tedium

lately, both on this blog and some others that i read, there are a few posters who choose not to identify themselves [for whatever reasons] who then go on to post fairly harsh and often though not always baseless comments or personal attacks. although i might not always agree with the content of anonymous posts, i have vigorously defended the right of these folks to post without identifying themselves. it's my nature to uphold free speech; always have, always will.

i have a television. there's a lot of stuff on [i stopped my dish service a couple years ago or so; i don't remember when]; most of it is crap at best. a lot of it is just plain stupid and offensive. it saddens me that it is on, saddens me even more that it is popular and likely to increase. at the expense of quality programming, this cheap-to-produce pablum improves the bottom line. no matter that it continues to stupify the already bushified masses.

my solution to the crap on tv? i turn it off. i choose not to make the absence of quality programming my battle. they can make and show what they want, but i just won't watch it.

but for these few asshole anonymous posters? i have tolerated and sometimes enjoyed the little venomous displays. my theory has been that so long as conversation is prompted, and discussion from which the opportunity for learning and growth is presented, then such anonymous comments should be allowed and tolerated.

when i left for ragbrai a couple weeks ago or so, i asked a few e-lists to suspend my active status. three of them are music-related [allman brothers band, gov't mule, and derek trucks band], and with those and another technical list, i receive as many as 250 emails a day. most of them i just delete. a few of them i read; even fewer i actually enjoy. i post every now and then. most of them are just stupid. every now and then, they become mean. deleting is a great relief. but when i returned, i chose not to reactivate these lists. that has been an even GREATER relief. i might choose to reactivate, but not for a while.

and so, for a while anyway, i'm going to change the status of comments on this blog. i am sorry to do it, but i just am tired and bored of the sniping nature of some of the anonymous posts. i know it's not fair to folks like chad, duffy, and others who regularly post without opting to go through the blogger-required bullshit of getting an identification and then posting. it sucks, and if i can get around that, i will. but i'm not going to monitor your comments. that's just stupid, too. i have enough dumb shit to do without holding the door for everyone who wants to leave a comment.

but i really am bored with this anonymous "warfare" crap [the humor has long-since evaporated], and disappointed that a handful of chickenshit little snipers have led me to this sad result. but please don't think that you've "won" or anything. this isn't a personal win-lose scenario. the only win-lose happening is to the freedom of comment on this blog. MY blog.

and so as with MY television, i am going to turn off a portion of MY blog for a while.

the portion that allows annoying little anonymous assholes in.

sorry, everyone else. i've gotta make some coffee and get productive.