Playing catch-up

I've been way behind in lots of things, so lately I've devoted time to catching up on what I've missed. Unfortunately that has meant taking time away from other activites, such as this blog. Although I've not written in a while, it hasn't been far from my mind. So now it's time for me to play catch up on this blog.

An article on the Opinion page of the Rocky Mountain News dated 3/29/08 caught my attention to the point that I saved the article till I had time to write about it. The article was written by Jason Salzman and is titled "Bloggers, reveal yourselves". It criticizes the anonymity of blogs and bloggers, and calls for bloggers to reveal information about themselves and the motives behind their writings. The author asks "Who's behind the blog? What's the purpose? Does the blogger have a political bias? Is the blogger trying to practice journalism? If so, what are his or her standards?" When you get down to where the rubber meet the road, every living person has a political bias, whether they choose to share it with other or keep it private. Bloggers may be a little more forthcoming (!!!) than the average person when it comes to sharing their opinions, but we're not a special breed. And "practice journalism"? Am I simply being dense here? The author makes it sound like you need a special license to write, as if he's trying to make writing comparable to practing medicine or law. He also states "If the blog is anonymous or allows anonymous postings, it should explain why anonymity is allowed." It seems that Mr. Salzman is trying to hold bloggers to a higher standard than print journalists, who repeatedly get away with citing "an unnamed White House source" and take pride in going to jail instead of revealing their sources.

There are a lot of reasons why many bloggers, yours truly included, prefer to remain anonymous. My personal reason for writing under a nom de plume is at the time I started writing this blog I was also job-hunting. Since it is now quite common for employers to search the internet for the names of potential new employees, I didn't want to limit my chances of employment should I wind up applying to an employer that does not share my political views. Since then I've simply gotten used to it. I believe there are many bloggers out there who write anonymously for equally valid reasons, and Mr. Salzman should take that into consideration. Not all of us get paid to write, some of us do it as a labor of love.

However, in the interest of disclosure and blog transparency, I will make Jason Salzman and any other reader of this blog a very special offer: the chance to meet the one and only AuntieM live and in person. This momentous event will take place at the commencement ceremony for Red Rocks Community College, to be held on Saturday May 17 at 10am. Red Rocks CC is located on 6th Ave in Lakewood, Colorado and I'll be there come hell or high water, so anyone who wishes to come and introduce themselves is welcome to do so. I'll be the one in the red cap and gown.

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong. - Voltaire

Lately school has been keeping me pretty busy, but I have managed to find time for a few simple pleasures. High up on my personal list has been the run-up to the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica. In the mornings when I'm not awake enough to sing I find myself trying to use logic to determine the identity of the final Cylon model. Then I wake up and realize that's like using a hammer to pick a lock - logic is so not the right tool for me! Have you ever taken a personality test (I did, it was negative - ha ha) such as the Jung Typology test? They're interesting and informative. The test I took measured four different indicators: Logic vs. Intuition, Introvert vs. Extrovert, Thinking vs. Feeling and Judging vs. Perceiving. I had to take one for a Psych class a couple of semesters ago, and the test revealed that Logic and I are not even on speaking terms, but Intuition will never lead me astray. The results of that test made me reflect on past decisions and I have to say, each time I've made a decision based on logic I've lived to regret it, while every decision I've made based on intuition, no matter how half-assed it seemed at the time, has worked out very well. The test is available at http://www.humanmetrics.com/
and is quite fun. The only caveat I'll offer is that this test is like everything else - you get out of it what you put into it, so give each question the time and thought it deserves, don't just dash off whatever answer suits the moment. So what does any of this have to do with BSG? Not a frakking thing, but it was an interesting segue.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Funny, when I read this I thought of our dear president, who I just learned my best friend's son calls Shrub. I knew I liked that kid, even when he pissed his diaper while I was holding him all those years ago. She said she gave him a lecture on respecting the office even if the person in office doesn't deserve respect. Good thing she's the mom - I probably would have high-fived him and raised his allowance.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. - Voltaire
Nuff said. I've never understood how "thou shalt not kill" is waived in times of war. Killing is a sin, but killing because your government gave you a uniform and rifle and told you to shoot someone is an act of heroism? I totally don't get that.

"Challenge your preconceptions, or they will challenge you." - Vulcan saying
There's a lot of truth behind this one. It's your prejudices and preconcieved notions about others that will trip you up unless you search them out and examine them ahead of time.

History is a pack of lies we play on the dead. - Voltaire
And history is also written by the winners. It is crucial to keep this in mind when studying history, because it will always be slanted to put the victors in the best light. I have repeatedly been astonished by what I didn't learn in history classes in public school but have since learned in college. For instance, did you know that in the 1920's and 1930's the US had its own eugenics program which involved mandatory sterilization of the mentally ill and developmentally disabled? No wonder the US took so long to enter in to WWII - it was hard for them to rationalize going to war against Hitler's Master Race when groups in the US were also working to "improve" the human race by getting rid of "defectives". Of course, the corporations already had a serious hold on many politicians, and too many companies were making way too much money in Germany for the US to go to war. Example: did you know that IBM built a computer and sent its people to Germany to install, operate and maintain it? Not so damning if that were the end of it, but this computer was specifically designed to track people sent to concentration camps. And IBM made a serious chunk of change for this project. Sigh.

When the rich wage war it's the poor who die. - Sartre
And that never changes, until we change it.

Peace,
AuntieM