I, I, I, I, I, I

...so what I was going to say in the previous post, before Rav Hirsch distracted me, was that over Shabbos I was reading Rav Hirsch
Yay! Rav Hirsch
and he mentioned in passing -- since he was compelled to make an exception -- that it was his habit not to speak of himself in the monthly journal he edited.

And I began thinking about blogs... and how the whole attraction of the medium is that they are intensely personal. I, I, I, I, I, I. Books, too: in modern reference works, authors natter on about themselves shamelessly.
Facebook has become a great deal more popular than newspapers.
To me, all this says that people would rather get their information or news from friends than from an unknown third party.

My seventh-grade teacher taught us never to say "I think..." or "I believe..." when making an argument, because it weakens the argument.
But it adds interest. Now there is a person there, not just an argument.

A gentleman on the radio once observed that exhibits of dinosaur bones in the early 1900's were meant to awe with power; in the 50's, they were kitchy; in the 80's, the velociraptor replaced T-rex as the center of attention because it was like a sleek businessman, the hero of the era -- and nowadays, dinosaur exhibits are (as he put it) "green". The dinosaurs are grouped in cozy home settings; Mama dinosaur is minding the eggs and watching her young play. It's all about friends and family, dinosaur relationships, relating to the dinosaurs.

Is it that people never used to be particular - information was information whether or not we endeavored to relate to its source? Or is the generation is trying to make up for something?