Having spoken yesterday about technical trends for the future, I can return to Christmas for the remaining few days of this endeavor.
A problem with blogging is that unless you take down earlier posts (which in most cases I would find to be highly suspect) you will have things out there that looking backward make you cringe. I have several entries where I completely support a position that I later reject (because, you know, I keep growing, man, I'm a work in progress, God isn't finished with me yet…ugh). Other times the world goes in a very different direction from what I foresaw, and my brilliant statements are mocked by reality.
This year, however, I've been hit with another variation of post judging, when the world comes so around to my point of view that my original statement seems trivial or passé. This is certainly the case with my comments on the song “Baby, It's Cold Outside.” Last year I wrote a post discussing the predatory aspects of this song and the far less innocent undertones of the happy exchange. I had these concerns for a few years before, and I swear, they came entirely from my own reaction to the song (I should have written these down and sent them to myself by mail so that I could have a clear record of when I first thought this, and more importantly that no one else…that I heard…was saying it).
This year this realization has practically become a meme. I have seen mention of it on various blogs and many podcasts. Likewise most times I have heard the song named or played, someone has brought up the less savory interpretation. In fact, it is no longer treated as a new realization but as something that everyone knows (I heard one podcaster refer to it as “A Very Cosby Christmas,” which I know is terrible, but it made me laugh). I even heard someone mention the title of the song and then say that half the Internet would respond by saying it's a date rape song while the other half would defend it against this overreaction. So my point is now so common that there is common reaction to it.
I don't know which is worse, to have circumstances prove something I have written as wrong, or to have everyone jump on board and make something I have written look trivial (actually I very much know which is worse!). So let me state once for all. My reflections on this song came from my listening to it and thinking about it and nowhere else. And though I won't claim that the entire world read my blog and came around to this position, I can't prove that that didn't happen.
As always I welcome your comments.
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lemasney/5423550890
Posted with Blogsy