Often when I put a comment on Facebook, something lighthearted or funny, off-the-wall (what does that mean, anyway? Wait, is that a potential pun? But it's a timeline now not a wall - drat!)

Often when I put a comment on Facebook, something lighthearted or funny, unexpected or silly, and I notice that I get responses to it, I have to struggle internally.

A little bit of me wants to LIKE every single comment, and respond to any of them that make sense. I think that's the bit of me that wants to get people and make them happy so they will like me. Then there's another bit of me that wants to not return to the comment at all - to leave people to make their discussions. I think that this is the bit that wants to be independent and dignified.

Of course, neither one wins out (usually). The other day I put out a fairly complex joke and avoided my impulse to respond to some of the responses. Some of them pointed out slight misuse of a word, and I decided not to respond with my reasoning. It was an odd feeling. I don't like being misunderstood, but it felt good not to respond all the time. I remember reading something about this once; about not having to defend yourself being a mark of maturity. I hope so.

And now for something completely different:

Capitalism is the curse of Midas.

Everything it touches turns to gold. Economies prosper. Roads are built. Children are educated.

Everything it touches turns to gold. Forests die. Rivers die. Species are made extinct. The air is poisoned. A living world becomes a box of resources awaiting harvest. Even DNA becomes a product; a possession.

People die under Capitalism. They die because they starve. They die because they choke. They die, bellies full of diabetic pellets, minds full of cartoonish realities. They die because they become someone else, their body and soul overcloned by a culture that cannot process their beautiful flavourful uniqueness and simply replicates the same reality for them to live in, which they die in.

Everything turns to gold. Once gold, it is hard to turn it back into soil, food, flesh, family.

But not impossible.

( In which our hero chases the Wild Goose south of the border, takes over the show, and doesn't take advantage of the non-hierarchical gathering to swoon over his theological betters )

I am part of a 'synchroblog', apparently. Here is a link to the directory of the rest. I think I might be meant to put them all on here individually but that's a lot of typing.

( In which our hero sets down some fundamentals of political engagement and the smoke-screen called 'democracy', according to his perspective. )

A long, rambling blog post in which I try to work out what my subject is.
2,500 words.

Thanks for this link from medievalshadow:

Things to do in Denver when you're A KLINGON!

Last night I spent ages trying to find my poetry blog. It used to be an MSN LiveSpace, which all got transitioned into WordPress sites last year. I find WordPress okay, but a bit busy for me when I only want to use it occasionally. It does have some helpful things for reworking your tags.

I got to thinking about blogging. I am sort of curious about the role that technology is playing in messing with our public/private boundries. Like mobile phones on the train. I am convinced that when I speak on a mobile in a crowded place it affects the things that I say - because to some extent I am playing to an audience.

For blogs, I was mulling over the tendancy in myself to say stupid things, knowing full well that anyone could or would read them. Is it just a sneaky way for my subconscious to force issues out in the open? Regardless of the motive(s), I think that the situation that allows it to happen is as much a social shift as technical innovation.

My theory is that I have begun to commodify my emotions, minor concerns and crises, and angst. Rather than expressing it and exploring it in some sort of hippie art class or kitchen-sink-drama relationship, or some sort of sensible breakdown, my instinct is to view it as a potential product - turn it into writing that can be consumed. If people respond badly to it, I have a certain amount of creative distance. It's not me; it's what I have made.

Just a theory.

I've been enjoying the podcasts of The Peaceful Christian recently. I'm not 100% aligned with this chap's message but I am MUCH closer to what he believes than a lot of other internet jokers. I think he'd be good to talk to. Check out this introductory link. He seems to release a lot of videos about celebrities... gently satirical but fairly genuine. Then follows it up with something about the gospel or peace. Interesting mix. He also talks about CPT, so he's all right in my book.

Peter out...