A while back Melody wrote a great post entitled "The Moby Dick Metaphor". In this post she talks about looking at Moby Dick as a grand metaphor for undertaking the journey to become learned in the subject of Digital Culture. Consequently, I have been reading Moby Dick in this way.
In chapter 98, "Stowing Down and Clearing Up", the last couple paragraphs talk of catching a whale, cutting it up, and then cleaning the ship. Sometimes the break, this moment to indulge in a sparkling clean ship, is very short. Then it is on to the next whale, "and go through the whole weary thing again."
Now, I feel this can function as a metaphor for life in general but I want to talk about it in relation to Digital Culture. Indeed, later in the paragraph Melville connects the cyclical process to Life:
"Oh! my friends, but this is man-killing! Yet this is life. For hardly have we mortals by long toilings extracted from this world's vast bulk its small but valuable sperm; and then, with weary patience, cleansed ourselves from its defilements, and learned to live here in clean tabernacles of the soul; hardly is this done, when--There she blows!--the ghost is spouted up, and away we sail to fight some other world, and go through young life's old routine again."
This idea fits in rather snugly with digital culture. We are always chasing that new technology. And with the chase comes all the difficulties of trying to grasp new concepts. It takes time and effort, time perhaps being the most valuable of the two. But eventually, if we have the ability, we catch that whale, we learn how to operate google+, we become competent bloggers. And for a moment we are happy with that...
but sooner or later that sweet siren song comes drifting down from the crows nest--There she blows!--and it's on to The New we go...
a never ending cycle.
This is both beautiful and discouraging. . . but I definitely agree. Every time we finish one thing we're just instructed to do another. In this class, in school, in work, in life. Always continuing in a never ending cycle. But then here's the question, would we be happy if we didn't? If we weren't continuously trying to find new and different things to be doing, wouldn't we be bored? I think a bored existence is a far worse fate than a never ending one.
ReplyDeleteWell, to bring a spiritual point into this discussion, we learn to become like Heavenly Father by constantly studying, learning, doing, and achieving,. if Heavenly Father is an infinite thing, then part of learning to be like Him is learning how to be patient in doing things over and over again, and in always pursuing new things. And when we achieve our final glory, Godlike patience will no be bestowed upon us, but we will have earned it for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI definitely feel this way some times. As soon as I have figured out a new facebook layout, bam they change it again. But, the funny thing is that every time things like that get changed everyone incessantly whines about it, and then are over it in about two days once they get used to it...but then of course a couple months later when it changes again: commence the whining. I think that sometimes we are so freaked out by change in technology that we fail to realize that a lot of times it really is a lot better even if we aren't used to it.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend once questioning another friend why he paid for Spotify because it would be really lame to get rid of it and then lose are your music, his response "why would that freak me out, if I get rid of Spotify it's only cause there is going to be something better and cheaper?" I bought Spotify a few weeks later.
I definitely had one of these moments today in class. I had the thought that there was no way I could ever get a handle on all of these possibilities that are presented through digital culture. However, I think that staying linked in with people and connected on social media helps us keep a grasp on these things because we can see what kinds of technologies our peers and colleagues value.
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