Out in the Blogosphere
From time to time, it gets interesting out in what I like to call the “Blogosphere”. You know, the world where folks step up to the Internet and spew forth.
It is kind of the beauty of the thing. Anyone with a will to take keyboard in hand and push the right buttons can (and does) share their thoughts on all kinds of subjects. Right, wrong or indifferent. Call it a miracle of modern communication, if you like.
There an old saying that predates the online world. One which I will call upon today in a somewhat sanitized version. “Opinions are like elbows. Everyone has one.”
A couple of folks I admire have taken up the virtual cricket bats and are swinging for the fences to get their points across. I can see both sides of the argument and can appreciate where both are coming from. May not agree but I see where they both get to their points.
That is kind of the beauty of the Internet and modern electronic communication. Both sides are free to espouse what they will. Freedom of the press, as you may or may not like it. Another old saw? “The power of the press belongs to anyone who owns one.” In today’s world of tweets, blogs and Facebook postings, you can put out your own opinions for folks to read and comment on. All in all, not exactly a bad way of doing it.
To a point, perhaps? Some things are wrong today as they have always been. Hate speech often exposes it’s self in the online world. Faster than it might have, say 20 years ago. While some folks are more tolerant today than others, excuses still run thin. Stereotypes don’t play as they once did. In all kinds of ways…
Sure, popular culture has always been a powder keg. You name it, from rock and roll music to long hair to shuck and jive to twerking. There will always be those who can find something objectionable in an element of something meant to entertain. Hate disguised as comedy is still hate, no matter who laughs at what.
Yet, we live in a world where anyone can say pretty much anything, At least, that is what we would like to believe. From this little corner, I find myself more than amused when someone becomes a cause celebrity for what they said. Even more so when the person becomes more the topic than the subject discussed to begin with.
In the end, anyone can step up to the keyboard and tell the world. Heck, I’m doing it now!