Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Thoughts and Ideas in a Duel... One Says to the Other, "Why the Long Face?"

The interweb is a virtual melting pot of rampant I'm-right-no-I'M-right discourse. Looking for support for your side of an argument? Look online. Of course, you're going to find just as many pages against what you want to "prove". I guess the same is true for books and other forms of communication (as long as we have freedom of speech, we have the right to disagree... until our government overhears our phone conversations saying we disagree and we all get sent to Gitmo... I digress). But, with Google making it so simple to find the exact phrase (or the algorithm's closest match... oh shoot, I'm mixing my metaphors/corporate conglomerates again -- Ask.com for those of you who don't know) of how you've articulated your argument, it's simply a snap to have a veritable army of yes-men at your fingertips in under one-half of a second (my last one took 0.27 seconds).

Now, while the interweb is a wonderful place for finding supporting material after you've formed your opinion, don't come to it seeking answers to your own personal dilemmas. Sure, if you look hard enough, you can find "message[s] of acceptance, forgiveness, and not taking personally the slights (or dalliances) of others" anywhere. You can also find harsh holier-than-thou "crazy psychoconservative" judgments and discussions of contagious craziness. Possibly even on the same page. Especially in these days of Colbert-Report-popularity when the general populace seems to be eating up thinly veiled (or heavily masked, for that matter) sarcasm. Ahh... I ♥ Jezebel. It takes me all night to catch up on the day's feed, but at least the writers over there 1) keep me entertained and 2) make me think. And these, in my humble opinion (IMHO for those of you with special today-only super acronym abilities... kinda like my too-awesome-for-words, you-wish-you-had-'em hyphenated phrasal adjective super-powers), are the two BEST things a blogger -- or any old writer, FTM -- can do.

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