27 November 2006

Nothing more

A propos the ‘We feel fine’ study of blogs brought to my attention by David Rafael Israel, I can report that the one time I discussed my feelings on this blog I was deliberately misreporting them so as to throw off the research. And that statement is misreportage. Then I read other people’s blogs to reconfirm conclusions about human nature that I arrived at long ago, ignoring any statements that don’t agree with my conclusions.

9 comments:

david raphael israel said...

It would appear you now have this down to an exact science.

Ian Keenan said...

I concluded in the past I would privilege emotion over science, so there can't be any scientific basis for your claim, unless my emotions compel me to contradict myself.

Andy Gricevich said...

I can't participate in any study of emotional response without my awareness of it changing my emotional state, even if I can restrain myself from mucking it up intentionally. From now on, if I discuss the way I feel on my blog, it will be "paranoid and mistrustful."

Ian Keenan said...

I checked the website again and couldn't find anything about opting out of the study. Perhaps you can write to your Congressman.

david raphael israel said...

Does the use of a negative modifier
(e.g. "I do not feel"...) suffice to
thwart the pesky spider-bot?

"We do not feel amused" (as it were)

Ian Keenan said...

I do not feel optimistic about that approach.

david raphael israel said...

Incidentally (but relatedly), there is an interesting semi-slang use of "feeling" found among English speakers of (perhaps) a certain generation. I'm not clear on its precise demographic. One of the first times I noted it was from an Ethiopian woman in her early 30s, in California. The expression can, for instance, take this form (as she used it): "Are you feeling me?" (which approximately means what those of an earlier era might have phrased as, "Do you grok [or dig] what I'm saying?") I think I've heard others use it similarly -- but perhaps more like "Are you feeling it?" or "I'm feeling that" etc.

I feel I like these rather gushy but highly communicative phrases. They are clearly from the realm of spoken, rather than written, language -- though perhaps in time (if not already) they'll make their way to the latter.

I'm feeling it.

Ian Keenan said...

Feeling it. We need more Ethiopian Californian expressions in the language..

Anonymous said...

I think feelings are great. At the same time, I feel like thoughts are, can't think of the word, shitty. Thoughts are shitty. I didn't read the study, I just clicked on the link and looked at the heart. I felt like I got the gist.