Talk, Talk, Talk

This morning, my husband asked me why people feel the need to express themselves in front of a camera, even when they have nothing of value to say, or don't know what they're talking about.

"Because everyone wants to be heard," was my response.  

I think that's pretty accurate, right?  Yes, some of us talk just to hear our own voices.  And some of us talk to fill uncomfortable silence.  And some of us talk because we don't know what else to do.  But the point of communicating in the first place is to get your message to someone else; the point is to be heard.

For example, I am (for the most part) a pretty quiet person.  In groups, I tend to be the listener, the one who sits back and lets everyone else do the talking.  And yet, this is the latest of many blogs I've attempted along the way, so clearly I want to be heard by someone, even if I'm not actually speaking.  

When we feel our opinions and ideas are falling on deaf ears, we can tend to get riled up.  It's then that we grab our soapboxes and scream from the rooftops just to be heard.  Even if the only response we get is, "Shut it!" or "You're an idiot!" at least we know that someone heard us.  There's something comforting about getting a response, no matter how negative...  Almost like we need reassurance that we haven't become invisible, and that our words - our voices - aren't just in our own heads.

It's at that point that some people choose to go in front of a camera in order to be heard.  And whether or not they have anything of value to say isn't the point, but rather that they will reach an audience, who will inevitably have something to say about it, and receive that affirmation of existence.

On the other hand, some people are just idiots who like to talk.