K&R If You Think. [View all]

[JFN1]

Maybe it is the chronic pain that kept me awake all night; maybe I've misplaced my sense of ironic humor...or maybe I'm just getting old (I did see some rather irritating clouds yesterday...damn smart-alecky clouds, just floating along...they should mind their own freakin' business...). But is sure does seem this country has become one emotional, impatient, love-starved, anxious, twitchy puppy, who is sporting a shoulder chip about the size of a concert grand piano - and a serious anger-management issue.

And it is everywhere. I mean, just look around DU - there are what - 25 - 30 threads debating who was wrong, Current or KO. Reading through some of these (couldn't stomach more than a few, plus, gotta keep an eye on those clouds), it is amazing how easily offended we've all become. I mean really, who cares? Millionaires all hurtied by each other...and what are we doing, instead of not giving a shit about it? Throwing stones at each other over who is more right about who is more wrong.

Looking beyond the DU landscape, reading comments in articles from, well, all over the place, the emotionally-hurt-offended-great, now I'm angry because somebody I don't personally know and will likely never meet disagreed with me-comments, in the comments section, begin almost immediately. I was reading an article at some physics site, about dark matter's weight/mass, and in a realm of supposedly rational science-types, the offended were everywhere, displaying their hurt/outrage in full force. I could have just cried...well, no, not really...but it does suck.

Sigh.

You know, Pepperidge Farms and I remember a time, oh, for you young folks it was quite a long time ago - when people used to think beyond the satisfaction of the moment...when we weren't all so obsessed with winning every debate...these days, it is as if our egos have somehow collectively become fragile little snowflakes, unable to withstand losing an argument, and worse, never seeming to realize the opportunity to learn from the loss...thus we feed the negative, and the cycle strengthens...and repeats...

I am reminded, by all of this, of ancient Rome, and the gladiator arenas. Ahh, the spectacle! The noise of the crowd cheering and hissing, the clash of the mighty titans, the occasional lion, the distraction from things much more mundane, and much more important.

The Internet has become little more than a free-for-all gladiatorial arena attached to a gigantic shopping mall with an even bigger porno theater in the back. Sure it's entertaining, even useful. It is a social, entertainment, and business forum, much like the Roman arenas, where all manners of business and personal socialization took place during the course of the day's entertainment. Sure, they had bloodlust and excitement; but we've got feline jello wrestling and a mainline connection to unlimited supplies of Viagra and riviting political theater...

It's not bread and circuses; it's a mass of fucking melees - millions of them happening all at once, all the time. And we're all basically addicted to it - just ask Facebook. And it wouldn't be so bad, if it wasn't pretty much all we did collectively as a civilization...

"Did you hear?" "Did YOU hear?" "He said!" "She said!" "Blah blah blah!" "Oh yeah?" "Well, yada yada YADA!" "I'm shocked!" "I'm horrified!" "I'm simply outraged!!!!" "How dare you?" "How dare YOU?" And so on, and so on...and so on..........{please insert ad nauseum here}...

Well, most of my head hair is missing, my beard has gone grey, my athletic grace is nearly comatose, and in my advancing years, I've learned...shit, I don't believe I've learned a damned thing.

Actually, wait - I do know this: We Americans, we're not, at heart, a bunch of crybabies. And this easily offended thing donned by pretty much all of us with the opening of our browsers, is not real, it is not...us, who we are, what we are. Rather, it is the sword, the battle axe, the spikey thingies on the ropes we spin around our heads and throw, the spear...our offendedness...es...are the weapons we bring into our arena - and that is all that they are.

Look, just keep it in mind, would you?...and I will attempt to do the same, though at 44, my mind isn't quite what it used to be...I think...(stupid clouds)...