Opinions – jonbeckett.blog

The internet came of age when I was an impressionable teen. An infinite rabbit hole, filled with ideas, knowledge, thoughts, idiocy, adventure, and everything in-between. Idealism and optimism convinced us that we might find our tribe somewhere deep in the labyrinth, and forge an escape from the world around us.

I still view the internet in rose tinted glasses.

The beginning of a blog post always seems like an opportunity – an empty page, with limitless possibilities. Words that might agree with somebody somewhere, and build an unlikely connection.

The serendipitous discovery of new writers while on expeditions deep in the catacombs of the internet conjures images of Victorian explorers lowering rowing boats from sailing ships to undiscovered countries.

Call me a fool. I will agree with you.

I choose to see a world full of possibility, friendship, and kindness. I choose to ignore the legions of trolls, soap-box politicians, keyboard warriors, and cancel culture mouthpieces that blight the internet I once knew.

The internet is bigger than any one of us. It will still be here when we are gone. We are assembling a treasure trove for future generations of thoughts, ideas, stories, music, and art. It would be a tremendous shame not to take advantage of it.

Yes, I’m still here. No, I haven’t shut the blog down (yet). If the last few years have taught me anything, it’s that I’ll always return. Eventually. I’m wondering if this “every other day” (or less) plan is better, because I end up with things to write about, rather than just dumping the events of the day into the keyboard – and yes, I know many people thing the random miscellany is the best stuff, but I have this idiotic machine ticking away in my head, that thinks of things from time to time, and if I record the mundane, the crazy stuff doesn’t get it’s chance in the sun.

I find myself becoming increasingly frustrated with “people” at the moment. Few people seem to have much perspective any more – it’s all about them, their concerns, their opinions, and their soapbox ranting. There is no grey area in a debate any more – you are either with the shouty people, or you are the enemy.

As an example, J K Rowling posted a fairly innocuous tweet last week about women losing their voice in the world. She termed them “people who menstruate”, and nobody seemed to get it – she got shouted down by a rapidly moving mob who invented their own message from her words and busily organised pitchforks and a bonfire. Her objection to the Spartacus situation many people find themselves in immediately played itself out – drowning out her voice just as she highlighted was happening to others.

Very few seem to want to see a bigger or wider picture, because it’s easier to tear people down, rubbish their views, and walk away. In this supposedly “woke” world where there are so many opportunities to educate ourselves, there seems to be a LOT of wilful ignorance going on.

Anyway – enough of that.

It’s been a quiet week. We have had builders in at home. Our house now has shiny new windows and doors – and we have no money. Well… we obviously have enough for food and bills, but that’s about it.

I’m still running. I’ll be out first thing tomorrow – probably on my own – running around town. I may well go for the full 5K distance – I’m fed up with repeatedly back-tracking the “Couch to 5K” plan to suit the children. My eldest can’t run this week because she has shin splints, and my youngest is suffering from “can’t get out of bed-itus”.

In other news, our ginger cat – the last of three brothers – has been unwell. He spent most of this week in hospital, and has returned home tonight. Fingers crossed he will be ok, but of course now we have the ridiculous job of making him take tablets several times a day. Have you ever tried to get a cat to swallow a tablet? Yeah… you kind of need chain-mail armour.