Circle the women and protect the wagons! We're being invaded!

Blame today's missive on a recent post by me bud Paul.

I'm terrified of the growing trend of ideological isolationism, and yet swamped with the same urge to protect myself from the constant effluent tide of ignorant ejaculations from so many.

“Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

― George Carlin

Very sad...

Very sad indeed. Terrifying at the same time.

Thanks to the Internet, and social media in particular, the human race is now more isolated than it has been in centuries.

Someone will decry this and say "I have friends all over the planet!"

Your friends list is composed of carbon copies of you. Skin tones may differ. Joggerfee will definitely differ. What you drive, what you eat and other things will differ. But when it comes to the fundaments, yeah, carbon copy. You have the same weltanschauung.

You disagree? And what are their views on the world, macro and micro. Do they ever vehemently disagree with you? Do they ever say things that make you want to swear and throw things? (A few of my friends are now pointing at me and nodding. Back atcha.)

How many people have you dropped and blocked? Why?

Ahhhhhhhh. You punt people out of your online life because you won't tolerate their views. They are idiots and should be purged. Sign them up for a Darwin Awards challenge!

How many people have blocked you for the same reasons?

Way to be diverse. Way to be open. Way to expand your horizons and your mind. Didja feel the sarcasm?

You are entitled to ask who I've blocked and why.

I block people who attack other people in the threads on my pages. No ad hominem. Shred the argument, I love it. Make me think. I tolerate attacks on me more than other folks in my threads. Attack me too many times, you're gone.

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." - Attributed without cause to Eleanor Roosevelt.

I block people who won't control their language. Profanity has a place and time. Yes, some research shows that people who swear are creative and have a bigger vocabulary than those who do not swear. Eviscerating animals as part of the butchering process has a place and time too.

Know also, I have blocked one person, after a lot of long and deep thought. This is someone I know personally and have known for many years. This person is no longer welcome in my real life either. I do not share the reasons, but will say this was not a step I took lightly. I'm not interested in hosting a human parasite.

My online friends (and real life) list contains people who are diametrically opposed to my core values. They make me think. I make them think. We learn from each other. I cherish them.

"I never learned from a man who agreed with me." - Robert A. Heinlein

GIMME WHAT I KNOW

Google "travel broadens" and look at the results you get. All of them point to an expansion of the cerebral organ. (Travel broadens the mind.)

Most of the people I know love to physically visit new places. See new people. Experience new food. See new things. Do new stuff. Come back with tales of adventure and wonder and delight. Yes, a few folks I know prefer to never physically leave their caves. I don't get this. It's been explained to me and I still don't get it.

At the same time, too many of these people who love to go off and different places also hate the idea.

They look for the familiar. They demand it. If they don't get it, they get bent.

Steve Martin once quipped, "You never appreciate your language until you go to a foreign country that doesn't have the courtesy to speak English."

And then, there are the complainers who find them furrin parts is just a bit too furrin.

Too many people treat social media the exact same way. Gotta have the familiar. Gotta have the known. Got to have what we know, what we like and what we're comfortable with. Anything else, nope, nope, nope. Can't be having with stuff that challenges the belief structure.

Isolate yourself if you wish. Stay in your cave. Eliminate people who challenge you. Only associate with people who agree with you.

Stagnate.

MIND FOOD

Circle up and prepare your defenses because who knows what those fast-moving riders will do when they get here. They might rape the wagons, pillage the women and burn the sheep.

Gear grinding in 3... 2 ... 1-

The cartoon genius Gary Larson was once described as "anchovy pizza for the mind." How apt.

I'm looking for a place that serves deep-fried anchovy-jalopena-durian. Who's with me?

Ah, there's the clutch!

Those riders coming in fast? I'm gonna go out there and see what they want. Might learn something. Might get killed. I just know that my life is going to be a lot richer than yours because I'm trying to experience that which is truly new to me. They might have deep-fried anchovy-jalopena-durian gyros.