The Love and Frustration That Is The Internet

I'm an optimistic pragmatist, if there is such a thing. I'm happy most of the time, because I'm pretty confident in my abilities and therefore OK with dealing with what's out there in the world. I love the Internet because it infinitely expands my search possibilities as I'm busy finding solutions to questions I've come up with (sorry, English teachers). On a morning like this, I can happily indulge my interests/hobbies by reading everything from technical papers, to reviews and opinions of others who have the similar interests. I can, if I'm not careful, spend an entire day doing this. It's like a rather well-stocked university library that never closes and is inside your own home!

And then, there's the other..... The constant assault on the senses of the never ending amplification of poorly thought out opinions. Don't get me wrong; I'm perfectly OK with people to have differing opinions. It's just the constant battering that I object to...... and clearly stupid people of course. I worked in higher education for about a decade, and learned to differentiate the highly educated (and often highly intelligent) from well-functioning brains. It is my highly unscientific opinion that doctorate degrees, like an excess of wealth, corrupts the brain! While working with these learned men and women, I found that the majority of folks with these high degrees, acquired them to overcome some sort of personal deficiency, whether in fact, or imagined. So therefore, once armed with this mantle of academic invincibility, they were all too happy to smote any and all who deign to dispute their intellectual superiority. 

A great example of this love/hate relationship is Facebook. I'm not much of a "facebooker" and really tend to participate regularly in the summers. It's the most awesome thing since sliced bread for keeping up with friends, and for me, my former students, athletes, and staff members who worked for me at the various stops in my higher ed administration career. I can't describe to you how rewarding it is to read about various folks who I've at some time in the past invested time and energy into and see that they are doing well. Or maybe just share a forgotten event, now that I'm on the far side of 50! Then, there's "the one". There's always one isn't there? Who was always self-absorbed and had a rather over-inflated opinion of their opinions. It's a triple whammy, when that person proceeds to get a doctorate, secures a position at a rather liberal institution (aren't they all these days), then proceeds to use Facebook to beat their friends (and formerly friends) over the head with their self-important rhetoric.

I guess, it's appropriate for this cloudy morning; into each life, a little rain must fall, and I'll be happy to be able to use the Internet to read about old cameras, old stereo equipment and new computers. Maybe I can get her to "unfriend" me today!