Uncle Don's Blog

A place to rant and rave, a place to have my say, to put in my two cents, to provoke opinions and reactions from my friends (seasoned and fresh)... and my critics, too.

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Location: Waterville, Maine, United States

Computer programmer, chess player and movie buff

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Why even bother to blog, anyway?

Who reads this stuff? As I ponder various issues while I'm driving to and from work or on some trip down to Kittery (and other exotic locations, like Freeport) my mind is just racing along in all directions. I think about work, how fortunate I am at home, about all the things I wish I had time to do (like play and study more chess). And (inevitably in these troubling times) I ponder the shenanigans of our "leaders". Just today I got to wondering why it's more dangerous for the Iranians to have nuclear weapons than it is for us to have nuclear weapons. We're even dangerous if we don't use nuclear weapons. The logic behind bringing democracy to the Middle East by bombing them into submission is just lost on me. And the whole idea that everyone has to become like us just seems foolish to me. I don't disagree with the idea of protecting our country from enemies foreign and domestic, but going overseas to force people to "behave" the way we want seems like a contradiction to me. On the radio today one of the commentators was remarking on how curious it is that the American press is avoiding coverage of the Danish anti-Muslim cartoon because "they" don't want to enflame [or is it inflame? I'm too tired to look it up right now] muslims at a time when our relations are so strained. So much for freedom of speech and open debate. Why don't we just stop pretending and set up a new Department of Propoganda. I nominate the CEO of CNN or Fox Network to be it's first Director (but they probably couldn't afford the cut in pay).

Back to my question. I suppose the reason for doing this is that talking to yourself is considered a sign of mental problems. But writing to yourself (or just blathering into the aether [I'm not sure how to spell that either] is considered "cool" at the moment [feel free to fill in your own modern-day equivalent for baby boomer "cool"]. There is probably a big difference between "real" bloggers and people who just want to vent. I have found a few very interesting blogs out there. I wonder if the authors have time for real life, though, since they seem to spend so much time blogging. But perhaps they are younger and have much more time? Time is so scarce and precious to me now, that I am loathe to part with even the time it took to write these lines.

Another really important reason to write these things is that occasionally good friends enjoy them. And so, my good friend, I am writing this to amuse you and share my thoughts with you. We should keep trying to find enough time to get together more often. And for those of you who are reading this and might not know me yet, welcome to my thoughts. I wish I had more time to air them.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Don, one good reason for these blogs might be to be able to find out that your friend (well, in this case my friend) didn't disappear from this world's surface without a trace. Nice to hear (well, read) how you are doing, that you are still in good philosophical mood - the same Uncle Don as ever.

8:50 PM  

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