There’s No Need For Books Anymore
People used to say “I could write a book.” People used to say that because in almost every case where someone said that they couldn’t write a book. What they were really trying to say is, “I’m an interesting person. I’ve seen interesting things. My life is special and unique and fascinating.”
A secondary implication of the above statement is that books were something special and it wasn’t a simple process to write one. Or have one published. A great effort and expense was involved from more than just the person who believed that they were unique and special and fascinating. For the great majority of time that has passed here on planet Earth almost everyone on the surface knew they were neither interesting, unique, or special, and mercifully had no desire to inflict the delusion that they were upon others. Until recently.
Modern technology has seemingly instilled in virtually everyone on the planet a simultaneous conviction that they indeed can write a book. And in addition to that small feat, are capable of great works of art, towering symphonic composition, and blisteringly insightful social and political commentary. On a lunch break.
The problem is that there are no more or less people capable of these kinds of artistic achievements than there were in 347 BCE, 1187 CE, or 1978. What has changed is the technology that allows them to generate content, then post that content with almost no effort, cost, or technical expertise. Don’t know how to paint? Doesn’t matter. Not a graphic artist? No problem. Never heard of an offset press? No worries. The technology will now do the work of the work for you. All those nasty distractions that once kept people who were assured of their brilliance despite never having bothered to study the discipline they considered themselves brilliant in, like form, technique, experience, well, those impossibly archaic barriers to exposing your greatness to the world no longer exist.
So, in addition to not being good at your day job at the milk processing plant, you can also not be good at countless other avocations. Film making, graphic design, even poetry. Well, fortunately still no one wants to be a poet, but….
And for the would-be artist who has everything but talent… a blog. Your own world. There are seven interesting blogs in the entire Universe Outsider Poetry is one of them. The trouble is there are a billion blogs in the world. Those other 999, 999,992 blogs are the people who used to say “I could write a book.” But now they also say (with a straight face) “I’m an artist, a web designer, a blogger and in my spare time I knit.”
Even as I write I fall prey to one of the points I wanted to make, if only to myself. The generation of content does not an artist make. Artistry does. And it’s sadly lacking. The technology is part of the problem. What once was a novel became a blog then a status update on Facebook and is now restricted to 140 characters on Twitter. One of the founders of Surrealism, Andre Breton once wrote something like “Everyone a poet.” Little did he know, when finally given the chance, almost no one was a poet, or even wanted to be.
Thomas L. Vaultonburg is a famous writer of many eBook .He is again here with his new article Outsider Poetry.
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