The Rationale

Now that the blog’s been up and running for a couple of months, I thought it might be time to make some sort of justification for it, by way of explaining my motives and what I aim to accomplish.

This blog was chiefly born out of a feeling of impotence. Impotence when confronted with the sheer stupidity that pervades the message boards of many popular forums. These message boards are obviously a magnet for hebetudinous thought, as they are certainly not indicative of the intelligence of the broader community. Initially, my reaction was to try to create some form of balance by making my own posts based on fact and reason,to counter those based on ignorance, fear, bigotry, and fallacy. I soon discovered that this was a losing battle. These messages were almost invariably attached to a news article that was blatantly worded with the aim of eliciting a particular response – usually a decidedly simplistic one, despite the complexity of the issues raised. Any dissent was shouted down in a torrent of cliches, hysteria, and appalling spelling and grammar.

That’s when my responses were published at all.

On more than one occasion, I have spent more time than I should crafting an informed and concise retort to a barrage of inane drivel masquerading as the vox populi, only to be dismayed to find that my precious contribution had vanished into the cyber abyss. Either it is frequently determined that my comments do not fit the desired tone of the message board, or else I’m on some sort of blacklist.

The main motivation behind this blog, then, is as a form of therapy for yours truly. I can articulate my thoughts with a far lesser likelihood of my comments being deliberately taken out of context, or being responded to with a personal attack. I am my own editor and my own moderator. Obviously the number of people happening upon my blog will be considerably fewer than those reading the comments attached to major news article. However, I’m sure it is fair to say that the former category of person is much more likely to remain on the blog for at least a short period and make some sort of effort to understand my perspective, even if they do not agree with it.

Best of all, when I blog, I don’t have a pesky word limit to contend with.

And I am…?

Hiya.

This is the latest in a string of god knows how many presences I’ve had on the InfoTubes over the years.

Hopefully this time my efforts will not be taken over by either apathy or by a paranoia that I have revealed too much of myself..

I expect that the blog will for the most part consist of my perspectives on various sociopolitical issues…Perhaps the odd album or film review…I doubt that I will ever end up boring you with mundane personal affairs, as it is tiresome enough merely to have to experience them, let alone recount them…

As I struggle to pour my ideas out, my syntax will likely show a marked convolutedness. Retrospective edits to clarify myself are to be expected.

Right, let’s go.