superflea

Okay, here's the short version of the rant that's been brewing for a while, because LaDolceVita has been bugging me about it.

(On the off chance you haven't chatted with her yet, then you go right over there this very moment and say hi because both she and her husband Nightowl77 are delightful people.)

This was going to be longer and more vitriolic, but I realized that it made me sound old and snarky and that's not what I was hoping to communicate.

But lately, I've noticed huge communities of 'experts in somebody else's field' who love to make long and passionate arguments featuring bold claims about things about which the sum total of their knowledge is "not a lot". Or maybe just short arguments, that often pertain to the licking of someone's balls.

This was originally intended as specifically arts-related ("Oh, the music industry sucks"), but then I realized, with more than a little shame, that we probably all do it. Everybody likes to rattle off their opinion about things about which they know nothing. God, if you ever had to endure one of my rants about the insurance industry... and honestly, I don't know the first damn thing about anything, so why do I let it get to me so much, and why do I open my big mouth about it?

And so maybe the insurance agents would feel the same way about me as I do when I hear (or, more often, thanks to the glory of teh interweb, read) people talking about the things I'm involved in (not me specifically, but the industries at large).

Don't get me wrong - I'm in awe of the way this new wonderful vast form and forum of communication can completely reshape the ways in which we can talk and share ideas. And, of course, everybody has the right to their own opinions on anything, no matter if they're a rank amateur or a seasoned expert in the field. But I'm disheartened (believe me, this rant had to stew for about two weeks before that got cooled down to 'disheartened') at the neccessary side effect of giving - even on some small level - an implied equal credibility between the expert and the uninitiated.

It's like walking into a crowded lecture hall, and everybody's talking about what they think they know about neurosurgery, and you're trying to pick out the actual professor's voice. Everybody's in the same space, and speaking at the same volume. Why can't the students - metaphorically speaking - just pipe down, listen, and learn?

The ease with which anybody can post an opinion on anything means that sometimes, people (and I'm including myself in this - I've made a dolt of myself arguing on the web as much as anybody has) don't take the steps to insure their opinion is informed and worthwhile to a discussion before firing it off into the electron soup.

I wish more people (and again, me too) would take the time to appreciate that no matter how passionately they may want to weigh in on an issue, they may not sufficiently understand that issue. A personal hot button for me is the crisis of piracy in the music industry. If you genuinely think the RIAA are the bad guys, then I assure you that you do not sufficiently understand the issues.

I find myself thinking that a good barometer to see if your opinion is sufficiently informed would be: 'are you arguing about this on the web?' If so, maybe you don't

Okay - that's off my chest. I hope you're all well and happy. Have I told you lately that you're all fantastic? (Hey Lunna, are you looking for a ? Because I found this one and I thought it might be yours.)

I'm reminded of a friend of mine who wound up getting "born again". Personally, I am essentially incapable of blind faith, and while I do believe in some form of higher power, none of the organized religions sit well with me. I'm not knocking them, but I just can't be part of them. I always love talking to this girl because she respects my skepticism and I respect her faith, and from that, a wonderful dialogue has developed over the years. When I asked what brought about her conversion, she said that she had started going to church basically for a pep talk. It was a community of people coming together and just trying to charge up and saying 'we care about each other' and 'everything just might turn out okay'. And I'm struck by the similarities every time I consider what goes on here.

I won't lie - I came for the boobies. (But I stayed for the bisque!!!) And I spent a few months lurking before I started to really check out the boards and making friends, and trying to become more a part of the community here. But now, I look forward to seeing a new comment come in because I'm genuinely excited to hear from you guys. (And I'm validating myself less and less by the number of comments I get. Although I am still hoping to break more than a page of comments soon! Hehe.)

And we're a community here, and we say nice things to one another, and everybody seems to sort of look out for one another, and be genuinely interested in what one another has to say and is up to, and that's pretty freaking cool. So I figured that if you read my journal regularly, you've probably put up with more than enough of my bitching, so I thought I'd try to balance it out by saying I'm really glad that I get to (kindasorta) hang out with you guys. I couldn't hope to almost meet a nicer group of people.