Greener grass

None of us are free. The cruelest trick on anyone hoping to find freedom here in blogs, is that there is none. Oh yes newcomer, fresh dewey eyed. Seeking enlightenment and freedom and earnest speaking of truths that cannot be uttered offline. Oh yes, we've all been there. Thinking that freedom exists here. Hah. Not for much longer. But it was sweet while it lasted. Such sweet momentary freedom it was.

No blogger is free in real life. That is why they blog. That is why Western bloggers flock around the blogs of Eastern bloggers, and Eastern bloggers around the Westerner's. Each longing for the green grass of the others apparent virtual freedom. Each envying the apparent excitement in the others voice.

Why are there so many Westerners online? Because they cannot say the things they say online, off. Because in real life they are a middle aged lowly paid office clerk with two adopted kids and a wife with whom they haven't shared any thought other then household expenses for the last 10 years. Because in real life they are a compulsive obsessive with a drinking problem. Because in real life they are a middle aged school teacher who no-one else in the staffroom can stand and who resorts to shouting in other bloggers comments for conversation and writing the only other thing they will ever write - red penned illegible bellyaching in the margins of essays by students with more talent. Because in real life the blogger is a journalist with a) no job or b) an employer who can't accept certain material anymore. Because in real life they live in suburbia on the margins of cities with bad infrastructure. Because in real life they live in run down decrepit one bedroom units with stained carpet and neighbor's that have loud domestics and sewage pipes that would be condemned if the rent wasn't affordable. Because in real life they were a visual artist that had writer's block for 15 years and now are one of many un-exceptional writers, with artist's block.

But these are true things. Real. And nobody wants to hear that. Oh no, everybody would rather escape into some imaginary place where wars really can bring peace and where democracy really is fair and where beheadings are just fake and where captured soldiers are only plastic action figures and where the detention, deportation and torture of civilians doesn't really happen. Where the grass is greener. That's why people come to blogs. Looking for greener grass.