You’ve seen what I’m talking about: the kitten blog. Like here, or here – or even vote on the cutest kitten here.
Now, I’m the sort of person who tends to be very harsh on the kitten-blogging crowd.. Or I used to, anyway.
The way I see it, here you are. You have the most powerful communication system ever created. Do you use it to do something unique and worthwhile? No! You post pictures of kittens. Kittens! And not just the occasional kitten – kittens every day. What a waste.
I’m just a big hypocrite, of course. I’ve spent plenty of time writing about TV shows and movies, etc. While some of it is honest cultural analysis, plenty is just pointlessness. Kittens are no different.
But I think I understand more now. Kitten pictures, you see, are perhaps the purest form of escapism imaginable. A real kitten isn’t – you have to take care of a real kitten. But when you look at a picture of a kitten, you see a kind of distilled combination of cuteness, wonder, and innocence all rolled up in one ball of fur. People don’t like kitten blogs because of the kittens per se, they like them for the distraction from reality, for the wonder of the animal world without the animal. Other escapist media shrinks before the power of the tiny kitten.
Or something.
Thanks for the mention. I think?
Actually my blog isn’t just about kittens, it features more adult cats than kittens. I think it’s about enjoying the aesthetic value of pictures of felines, really. I address more serious topics (but not only them) in my main blog at http://thecatsite.com/blog – as you will see from the frequency of updates, blogging cat pics is much easier
Well – I didn’t mean to pick on you specially
(I was just googling at random) but I really liked the artistry of your site. It’s not just about ‘ooh look at the kitty’ – you’re right that the aesthetics matter here.