Ars Gratia Artis

You’d thing with all this connectivity, all this interaction that this crazy new medium of the internet affords us, that there’d be a greater level of acceptance and promotion of the creative classes – We can do our thing with less strain on the society at large. I don’t need a public grant , or university tenure to write a book, or research a topic, I’ve got the Wikipiedia, and google scholar. If I want to exhibit my photography, I’m going to et a helluva lot more publicity out of a well designed and promoted website, than I will out of some kind of public art hoopla.

So why are there still so many haters ? I’m an avid reader of Dooce, not because I have some great interest in mother hood and poop, (although who doesn’t love a good fart joke), but because I think she’s a really brilliant writer. She recently posted a rundown of the hate mail that she gets as a professional blogger.

I mean really, do you have anything better to do with YOUR life than write about your dog licking plates and your husbands shoes? While I understand that cancer is scary (I’m 24 and had to have an ovary and a tumor the size of a grapefruit ON IT removed), you really cannot be surprised that people are a little put off by your tiny bit of “over drama” about a spot of skin cancer.

Spelling errors aside, it’s the overt hostility of this message is a little much for me (I reference another site only becasue I don’t merit hatemail, only spam). Your creative types (and they belong to you, because they provide you with a indescribably vital part of your existence) – They entertain, they provoke thought. They definitely don’t deserve this kind of treatment.

This looks easy. Bang on the keyboard for a while, say something funny, maybe even a joke about excrement. Nope. Nothing I do at work is more creatively challenging than cranking out content for this site. I can’t imagine the pressure of supporting a family off the content of a blog. It’s and amazing new medium, a new model. The haters should go create their own playground.

And, all A-list blogger name dropping aside, a note: We’ve just passed our 200th post – Go me.