Simple Truths

It disturbs me how frequently Tycho over at Penny Arcade will perfectly and unexpectedly articulate some deep thought rumbling deep within my own musings.

People seem to think that by posting in threads and agreeing with other people they are changing the world. They are not. They are posting in threads online. The universe will not be altered by forum threads, even those which are very wry. Being outraged online is a form of entertainment, and refreshing a thread to receive a hit of consensus packs the thrill of genuine activism without requiring any sweat. I'm afraid this test may require more from the community than a sardonic jpeg.

Similarly, James Wolcott has a comment on the futility of the vox populi or, more frequently, the vox cognoscenti.

Oh god, not another national dialogue... National dialogues are a wordy ritual doomed to rhetorical stalemate and eventual exhaustion, since so few minds are ever changed;--a pretext for the usual roundup of pundits and thumbsuckers to leap aboard a moving controversy and hijack the stagecoach for their own purposes.

It is my sober and sacred duty to bring you these gems of wisdom as they surface amidst the shifting sands of the Innerwebs.