Everywhere we turn, we are bombarded with “feelings,” “needs” and “I” messages. Everyone is either in therapy, just getting out of therapy, or considering what a therapist could do for them. Dr. Abraham Maslow’s 
self-actualization and hierarchy of needs have become the paradigm for modern society because what is “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” if not the battle cry for each individual’s right to do whatever they want if it makes them happy. Now the concept of self-actualization is not in itself bad. It is the subtle shift into narcissism, powered by capitalism and consumerism, that is dangerous. The common good –– thinking about others in the larger society before yourself –– is mocked or derided if it is considered at all. People who care about these things are labelled “bleeding hearts,” “do-gooders,” socialists or much, much worse, as if being concerned about someone other than yourself or your immediate family is some sort of crime.
Self-actualization and blogging
It is natural of course to put the needs of loved ones and yourself above those of strangers, but that’s different than assuming that you and they are the only important people in the universe. And here is where blogs enter the picture. Like many of my generation, I recoiled from the very idea of them. I mean, who wants to, or has time to, read the online diary of a 12-year-old girl or a frat boy spilling their guts? The concept reeks of the narcissism and self-fulfillment fetishes of the late 20th and 21st-centuries.
And yet, now that I have blogged myself, my feelings have changed. Are most blogs badly written and maybe even narcissistic? Yes. But as with everything in life, blogs are as interesting or dull as the people who write them. That puts the onus squarely on the blogger. In other words, we have to be the kind of bloggers that we like to read and as every writer knows, that’s not always as easy as it seems.
Filed under Blogging
