Reflections of Me: Unarmed Rebellion
Now, there's a title for you! Is that passive-aggressive? And, just what IS passive-aggressive? How can one be both? On the other hand, wouldn't you need to be armed to even have hands? Let alone, rebellious ones. One of life's little nagging questions.
Life has many nagging questions. Questions, of course, SHOULD nag. I believe that is their job. If we are taught properly, we mature by always asking questions. Though, school would be easier if we were given the answers before the questions. Life would be easier, too. But, no one said life would be easy. I even question that. Why hasn't anyone said life would be easy? No, we are given to believe, life is the hardest job we will ever have. Many among us who have performed various jobs during our lives might argue that, but the equation could be applied. After all, one doesn't perform back-breaking work in the hot sun for 12 hours a day because it's fun. We do it to live. And, there you have it ; indeed, life is the hardest job you will ever have.
So, we should ask questions. The first being : why am I out here doing this when I could have gotten a job in a nice, comfortable office surrounded by sweet smells ( or, in a diner, surrounded by smells of greasy fried foods )? I coulda been a contender! But, you know, books and stuff ; words is HARD, man. People always want you to think! Just tell me what to think, hand me a beer, and tell me where to point my shiny little gun.
OK, so, here, another question I have pondered recently. Social media is not journalism, but, is journalism social media? This could be a fun one, and result in a never-ending game of dog chasing tail. On one hand, humankind has always had social media. From the moment humans uttered their first word, defined it with a meaning, and began jabbering it to anything that would listen ( and probably anything that wouldn't, cause, hey, you know, it is doubtful our first word and definition was 'ear' ), humans have engaged in conversing. And, conversation, even between two humans of varying intellect ( or, as humans would discover, certain animals that preferred non-humans for food ), made up the very first humankind social media. Cool, eh?
Later, humankind would develop the ability to write, and even print, creating a venue to have information shared on a much wider level, and without having to endure the counter arguments which were discovered would happen when groups of humans would gather together to consume fermented beverages. Something that was invented long before the ability to print, meaning that often the first social media consisted of " The Hell you mean I owe you a dollar for that swill you call ale? ", followed by staggering humans wildly trying to punch other staggering humans.
Which likely provided the impetus for developing writing, so landlords could print out the menu and wait for the moment the consumer was too inebriated to know if they were actually being charged what was printed. Which of course was also social media, more closely resembling what we know today as social media. Especially the one called Twitter.
But, I digress. At least, I think I did. Or, maybe I didn't. Oh, right! Unarmed Rebellion? What the heck? Well, let's see ; rebellion conjures visions of clubs, weapons, riots in the streets, violently overthrowing the power structure. Except: why would anyone DO this? First reason not to : it's dangerous. Somebody gonna get hurt! Living things may die! So, how do you convince people to change? If you think about it, no one knows there might be a better way, unless : someone TELLS them! Thus, unarmed rebellion is thought, theory, education, and practice.
Power can be obtained by force, sure. Not totally effective, but it works for a while. It works best if those being controlled are uneducated and unaware there might be a different, better way to do things. Without, say, losing body parts. Or lives. What, then, would be a better, more peaceful, UNarmed way?
So, we begin with the spoken word, leading to conversations, leading to writing, leading to printing. It was social media. It was how we shared information, thoughts, feelings, and even how our latest bowel movement progressed. At some point, a enterprising human sat down and thought : "Hey. This is good information. Why doesn't everyone know this? I should try to check it out and pass it on! ". The birth of journalism. "This is a great recipe! I want to share it with the world! ".
Ok, sure, to that person, the world was the village where they lived, and, maybe, the next one over, if they have a Wal Mart, your horse was fresh and fed, and Boone had kilt all the bears so ya wouldn't get et. But, still, it was the world that person knew.
Of course, now someone had the idea, next step was, teaching the potential audience to read. Easier said than done. But progress was made. Social media went on, more information was shared more widely, and at some point, some enterprising young/old reporter discovered "Hey! I notice, people love gossip! What if I went out and got some gossip and wrote about it?". So, reporting began.
Naturally, at some point, the focus of certain gossip suddenly found themselves being gossiped about in places where no one even knew them. As one might, they approached the intrepid reporter, and chastised him/her vigorously. This served as a valuable learning experience for the social media bullhorn, and, once the cuts and bruises healed, he decided "Well, hmmm....perhaps I should listen to the gossip, then, investigate said gossip and discover what, if any, facts exist behind the gossip before I get killed. ".
It may also have occurred to him that, now we have taught the majority of public how to read, perhaps now we might teach them how to understand what they read. But, hey, he was only one guy, and, anyway, wasn't his job. So, being of a slightly more educated bent, he decided he'd keep reporting the gossip, include the facts, but write it in such a way that the subject had no idea how bad they were being made to look. That this may have been wasted on the majority of the reading public was of little matter ; the writer knew, and those among the readers who understood satire knew, and this was satisfactory. Additionally, it reduced the number of beatings the writer received.
ON and on it went. Today, we share our own opinions on a massive scale, and pretend we may know what we are talking about. We decry journalistic media as biased and opinionated, but of course it is where we get our own opinions, thus cementing the journalistic portion of social media. It may be said this is not such a bad thing. Well, if it weren't for the fact that we don't often take the time to actually delve into a story before we share our opinions with the world. We always have to be first. Even if being first means looking like a freaking drug-crazed idiot later. "I don't have time to read all that ; give me the headline, I can figure out the rest!". Or " This came from a program I have always trusted even when they lied to me, because truth is not truth, it's what I believe! ".
If the pen is mightier than the sword, then, what of the printed word not written by pen, but by fingers? What weight would the printed word have if a sword can chop off the fingers creating the word? I suppose it rather depends on whether or not one holds the fingers out to be meekly chopped, or persists in printing the truth as it currently stands and constantly updating it. Which only becomes effective if those reading it actually read it, yet, do not confine themselves to reading it but actually looking out the window to see what life around them is truly like while they read it.
A truly informed citizen will not depend on two separate sources, one saying it is raining and one saying it is not raining. Like a good reporter, they will actually look out the window and see for themselves, then report the actuality. While still understanding that the neighbor across the street may prefer it one way or another, and will take umbrage if the truth doesn't fit what they want it to be.
This seems to be where we are at today. Old adages are still quoted, but as applicable as they may be, no one applies them to themselves. 'If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right', or, 'if it's worth having, it's worth waiting for ' are all well and good, as advice, but, dang it, we want results NOW! The one we seem to adhere to the most, though, is 'I have mine, and screw you'.
Uh Oh. Here I go, quoting old adages again. Time for me to lay this little rant to rest. If you made it this far, thank you for reading, and I hope portions of it brought a smile, or even a laugh. If it didn't, sorry about that, you curmudgeonly old fart. The first government you need to overthrow is the one in your head. Go laugh at something, dang it!
Life has many nagging questions. Questions, of course, SHOULD nag. I believe that is their job. If we are taught properly, we mature by always asking questions. Though, school would be easier if we were given the answers before the questions. Life would be easier, too. But, no one said life would be easy. I even question that. Why hasn't anyone said life would be easy? No, we are given to believe, life is the hardest job we will ever have. Many among us who have performed various jobs during our lives might argue that, but the equation could be applied. After all, one doesn't perform back-breaking work in the hot sun for 12 hours a day because it's fun. We do it to live. And, there you have it ; indeed, life is the hardest job you will ever have.
So, we should ask questions. The first being : why am I out here doing this when I could have gotten a job in a nice, comfortable office surrounded by sweet smells ( or, in a diner, surrounded by smells of greasy fried foods )? I coulda been a contender! But, you know, books and stuff ; words is HARD, man. People always want you to think! Just tell me what to think, hand me a beer, and tell me where to point my shiny little gun.
OK, so, here, another question I have pondered recently. Social media is not journalism, but, is journalism social media? This could be a fun one, and result in a never-ending game of dog chasing tail. On one hand, humankind has always had social media. From the moment humans uttered their first word, defined it with a meaning, and began jabbering it to anything that would listen ( and probably anything that wouldn't, cause, hey, you know, it is doubtful our first word and definition was 'ear' ), humans have engaged in conversing. And, conversation, even between two humans of varying intellect ( or, as humans would discover, certain animals that preferred non-humans for food ), made up the very first humankind social media. Cool, eh?
Later, humankind would develop the ability to write, and even print, creating a venue to have information shared on a much wider level, and without having to endure the counter arguments which were discovered would happen when groups of humans would gather together to consume fermented beverages. Something that was invented long before the ability to print, meaning that often the first social media consisted of " The Hell you mean I owe you a dollar for that swill you call ale? ", followed by staggering humans wildly trying to punch other staggering humans.
Which likely provided the impetus for developing writing, so landlords could print out the menu and wait for the moment the consumer was too inebriated to know if they were actually being charged what was printed. Which of course was also social media, more closely resembling what we know today as social media. Especially the one called Twitter.
But, I digress. At least, I think I did. Or, maybe I didn't. Oh, right! Unarmed Rebellion? What the heck? Well, let's see ; rebellion conjures visions of clubs, weapons, riots in the streets, violently overthrowing the power structure. Except: why would anyone DO this? First reason not to : it's dangerous. Somebody gonna get hurt! Living things may die! So, how do you convince people to change? If you think about it, no one knows there might be a better way, unless : someone TELLS them! Thus, unarmed rebellion is thought, theory, education, and practice.
Power can be obtained by force, sure. Not totally effective, but it works for a while. It works best if those being controlled are uneducated and unaware there might be a different, better way to do things. Without, say, losing body parts. Or lives. What, then, would be a better, more peaceful, UNarmed way?
So, we begin with the spoken word, leading to conversations, leading to writing, leading to printing. It was social media. It was how we shared information, thoughts, feelings, and even how our latest bowel movement progressed. At some point, a enterprising human sat down and thought : "Hey. This is good information. Why doesn't everyone know this? I should try to check it out and pass it on! ". The birth of journalism. "This is a great recipe! I want to share it with the world! ".
Ok, sure, to that person, the world was the village where they lived, and, maybe, the next one over, if they have a Wal Mart, your horse was fresh and fed, and Boone had kilt all the bears so ya wouldn't get et. But, still, it was the world that person knew.
Of course, now someone had the idea, next step was, teaching the potential audience to read. Easier said than done. But progress was made. Social media went on, more information was shared more widely, and at some point, some enterprising young/old reporter discovered "Hey! I notice, people love gossip! What if I went out and got some gossip and wrote about it?". So, reporting began.
Naturally, at some point, the focus of certain gossip suddenly found themselves being gossiped about in places where no one even knew them. As one might, they approached the intrepid reporter, and chastised him/her vigorously. This served as a valuable learning experience for the social media bullhorn, and, once the cuts and bruises healed, he decided "Well, hmmm....perhaps I should listen to the gossip, then, investigate said gossip and discover what, if any, facts exist behind the gossip before I get killed. ".
It may also have occurred to him that, now we have taught the majority of public how to read, perhaps now we might teach them how to understand what they read. But, hey, he was only one guy, and, anyway, wasn't his job. So, being of a slightly more educated bent, he decided he'd keep reporting the gossip, include the facts, but write it in such a way that the subject had no idea how bad they were being made to look. That this may have been wasted on the majority of the reading public was of little matter ; the writer knew, and those among the readers who understood satire knew, and this was satisfactory. Additionally, it reduced the number of beatings the writer received.
ON and on it went. Today, we share our own opinions on a massive scale, and pretend we may know what we are talking about. We decry journalistic media as biased and opinionated, but of course it is where we get our own opinions, thus cementing the journalistic portion of social media. It may be said this is not such a bad thing. Well, if it weren't for the fact that we don't often take the time to actually delve into a story before we share our opinions with the world. We always have to be first. Even if being first means looking like a freaking drug-crazed idiot later. "I don't have time to read all that ; give me the headline, I can figure out the rest!". Or " This came from a program I have always trusted even when they lied to me, because truth is not truth, it's what I believe! ".
If the pen is mightier than the sword, then, what of the printed word not written by pen, but by fingers? What weight would the printed word have if a sword can chop off the fingers creating the word? I suppose it rather depends on whether or not one holds the fingers out to be meekly chopped, or persists in printing the truth as it currently stands and constantly updating it. Which only becomes effective if those reading it actually read it, yet, do not confine themselves to reading it but actually looking out the window to see what life around them is truly like while they read it.
A truly informed citizen will not depend on two separate sources, one saying it is raining and one saying it is not raining. Like a good reporter, they will actually look out the window and see for themselves, then report the actuality. While still understanding that the neighbor across the street may prefer it one way or another, and will take umbrage if the truth doesn't fit what they want it to be.
This seems to be where we are at today. Old adages are still quoted, but as applicable as they may be, no one applies them to themselves. 'If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right', or, 'if it's worth having, it's worth waiting for ' are all well and good, as advice, but, dang it, we want results NOW! The one we seem to adhere to the most, though, is 'I have mine, and screw you'.
Uh Oh. Here I go, quoting old adages again. Time for me to lay this little rant to rest. If you made it this far, thank you for reading, and I hope portions of it brought a smile, or even a laugh. If it didn't, sorry about that, you curmudgeonly old fart. The first government you need to overthrow is the one in your head. Go laugh at something, dang it!
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