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Words from a friend of mine named Lee!:

People love telling others what they think. Strangers tell me what they think all the time, and sometimes what they think is contingent on me being wrong- which I gladly grant. And whether I care to listen or not doesn’t really matter, insofar as they’re given sufficient air time without interruption we can move on with our lives. This happens on the street, on the bus, on Youtube, and it’s lovely. It really is. I think it’s great that literacy rates have reached unparalleled heights and that we’re witnessing a power-shift in the publishing world from the corporate to the community. But I find that it’s like being stuck in a anti-government rally. The goal is noble and purposeful;more power to the people of course. Yet there exists a clear-and often ignored-divide between those who rally for peace and those who rally because they get to chuck flaming wine bottles in the off chance of government retaliation.

And with loosely woven information being delivered from every direction, both from within and without the computer screen, it becomes nearly impossible to gauge the credibility of any single source. There was a study done that showed that nearly 37% of Americans believed that Jack Bauer, the protagonist of the television series 24, was real. Most people still believe what they see on television, where even the most absurd claims are taken to be somewhat veritable, however subjective they may be. This is great for people like Jim Cramer and corporations that feed off this collective ignorance, but sucks for those who want something more substantial than “Bieber Fever” on their daily news reel. As for me, I just find it increasingly difficult to laugh at things I hear and read about because I just don’t know what the hell is funny anymore.

If you want my opinion, which I’m sure you do, I think we’re now living in a period where anybody-and I really mean anybody- can shout into the Internet and be heard. I’ve had my air time, but I’ve also written things that I now regret because they’re either a distorted reflection of my personality or an utter lie. And what’s worst, there’s so much wordage in the these Internet soap box operas that if everyone cared to listen the advice of William Zinsser, whose opinion really matters, we could probably cut every article ever written(including this one) in half and still get the same message across fine.
Even then, who do I listen to in the midst of everyone tooting their own horns?

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