Blogger's note: I now have a Facebook page. This makes the rest of what I have written seem pointless, but I stand by the basic tenets of it, in terms of privacy or a self-imposed lack thereof. Facebook can be a very private thing, shared among close friends and family, but it also demands a certain amount of attention. By deciding to expose more of myself (clear the image from your mind) I have also decided, by extension (please, no "exposed extension" jokes, please), I had more to expose, and I have created an expectation of more exposure, even if it is just to friends and family. Since I don't actually have all that much to expose (again, keep your jokes to yourselves)-- the reason I don't call my mother everday is because I don't feel that I have all the much to say to her specifically-- I find myself "immortalizing the trivial" just to fill up the space. Having said that, I kind of "get it" now, however, I still can't dance.
Welcome to all who got here by clicking on the link found on my lovely wife's Facebook page. For those of you hoping that I will, one day, have a Facebook page of my own, well, that's hope you can't believe in.
I have to admit, as stodgy as it's going to sound, I just can't wrap my head around the popularity of Facebook and MySpace. I'm a deeply personal person, and while I am perfectly willing to share my thoughts (anonymous and over-claused as they are) I couldn't imagine telling everyone (even my own family) about the wart I just had removed or that the damned washing machine is acting up or that little Billy* pooped in the dog bowl again.
By immortalizing the extremely trivial, we trivialize immortilazation. Imagine if we'd had to wade through a littany of Shakespere's trials and tribulations ("Little Lord William* hath shat in the curr hound's trough...") to get to "Hamlet." Imagine if we had to read Hamlet's blog posts about Ophelia ("OMG, Ophelia hath totally losteth it!") I could go on and on and on, but I think we can all agree that I've beaten a tired comedic concept to death already.
More fearful, in my eyes, is a generation that is growing up with no secrets, with no expectation of privacy. I would be aghast if the government was behind it; I am terrified that they are doing it to themselves. A person needs that which is his own in order to be; there is an essence of humanity that cries out for some things to be held close, and others to be granted as a gift to those who choose or care to listen.
I'm not saying that Facebook and MySpace are the self-inflicted wounds that caused the death of privacy; I am saying that they are cuts number 889 and 890 in the 1000 cuts of the old saying, I am saying that they join the ranks of the census (every question after "how many people in the house?" is an affront to privacy) the income tax (why, pray tell, does the government have to know who pays me what?) and every government form that has the temerity and gall to ask me if I am white or not.
Have we become so used to telling strangers about our personal lives that we actually invite it now? Is this a final capitulation to the dulling reality that there are no secrets, no personal lives anymore?
Or is this the ultimate homage paid to Andy Warhol's famous 15 minutes quip? Do we all hope that we will say or do something so compelling, or brilliant, or disgusting that we will be remembered by the multitudes, if only for a brief moment? Is being the "Numa, Numa" guy really worth it? Really?
Regardless (and no, I don't care what anyone's motivations are-- the great thing about deep thoughts is that you can generalize and, if you sound intellectual enough, no one cares that you're using the intellectual dodge of stereotyping) I think that this trend is one I will avoid for the forseeable future, if for no other reason than I can't dance.
*Billy or "William" is not my son's name, for those of you that thought you caught me giving personal information. Nyah, nyah.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Election '08
The following are cut-and-paste quotes from a forum I frequent, so if they seem a bit random, they are, kind of. These are my initial, honest thoughts, and if they offend anybody, I honestly don't care, left or right, Democrat or Republican. Clearly, I didn't vote for the man. I couldn't, for a whole host of reasons that don't matter right now. Suffice to say that, 4 years from now I will be either eating justly deserved crow or trying hard not to giggle when I say "I told you so."
With that, here are a few random thoughts I had, with additions clearly noted.
The fact is, as hopeful as I am, there is a lot of room to be fearful. Obama hasn't said anything that will actually reverse the course (Socialism) that this country has started on (starting with the New Deal and only slightly slowed down since.) There may be a socio-economic tipping point that is reached when less than 50% of Americans are actually paying taxes. Then, truly, people can vote themselves (or pay for it, as corporations do) largesse from the federal kitty-- when that happens in earnest, we are lost. Europe is about 20 years ahead of us on that, and they are desperately trying to reverse some of the things they have done; all the economic indicators lead me to think that it is too little too late (we're upset at a 6.1% unemployment rate-- France's and Germany's have been at 8-10% for the entire economic expansion of the 90s and 00s-- think it's getting better today?) In fact, France has people with PhDs going to, of all places, Ireland for jobs. Go figure.
President Obama will have crushingly enormous decisions to make, and quickly. He didn't bring us to this point (neither did the Republicans or Bush alone, truth be told-- we've all had a hand in this, Dems, Repubs, government, private sector and, yes, Virginia, you and I) but it's on his lap. I pray that he makes decisions the Founders would applaud. If he does, we're good for 4 more years, at least. If he doesn't... well, social programs always slap a band aid on a sucking chest wound, and the economy will sputter along in spite of itself for a while. It won't last, and it can't. If we collapse, so does the rest of the world (so much for "de-coupling.") It'll be interesting, to say the least. Stock up on ammunition, would be my advice.
Still and all, I am hopeful. I don't think President Obama wishes ill for his country, I just think he's hung around the wrong crowd for too many years. I am hopeful that his intellect and grasp of the American psyche will aid him in breaking away from that crowd and doing what is truly in the best interest of the nation.
While riding around in my truck one day, I came up with this scenario:
Your CIA DCI walks into your office and says, "Mr. President, we have it on good authority and have verified through a variety of other international intelligence agencies that Osama Bin Laden will be in a neighborhood in Peshawar, Pakistan for an approximately hour long meeting with his top lieutenants and members of the Taliban tribes supporting him. The meeting starts in 20 minutes. We can have aerial assets on site in 30-35 minutes from your go, ground assets are not an option at this time. One last thing, Mr. President: the meeting is being held in an elementary school surrounded by a residential neighborhood. We believe school is in session."
In this case, The President wouldn't have time to agonize or debate things over for 18 months-- like the Democrats and Republicans did in the lead up to the Iraq War. He wouldn't have time to convene the Senate and House and pass an Authorization for the Use of Force resolution supported overwhelmingly by both parties. He'd have to either pull the trigger, or not, and live with the decision either way.
Imagine he did. And he missed (our intelligence was off by 20 minutes, or he was never there, or whatever.) 33 kids dead, hundreds wounded, a residential neighborhood on fire. You know what? I'd support President Barack Obama's decision to do it. Or say he decided not to-- and 8 months later, after a taped bin Laden message was released, a dirty bomb explodes in downtown LA (the tape, as they normally do, contained the "go" signal.) While we might not hear about the aborted bin Laden hit (unless it was leaked by a disgruntled DCI who felt that if people would have just pulled the trigger, LA would be saved) if we did, I'd still support my President.
(As a caveat, if Obama was offered bin Laden by the Pakistani government but refused due to legal issues... well, I don't think that will ever happen, post 9-11.)
In either case, no one-- not Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich or any of the others-- could ever convince me that my President, whatever his decision was, acted without the best interests of the country at heart. You could never convince that he would bomb an elementary school because he felt like killing kids or that he let bin Laden slip away because of some malice of forethought. You couldn't convince me that he would send young men off to fight and die to make his buddies rich, or materially destroy the United States while marching towards glorious Revolutionary Socialism. You couldn't convince me that he knew about the LA dirty bombing and let it go so that he could start a war for oil. (EDIT: Or for Tony Rezko or Bill Ayers.)
The mere thought that people can believe that physically repulses me. It's personal, visceral. (EDIT: In my mind, it speaks more to the psyche of the haters than the hated. It shows an almost religious zealotry but for, of all things, politics-- of course, government is becoming more "god-like" everyday, so maybe there is reason for that zealotry-- and I can't get anymore worked up over politics than I can religion. It bothered me that Obama used that religious-like fervor to get elected; I honestly don't think he truly understands what he tapped into, but neither religion nor politics holds any fear for me, so I have no hatred. But, to me, there is no difference between people that say "gay people are evil and are going to Hell" and people that say "George Bush is Hitler and is going to Hell." They are both clearly unhinged, and thus, incapable of rational discussion and deserving of none. We may never be able to rid ourselves of extremists, but we should do our best to minimize them.)
You have my word on this-- whether I agree with him or not, whether he is brilliant or moronic, Messianic or misguided-- I won't ever believe he has anything other than the best interests of the nation at heart.
With that, here are a few random thoughts I had, with additions clearly noted.
The fact is, as hopeful as I am, there is a lot of room to be fearful. Obama hasn't said anything that will actually reverse the course (Socialism) that this country has started on (starting with the New Deal and only slightly slowed down since.) There may be a socio-economic tipping point that is reached when less than 50% of Americans are actually paying taxes. Then, truly, people can vote themselves (or pay for it, as corporations do) largesse from the federal kitty-- when that happens in earnest, we are lost. Europe is about 20 years ahead of us on that, and they are desperately trying to reverse some of the things they have done; all the economic indicators lead me to think that it is too little too late (we're upset at a 6.1% unemployment rate-- France's and Germany's have been at 8-10% for the entire economic expansion of the 90s and 00s-- think it's getting better today?) In fact, France has people with PhDs going to, of all places, Ireland for jobs. Go figure.
President Obama will have crushingly enormous decisions to make, and quickly. He didn't bring us to this point (neither did the Republicans or Bush alone, truth be told-- we've all had a hand in this, Dems, Repubs, government, private sector and, yes, Virginia, you and I) but it's on his lap. I pray that he makes decisions the Founders would applaud. If he does, we're good for 4 more years, at least. If he doesn't... well, social programs always slap a band aid on a sucking chest wound, and the economy will sputter along in spite of itself for a while. It won't last, and it can't. If we collapse, so does the rest of the world (so much for "de-coupling.") It'll be interesting, to say the least. Stock up on ammunition, would be my advice.
Still and all, I am hopeful. I don't think President Obama wishes ill for his country, I just think he's hung around the wrong crowd for too many years. I am hopeful that his intellect and grasp of the American psyche will aid him in breaking away from that crowd and doing what is truly in the best interest of the nation.
While riding around in my truck one day, I came up with this scenario:
Your CIA DCI walks into your office and says, "Mr. President, we have it on good authority and have verified through a variety of other international intelligence agencies that Osama Bin Laden will be in a neighborhood in Peshawar, Pakistan for an approximately hour long meeting with his top lieutenants and members of the Taliban tribes supporting him. The meeting starts in 20 minutes. We can have aerial assets on site in 30-35 minutes from your go, ground assets are not an option at this time. One last thing, Mr. President: the meeting is being held in an elementary school surrounded by a residential neighborhood. We believe school is in session."
In this case, The President wouldn't have time to agonize or debate things over for 18 months-- like the Democrats and Republicans did in the lead up to the Iraq War. He wouldn't have time to convene the Senate and House and pass an Authorization for the Use of Force resolution supported overwhelmingly by both parties. He'd have to either pull the trigger, or not, and live with the decision either way.
Imagine he did. And he missed (our intelligence was off by 20 minutes, or he was never there, or whatever.) 33 kids dead, hundreds wounded, a residential neighborhood on fire. You know what? I'd support President Barack Obama's decision to do it. Or say he decided not to-- and 8 months later, after a taped bin Laden message was released, a dirty bomb explodes in downtown LA (the tape, as they normally do, contained the "go" signal.) While we might not hear about the aborted bin Laden hit (unless it was leaked by a disgruntled DCI who felt that if people would have just pulled the trigger, LA would be saved) if we did, I'd still support my President.
(As a caveat, if Obama was offered bin Laden by the Pakistani government but refused due to legal issues... well, I don't think that will ever happen, post 9-11.)
In either case, no one-- not Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich or any of the others-- could ever convince me that my President, whatever his decision was, acted without the best interests of the country at heart. You could never convince that he would bomb an elementary school because he felt like killing kids or that he let bin Laden slip away because of some malice of forethought. You couldn't convince me that he would send young men off to fight and die to make his buddies rich, or materially destroy the United States while marching towards glorious Revolutionary Socialism. You couldn't convince me that he knew about the LA dirty bombing and let it go so that he could start a war for oil. (EDIT: Or for Tony Rezko or Bill Ayers.)
The mere thought that people can believe that physically repulses me. It's personal, visceral. (EDIT: In my mind, it speaks more to the psyche of the haters than the hated. It shows an almost religious zealotry but for, of all things, politics-- of course, government is becoming more "god-like" everyday, so maybe there is reason for that zealotry-- and I can't get anymore worked up over politics than I can religion. It bothered me that Obama used that religious-like fervor to get elected; I honestly don't think he truly understands what he tapped into, but neither religion nor politics holds any fear for me, so I have no hatred. But, to me, there is no difference between people that say "gay people are evil and are going to Hell" and people that say "George Bush is Hitler and is going to Hell." They are both clearly unhinged, and thus, incapable of rational discussion and deserving of none. We may never be able to rid ourselves of extremists, but we should do our best to minimize them.)
You have my word on this-- whether I agree with him or not, whether he is brilliant or moronic, Messianic or misguided-- I won't ever believe he has anything other than the best interests of the nation at heart.
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