Have you ever heard anyone complain about the seemingly mindless posting about what one eats or what one is doing? Explicitly, it might seem innocuous and boring to share about sandwiches and the beverage choice of the moment. Implicitly, it … Continue reading
That’s what one of my friends said to me today. I haven’t seen him in a year, and I happened to see him at lunch. It was a pleasant surprise, and after we caught up for a bit, he said “Facebook me.”
It is now possible to “Facebook” one another. I wasn’t completely sure if it means to ‘message,’ ‘write on the wall,’ or ‘like’ something on his Facebook profile. I think it might mean all of it so why don’t you “Facebook” someone today. I’m sure most of you already have.
A little over a month ago, I wrote a post on the semiotics of clothes. You can click to see the post – but the main idea of the last post was that the responsibility rested on the wearer of the clothes; that the wearer is responsible for what is being communicated with the clothes.
Today, I was in a conversation about wearing clothes that actually say something. Inherent in the semiotics of clothes is that it communicates some kind of message, but clothes that actually have words on it – that’s not just some subtle communication – it’s overt. The things that come to mind are clothing that signifies a particular brand – like a mercedes benz hat or porsche jacket. It could actually have the brand name like – Juicy Couture or Polo written on it.
But even clothes that have writing on it – communicates 2 things. If a shirt has writing on it that says – “sarcasm-just another service I offer.” It communicates that they are sarcastic – because of the saying, but it also communicates what their sense of humor is like. It might also communicate a lack of style, but I guess that would depend on who the audience was.
Your clothes can be an identity projection – whether there’s writing on it or not.
That’s what I was telling myself – especially when the people around me want and need something from me. Sometimes it’s me, but many times, it’s just busy. But that’s not the focus of this post.
You may have noticed that I entitled the post “Things” which communicates that some inanimate object is moving slowly. I tell myself that it is this faceless thing that moves slowly, but it is clearly people that are moving slowly – and sometimes I am the one that moves slowly. It is much easier to deal with the issue when it’s correctly addressed.
People move slowly. I move slowly. Those would be much more appropriate titles to this post, but for some reason, we like to be frustrated with something instead of someone. It’s much easier to handle it if it was directed to someone. Being mad at the church – is really being mad at the people at the church. People’s impatience about the processes in place needs to be addressed as people moving slowly – therefore making the process move slowly. Direct it to someone behind the something. It’s much easier to talk to the someone than to something. At least someone can have a conversation with you – The something won’t.
What are those things in your life that you direct to something and not someone? Then, have the conversation with someone.
