Morrissey is such a self-righteous twit, so outspoken, that he should dye his hair white and call himself Gore. The truth is that the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle, but Morrissey will always bow to controversy over truth. And he has done so again with Facebook. Morrissey has told the Herald Sun: "I know nothing about Twitter, and I can only roughly assess Facebook. Twitter seems useful in some ways because you are no longer at the mercy of press interpretation, but Facebook is too self-gratifying. You might think you have 900 friends, but it’s an illusion. You might as well live in a lighthouse off the Scottish highlands. People think that they are in touch because they print a few lines everyday, but to me it seems like the essence of loneliness."Here's a question for Morrissey, if the only choices are the semblance of intimacy or the essence of loneliness, why choose the essence of loneliness.? The essence of loneliness is being alone, if having a virtual friendship is your option, as it might be for the ugly, the socially awkward, the immobile, those who have managed to break with all friends and families, recovering drug addicts, those who prefer virtual intimacy, in what sense are these people better off without Facebook?
The truth is we can't all be Morrissey, but we can all be the stars of our own stories, our own worlds. FB is starring me, featuring me, co-starring you, and with a cast of thousands. Sometimes you can friend up, sometimes down, but always the semblance of friendship is as deep or as shallow as you allow it to be. Not unlike every other relationship you have.
What Morrissey claims about Facebook is as accurate as his claim to asexuality. It just isn't so. Why shouldn't older people who are stuck in homes have as large and joyous a social life on Facebook as possible as they enter their twilight years. Far from being sad it is a wonderful thing to give people a second lease on life.
I started my Facebook page to promote rock nyc. But in time it grew to have a life of its own. I met folks like Steve Crawford, Dziga Vertov, and Dan Whitley, people I consider friends. Are they as real as the friend I've met in person.? Actually, yes. That was what I was trying to get at when I wrote about the fake Mick Fleetwood.
Here's something Morrissey might want to chew on: reality is whatever I say it is.
Comments are closed.