A Little Like Reading: Preference, Facebook, and Overwhelmed Interpretations

Abstract

Somehow, of late I had got into the way of involuntarily using the word “prefer” upon all sorts of not exactly suitable occasions. And I trembled to think that my contact with the scrivener had already seriously affected me in a mental way. And what further and deeper aberration might it not yet produce?—Herman Melville, “Bartleby the Scrivener” (22-23)His brain was jerking forward likea bad slide projector. Hesaw the doorwaythe house the night the world andon the other side of the world somewhere Herakles laughing drinking gettinginto a car and Geryon'swhole body formed one arch of a cry—upcast to that custom, the human customof wrong love.—Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red (75)Like eyes that looked on Wastes—Incredulous of OughtBut Blank—and steady Wilderness—Diversified by Night—Just Infinites of Nought—As far as it could see—So looked the face I looked upon—So looked itself—on Me—I offered it no Help— Because the Cause was Mine—The Misery a CompactAs hopeless—as divine—Neither—would be absolved—Neither would be a QueenWithout the Other—Therefore—We perish—tho' We reign——Emily Dickinson, poem 693Herman Melville, Anne Carson, and Emily Dickinson. These authors' bits of language just claimed me as I stared at some books on my office shelf, and I'm not sure exactly what to make of these passages except that I like them. So I'm listing them for you. You might also like them. I like many things, and in no particular order. For instance, here's what I “liked” one day, not long ago, on Facebook: a picture of the word Puppies! scrawled on a sidewalk; a New York Times story about the disorganization of the bicentennial of the War of 1812 (that war has a huge, nearly comical significance in my adopted country of Canada—did you know that Canadians burned down the White House?); an audio clip of Justin Bieber, featuring Busta Rhymes, singing “Little Drummer Boy”; my friend and colleague Jordan Stein's “vegan homo Thanksgiving” photo album; a posting by my “friend” “Emily Dickinson”; numerous updates about and images of the November 2011 pepper spraying of protesting students on the University of California, Davis, campus. I could go on and on, which is probably one of the reasons I, and millions of others, go on and on Facebook. Disorderly is the right word, but the likes are not quite random. People have generated these items, these virtual objects of interest, for rapid public consumption and, with the ubiquity of the “Like” button, for rapid public response. They (we) put stuff out there in part because we're showing off our preferences, or if not our preferences (even though they will be acknowledged with our liking) then at least things that interest us and (we hope) others. It's hard to know exactly what liking something on Facebook means because a like is nearly the same thing as an acknowledgment, something that says, “Yes, I clicked on this item, and it did not displease me.” And often people complain in comments that they wish there were variations on the “Like” button (“I want to express my anger with this piece of information—I wish there were a ‘Hate’ button”). Whatever our motivations or the nature of our interest in what we curate for the world on Facebook, these objects for consumption often go under the heading of like; so, like it or not, we're reading for like—we're doing a little like reading.