My thoughts have been replaced by moving images.

It looks like I have a Twitter account and a new blog.
My name is Tony.  This is my third (and hopefully last) year in the English Graduate program at Saint Rose. 

I more or less grew up alongside the evolution of social media.  In high school, a friend on my "buddy list" had a livejournal link in their AOL Instant Messenger profile.  I found out about Friendster through another friend's livejournal post.  Shortly after starting college, someone on Friendster mentioned Myspace in a "shout out."  I hopped from platform to platform until Facebook started to become the cool new thing.  I didn't have an .edu email address, and I was okay with missing out.  By the time I transferred to a school with student email, Facebook was opened to the public anyway, and it was starting to become the preferred method of communication.  I drew the line when I first heard about Twitter.  I'm probably not the best/most active Facebook user as it is.  I've decided to avoid taking the "cool guy" route of dragging my feet when presented with a course Twitter requirement.  I have doubts that I'm going to become a devoted twitterer, but there's no reason to act ling I'm tweeting begrudgingly/under duress.

The username "If I Were A Luddite" combines my love for stealing things from lyrics to songs I like, my quasi skepticism of technology, and the grammatical anxiety I feel both being an English Major and writing to other English Majors.  The line is from a song by Robot Goes Here, which was a music project of Harvard Post-Doctoral Fellow David Rand.  I've seen Robot Goes Here a few times, and I'm pretty sure that this video of a live performance can explain Robot Goes Here better than I ever could. 

The song that inspired my usernames is "01001010 Failing the Turing Test" and you can listen to it here.

The lyrics have been changed a little from the version I'm transcribing:
Robot Goes Here: 01001010 (Failing the Turing Test)
"I can no longer think the things that I want to think.
The things that I want to think have been replaced by moving images.
I can no longer think, the moving images have replaced the things that I want to think.
I can no longer think the things that I want to think.
My thoughts have been replaced by moving images.
I can no longer think.  I can no longer think." (Alexander Duhamel, 1930)
We've seen half this country, but it's all been air-conditioned, rolling by through tinted glass.
Those clouds look so crisp they must be computer generated.  That music is played so well/sounds so good it must be synthed.

Ever am I realizing how thick the byte is in my blood, crawling under my skin and digging like a chigger (can you feel it?)
If I was a Luddite, I'd have to learn to live without myself.  If I was a Luddite, I'd try to destroy myself.
Where will people like me fit in, in the world of "small is beautiful"?
Where will I fit in? Where will I fit in?

Just another place in my thought-space where the idea goes down much better than the instantiation.
I can talk the talk, yeah, I can get excited.  But if I am really honest with myself I'll see that the times when I am truly happy, when my excitement is bubbling and overflowing, these times are few and far between.  And happen almost exclusively alone with my computer in the middle of the night.

Ever am I realizing how thick the byte is in my blood, crawling under my skin and digging like a chigger (can you feel it?)
If I was a luddite, I'd have to learn to live without myself.  If I was a luddite, I'd try to destroy myself.
Where will people like me fit in, in the world of "small is beautiful"?
Where will I fit in? Where will I fit in?

I ask myself "What makes me truly happy?" and the half-answers I get are suspect.
I can't tell how much is "I could make a convincing argument for why this should make me happy,"
and how much is "this really makes me happy." What really makes me happy?
I've been working on a computer program to tell us what is beautiful.
I think it's time to pull the plug. 

I'll avoid a lengthy exposition of the meaning of this song and say that I like the line as well as the idea of using Ludditism to inspire an online username.  When I gave the song a few extra listens to make sure I was borrowing the right words, I started to panic about subjunctive/conditional verb tenses (if I was vs. if I were).  
I just hope this doesn't lead to any future problems with Dr. Rand.