A Bit Narcissist, Aren’t They?

Last winter some Iranian bloggers started a game. Everyone tagged five bloggers and asked them to write about something that people do not know about them, an interesting story and some other questions of a personal nature. The game was taken so seriously that many took part in it. Recently another game has been started. This time the bloggers are answering this question: Who is (are) the most influential person(s) in your life.

Reading bloggers’ answers is interesting and one should welcome the ability of this youthful group of people to open up and to speak about matters that are considered utterly private. However one could not help commenting on their fascination by themselves.

The author does not intend to undermine the qualities of their characters and the magnitude of their achievements. He hardly knows any individuals more hard working than this group of people. However it seems more and more bloggers are concentrating on themselves and their own experience, discounting the outside world and its problems.

Weblogs are part of media in Iran. They have attracted thousands of readers and have provided a large number of individuals with means to write their ideas and to have an audience. The days that a young writer would not find a place to publish are long gone. Today if one cannot publish in print, he or she writes an online blog.

This has backlashed in the most unprecedented way. Many instead of writing and analyzing the world, society, its affairs and the trend of its events have turned blogging into a way of writing online diaries. To which the author does not have any objections, he actually enjoys reading some of these online diaries. But he cannot help noticing that for many Iranian readers these blogs are media, their task is to provide insights and not gossip.

It is painful to think that blogging has given some an unjustifiable sense of haughtiness. The influence matters when it has actually resulted in improving a community, a society, a nation. In the absence of those achievements speaking of these private matters does not merit dignity.