The Write Journey

The Hawk is out

You know, when it's windy there's an old expression that says "The Hawk Is Out". Well, judging by the wind today, not only is the hawk out, he brought along five eagles, four doves, three brown thrashers, two barn owls, and a partridge in a pear tree.

:lol

-The WheelMan

The truth about faces

More and more I wonder which is the true face of humanity, the one which in the flesh and blood world bows to societal pressures and its rules of propriety, or the one which, in the faceless void of the Internet, spews venomous tripe at one another at the drop of hat?

It seems so easy on the Net. Someone posts a message you don't like, shares opinions or thoughts which grate upon every one of your nerve endings like fingernails on a chalkboard. You immediately pounce on your keyboard and launch a counter attack, your fingers flying over the keys in a clever stream of invectives that you're sure will pummel the other side into humble submission. Your blood is boiling and your flesh sweats, your breath heaving and your eyes wild with rage. You soon finish and with the same satisfying thrill you get when slamming down the phone on a telemarketer you hit the "Enter" key. A smile crosses your lips as your screen updates and you see your brilliant retort pop up on the screen.

And then you read it.

"Oh my God," you think, "what did I just say?" You consider how you'd be treated if you and your combatant acted that way in the real world, how either the two of you would kill one another or wind up locked away for a very long time. And of course the other person responds just as foolishly, replying with even more viciousness, and then the "bystanders" jump in like chihuahuas yapping at the heels of two raging great danes, only adding fuel to an already out of control fire. A day passes, a week, a month, and the fighting is still going on. Forum thread after forum thread spring up like kudzu on steroids, insidious weeds which may entertain some, but serves only to aggravate and alienate others. You extend a white flag, and olive branch, a sincere offering of peace, and yet your fellow combatant seems unwilling or unable to accept, or is completely oblivious to, the role in which they've played in the entire fiasco. So the war continues until everyone involved has been virtually bloodied to the point of exhaustion, and still it just never seems to end.

But the question is, "Why do we do it?"

How do we as reasoning human beings allow such emotion to rule us in what is essentially the most emotionless means of communication we have? It's a known fact that due to the nature of language, it's in many cases imperative for us to see and hear the other person, to watch their mannerisms and facial expressions, in order to truly understand what the other is trying to say, to have a real understanding if something is said in spite or jest. And yet it's almost inevitable that in a large group of chatters that flames will erupt at some time, normally over the most trivial of things. And the bad thing about cyber flames, no one seems to have invented an effective cyber estinguisher to put them out.

So what's the cause? Why is it something that's so prevalent now, but was almost unheard of in the early days of the Internet? Is it that the impersonal nature of the Internet keeps us from taking the medium seriously, that it's far too easy to forget that on the other end of the cyber connection is a flesh and blood human who's just as easily injured by your words as you were by theirs? Is it that because of the anonymity of the Net, we are finally free to unleash the angers and frustrations of our sorry lives without fear of the repercussions we would face if we acted in such a way in the real world?

Could it be that what we experience on the Internet is a facade, a way of playing someone entirely opposite ourselves, or is the dirty little secret of our true selves, the very core of our Id which Dr. Freud first told us about so many years ago, has finally found a place where it can surface uninhibited and take us back to our emotion-driven origins. I don't know the answers, though I suspect that there are pieces of truth in all the possibilities I've mentioned. Are humans incapable of conducting themselves civilly unless there are restrictions placed upon them by outside forces?

As a writer, I abhor censorship in all its forms because it's far too easy for us to unfairly judge what's appropriate or not, way too likely than any attempt to limit what's acceptable for the good of all will become a means to control what is said for the benefit of a privileged few. But as I used to try to communicate to members of a writers workshop which I served as moderator for in the year 2000 for about six months time, if you are foolish enough to abuse the rights given to you, you're bound to have them taken away one day.

I don't know what the answer is, and frankly, it sometimes scares me that this could be a basic flaw in human character proudly rearing its ugly head. If people can't respect one another in a totally innocuous environment like the Internet, what does the future hold for us? When the day comes that we can literally do as the old phone company commercial used to say and "Reach out and touch someone," will we do it with an open palm or a closed fist?

I just wish this foolishness would end.

- The WheelMan

"It's the holiday season, Charlie Brown..."

I guess one could argue that the holiday season started back in October, when "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" aired (all the stores certainly seem to think so these days). But for me, it began on Thursday, November 21st, when I saw "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving."

I've been watching this cartoon almost all of my life, it seems, along with a regular stable of classic Christmas shows, all of which seem to understand what the holiday season is really all about.

Love, happiness, the joy in spending time with family and appreciating all of our blessings, the pleasure we derive from giving of ourselves to others, and last but certainly not least, the dancing eyes of an excited child as he or she rips open those gifts with destructive glee, those are the things which truly make the holidays special, and I was blessed to be raised in a family that truly took pleasure in these very things. My sister and I to this day are always assured of a great Christmas morning, even though we're both past Santa's usual cut off date.

And oddly enough, sometimes the jolly old elf still leaves a surprise or two. :wink

- The WheelMan

Back, and even better than ever!

It's been a while since I've blogged. Part of the reason was that, frankly, I didn't have anything interesting to say. The other reason was that I've been thinking about making a change and building my own blog for a while now. uJournal is a great place, especially for those who don't have a website of their own, but as a programmer and designer, I like to have the freedom to play around with things and have the ability to customize fully.

I've heard a lot about Movable Type, particularly on my favorite television network, TechTV, and how powerful the software is. So a couple of days ago I downloaded it and installed it, and after a couple of days of playing around with it and learning how to tweak it just like I wanted it, here it is! :smile What do you think? So far I love Movable Type and would highly recommend it to anyone with a little html & css knowledge. Check out what you can do with this software and a little hard work. I'm afraid that my blog is awfully boring compared to some of the stuff out there.

Hopefully I'll have more to say as the holidays approach. Can't believe Thanksgiving is next week! And Christmas, quickly followed by the new year, is right on its heels.

You know, time seems to pass ever faster the older you get. A friend once said basically that it's not time that moves faster, but the attention we pay to it lessens as our lives become busier. That's why I try to appreciate every single moment of it, 'cause you never know when this party we call life will come to an end. Hope you do so as well. :wink

Later!

-The WheelMan

First entry in my new blog

I've just installed Movable Type on my website, and now I'm testing it out and working on customizing it. So far it seems really cool!