dreaminghope (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dreaminghope) wrote2005-11-15 08:48 pm
dreaminghope) wrote2005-11-15 08:48 pm
Signs of belonging
Responses to my last post (about bumper stickers) got me to thinking about signs of belonging. Bumper stickers, for example, not only advertise someone's beliefs and hobbies, but they also signal what community that person belongs to. An inside joke stuck on the back of a car tells other members of the community that you belong.
Everyone wants to belong. But belonging is meaningless if other people don't know you belong. Other people need to know where you belong, and, by extension, where you don't belong.
Most of the messages we send out are subtle. We tell the world about ourselves through our clothes, our cars or other vehicles, our homes, our hairstyles, etc. Many of the things we surround ourselves with in our homes and our office desks, and many of the things we carry in our pockets and purses are, at least in part, symbolic of our membership(s). Individually, a notebook with a cat picture on the front, a cruelty-free cosmetic product, a hemp wallet and a bike lock don't mean anything. But together, they speak about the person carrying them all in their backpack.
The problem is that other people can misunderstand these passive messages. A stranger can't tell if you are wearing thrift store clothing because you don't have a lot of money or because you choose not to spend money on new clothing as a way of resisting wasteful consumerism. Or both. To clarify where we belong, we add active signs: bumper stickers, membership cards, pins, backpack patches, etc.
This leads me to thinking about identity and membership in LJ. Before you start reading someone's journal regularly and getting to know their personality (as presented in this personal but public format), much of what you know about a person here is their LJ icons - the equivilent of their physical appearance, prehaps - and their interest lists and community lists: their chosen memberships.
When creating and editing your LJ account, do you pick and choose your interests to indicate the kinds of communities you want other people to know you are in?
Everyone wants to belong. But belonging is meaningless if other people don't know you belong. Other people need to know where you belong, and, by extension, where you don't belong.
Most of the messages we send out are subtle. We tell the world about ourselves through our clothes, our cars or other vehicles, our homes, our hairstyles, etc. Many of the things we surround ourselves with in our homes and our office desks, and many of the things we carry in our pockets and purses are, at least in part, symbolic of our membership(s). Individually, a notebook with a cat picture on the front, a cruelty-free cosmetic product, a hemp wallet and a bike lock don't mean anything. But together, they speak about the person carrying them all in their backpack.
The problem is that other people can misunderstand these passive messages. A stranger can't tell if you are wearing thrift store clothing because you don't have a lot of money or because you choose not to spend money on new clothing as a way of resisting wasteful consumerism. Or both. To clarify where we belong, we add active signs: bumper stickers, membership cards, pins, backpack patches, etc.
This leads me to thinking about identity and membership in LJ. Before you start reading someone's journal regularly and getting to know their personality (as presented in this personal but public format), much of what you know about a person here is their LJ icons - the equivilent of their physical appearance, prehaps - and their interest lists and community lists: their chosen memberships.
When creating and editing your LJ account, do you pick and choose your interests to indicate the kinds of communities you want other people to know you are in?
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"About the People in and around my LiveJournal:
I am also keeping watch for friends that share my sensibilities. I assume that folks who share my interests would tend to share my ideals. (And compulsions. And quirks. And standards. And etcetera.)"
Absolutely! And it's working ever so well :)
I'm inordinately fond of my lj folks. I think it's half voyeurism and half narcisism.
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I find the whole LJ phenomenon, from identity construction to the manners and politics unique these kinds of online interactions, really interesting.
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I often read ppl's info pages before friending. One girl told me to read her user info first and that she would understand if I dind't friend her back (She's a lesbian and has a thing about her wedding on her info) I guess many ppl get up in arms about it, but I was cool.
Its a way to say "this is me. If you don't like it then why read?"
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What intrigues me is how we pick and choose our LJ interests to create a certain snapshot of ourselves. I'm not saying it isn't an accurate snapshot of some part(s) of ourselves, but with only 150 interests allowed on the list, the resulting image is very clearly limited. So, do we consciously cultivate a list that emphasises one of our identities over others, or do we aim for a little of everything, hoping for a more complete image for the reader?
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I know the problem. I'm sure you are familiar with the SCA filk of the Cheers TV show theme show: "Sometimes you want to go / where everyone is mundane / and they only have one name..." You were lucky to meet him again!
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