs.
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