you're allowed to be uninsightful
rss onlyi’ve published two (small) non-antisocial blog posts this month, which is about one more than usual:
the topics probably aren’t interesting to most people, let alone most rubyists. but lately, i’ve been inspired by some authors and creators (rss club members included), and the whole of wikipedia, that are pleased to publish “the boring” information. i’m not trying to denigrate anyone by saying this. writing what you know, for yourself, to clarify your own thinking, and to present information clearly to the maybe one someone somewhere who needs to absorb it, is a good instinct.
said another way: i have relearned that we don’t have to write something that’s interesting to a giant venn diagram of people. most of us aren’t the new yorker and don’t need to be.
i know many of you reading this who write already know this. maybe one of you, like me, needs to be reminded.
one of the creators i’ve been inspired by is the biblical scholar dan mcclellan. to quote his bio:
his research focuses on the languages and history of the bible, as well as on the conceptualization of deity, of scripture, and of religious identity through the methodological lenses of cognitive linguistics and the cognitive science of religion.
he has made over three thousand videos now. he isn’t afraid to repeat himself. he says lots of boring stuff that scholars in his field know quite well. as someone with no credentials in this field, i appreciate that one of his goals is to better communicate what the consensus view of scholars is when in comes to controversial social and/or theological issues with regard to christianity in the west. he also is skilled at “stitching” videos that spread misinformation about christian shit and dunking on the content creators. sometimes he can get pretty mean.
i am not interested in many of the videos he publishes, and i definitely don’t watch them all, but seeing how consistent he is in form, content, and message, and how he bravely repeats himself in such a tireless way, gives me hope that i can continue to be at least as prolific as i’ve been this month.
cheers to us boring people.