Blogging vs Message Boards

I've been doing a lot of blog reading lately, and continue to be in awe of what's out there. I'm also amazed that I can read for an hour here, but fall asleep five minutes into reading a book!

Several weeks ago I found one that I keep going back to, and have gone back to the beginning to read forward to the present. If you get a chance, visit Ron at Destination: Where the F is Ron, who has traveled the world taking photos of the wonders and worst of the world we live in, and is recording his thoughts and experiences with the posting of some of his work. Here's an example of the beautiful journaling:

"I've been photographing the world for almost ten years now, and have covered some of the worst situations on earth: Cambodia, Afghanistan, Laos, Kenya, and lately, Ghana. I've seen more suffering than I can count, more horror and hatred than I can remember, yet I'm still surprised by what I discover in the far reaches of our planet. In the midst of abject poverty and despair, war and suffering, moments that define the power of the human spirit ultimately prevails--snapshots of hope, humanity, and the sheer will to survive encapsulate my lens. I've come to see how these moments enrich my life, past and present, personal and professional. It's all inter-connected. Life isn't all about successes and failure, triumph and tragedy, there's more to it than that. It's about finding your place, acceptance for who you are, and believing in a better tomorrow."

If that touches you, then you will definitely want to drop by his place to read more. I was particularly touched by 'A Balancing Act' of 11/24/08, and 'Language of Light 'of 12/15/08.

Also in regard to blogging, I've been fascinated with the comments. It's very time consuming, but sometimes the comments are as good as the post. I'm never sure what kind of comment to leave myself, and have noticed that I have a tendency to go overboard, to 'analyze' what was posted and give a 'waxing poetic' reply. I don't think I like that, even if it is my natural way of talking even when I'm just having a conversation with my daughter!

I'm sure everyone has heard about Kanye West's obnoxious interruption of Taylor Swift receiving a Best Female Video award. Just for the hell of it, I went on the message board of one of the online news articles, and once again I was blown away by the vitriol, absurdity, and lack of civility that society can display on these boards. Whether they're just being 'silly' or trying to impress, bored and wasting time, or whether they are truly hateful people, you can never tell. I rarely read these, but guess I do sometimes to be 'entertained' by the comments, which is how they keep these things going. I'm feeding the monster (though I never leave a comment)!

Many said that Kanye is a racist, dissing a little white girl in favor of a black artist. Someone said that if this had been a white guy interrupting a black artist, Al Sharpton would already be on the scene. One said that he deserves to be sent to visit his mother (who is dead), while a few others said flatout that he deserves to die. Another said that you'd never find a Mexican doing something like this, and then someone dissed the Mexicans with some stereotypical comments.

Well, you know how they go...in a blink of an eye, everyone is trying to out-do someone else's negative and outrageous comment, and it doesn't take long before race, politics, or sex come into it. I just think it's sad, and wonder what an alien from outerspace would think of this stuff if they found it in a time capsule. I think it displays the dregs of our society, not a normal sharing of views. (Well, I guess I should amend that to say that there are probably some perfectly nice people who are acting in a less than intelligent fashion.) And I think Kanye West, no matter what you think of his talent, is just a narcissistic obnoxious pig who was seen chugging alcohol throughout the evening and made an ass out of himself. Not as a black or a white, not as a Democrat or Republican, or as an entertainer who thinks he has entitlement, but as a drunken ass. An ass is an ass is an ass, and by any other name is still an ass.

You all know that I've only been blogging for seven months, whereas some of you have been at it for several years. I didn't even know what blogs and message boards were until this year! So all this is still a period of learning and discovery. And I have to say that the comments I see on the blogs I've found have never been anything but kind. That's something for the blogging world to be proud of. I guess the old adage 'if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all' applies in most places.

And let me also say that, despite following everyone's directions to a tee, I still cannot get the link to do what it's supposed to do, even though I did manage to do it somewhere else. No matter how many times I try, it goes to one of those 'server can't be found' things, and did you mean bla bla bla. If you click on the bla bla bla, it actually will go to the link. Could it be something with blogger and not me? Like I said, I did it once before and it worked, and I'm following directions exactly. Hmmm. Like I said, still learning ... POST SCRIPT: I FIGURED IT OUT!!! I WAS DOING IT RIGHT ALL ALONG, BUT I HAD A POP-UP WINDOW THAT WAS BLOCKING THE LINK!!!

As a side note, let me mention that the two hour season premier of 'House' is next Monday!!!!!! Woohoo! Note to my daughter: I WILL NOT BE BABYSITTING ON MONDAY, SEPT. 21. (Well, I actually will since that's Conner's night to spend the night, but I reserve the right to drug him!)