I was watching ‘Tin Man’ last night on the Sci-Fi channel. It’s not bad, but it has more interesting ideas than execution. I’m still watching it though because the flashes of brilliance might get more frequent.
It got me thinking about childhood fantasies. The most popular stories often involve tornadoes or rabbit holes taking us to wonderful places where children get to be active participants instead of passive observers. I think we like these stories because we inherently don’t beleive that the world we live in is exciting or interesting enough. We want to go somewhere else and much like Dorothy, we don’t know where that place is, but we know it’s not here.
I think the Internet has become a tornado for people now. I know the first time I logged into a BDSM chatroom I felt like I was embarking on an adventure. I was escaping conservative North Carolina where BDSM could only be accessed through ‘Beauty’ books or leftover Gor novels. Chatrooms grew into discussion groups, fiction story archives, cyber sex and dirty e-mails. I met one of the loves of my life through the Internet and right now I keep in touch with my kinky friends through livejournal and my blog. When my anxiety last week was at it’s worse, I got supportive e-mails from Oz and Wonderland, encouraging me to come back.
I think sometimes that people online don’t really understand how lucky we all are. We are one click away from a new Emerald City or one e-mail away from meeting the Red Queen. Before the Internet, we were stuck on that Kansas farm wishing for something, anything, different and the best we could hope for was meeting someone who didn’t think we were too weird for owning a paddle bought in some kinky gas station.
I think we’re living in a fantasy land right now and we don’t even notice it.
5 Responses to “Gateways”
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For those of us stuck in a vanilla life style with a significant other, the internet allows a glance in the looking glass. Sometimes it can be worse than having no looking glass at all, because it is obvious what you are missing out. Sometimes it is better than no looking glass because it reaffirms that you are not some kind of freak for wanting more than what you have. I haven’t decided how I feel about it as I waver from one to the other frequently.
I’m glad to hear things went well for the birthday – reservations for 9 and having 12 show up IS a good thing, despite the potential for not enough space for everyone to sit at.
Things will perk up…eventually.
Brilliant commentary, Shon. Right on the mark. It’s funny how dull we think our lives are. Even when we’re in turmoil, emotional or otherwise. Always looking for a new place to go, a new person to become. The internet absolutely allows us to becomes someone else.
Case in point: sex bloggers.
And, similar to you and musns, I would never have been able to name or out my submissive needs if not for reading about other peoples experiences here. It took me 40 something years to find it. Doors open that sometimes we didn’t even know were closed.
Also, I’m going to continue with Tin Man, too. It has great potential.
Eve
I love the Internet for everything it gives us. It gave me the chance to explore everything to my heart’s content and also to see such wonderful things out there that I would have never seen before.
It is a fantasy.
It lets me and everyone be things they always wanted to be, regardless of who they physically are. And it lets us do things we could never do.
So, the Internet is just yummy. :D
SHHHH! I’m Tivo-ing Tinman. No spoilers! :)
I agree with you about the Internet, though. How did I live without it??
So many times I intend to leave a comment, but after reading everyone else’s comment, I realize they have already said what I was going to say.
So … I will just agree with musns about the pros and cons of this looking glass we call the internet, and with t’sade about the internet giving us the freedom to experience more than would ever have been possible without it.
Like many, the internet put me on the path to self-discovery, and self-acceptance.
Keep writing, Shon. I would miss you dearly if you stopped.