Post Class: ruqayyahali, 10/23

"Everything that kills me makes me feel alive."

I've been listening to Counting Stars since it was played in class on Wednesday mostly for the beat. However I've been thinking about the lyrics these last few times and how they apply to the reading we did this past week. In particular, I was thinking about Rollins Confessions, its appeal, and how it pertains to how doing something wrong makes us feel excited and alive. 

There's something about anonymity that appeals to us. People who post on Rollins Confessions are constantly complaining, saying random things that would normally be judged if said in reality, or even sometimes saying something nice because they don't have to say it to the person's face. What is it about this veil of discretion that we love? Why are we so excited by the idea of saying what we have to say without wanting others to know who is saying it? 

To me, this hinders the progress and growth of individuality. People would rather hide behind a cloud of smoke than come out because they are afraid of how others will see them or what they will think of them. Living in this virtual reality, this world that is a world but isn't, gives us the opportunity to do better and make change but instead people resort to petty idiocies such as those often posted on pages such as Rollins Confessions. While that might be thought of as entertainment on some level, I can't help but see how that is more harmful than helpful. 

So as I was going through this week, I watched the posts on Rollins Confessions and the areas I contribute my own virtual life to: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, random surfing, etc, as I listened to Counting Stars and wondered what it is about deviance that enamors humans. Why do we are we so obsessed with going to that which is not necessarily good for us than what is good for us? Then again, who says what is good and what is wrong? 

I think this is why virtual reality is such a popular outlet among the current generation and upcoming one. It gives them a place to be open without any kind of reprimand. We feel alive because its an open space of all kinds of freedom. We aren't part of reality there, we can create our own reality and no one ever has to know that we're the illustrators of our own little world. 

Thus, we exist in this virtuality better than reality because we can create what we want and we can get lost in it. Lost in our own personal worlds. Lost in the unknown.