Interlude

I suppose there'll be breaks like this that don't have much to do with the titular subject matter, but what the heck?

I do a lot of cyber-surfing, and I read and watch lots of different forums on all kinds of subjects. I'm retired, so what else is there to do? One thing I've noticed, which will be obvious to anybody who's on the internet often enough, is that every at least halfway busy blog, forum and vlog attracts it's share of insistent masochists. That is, they disagree with the host's position, or maybe even a smidgen of their position (puritanism all over again). Maybe they even hold animosity towards the host(ofttimes for very good reasons). So the host rains down vitriol upon their head, they retreat to their separate corners, and thus the psycho-session ends.

BUT THEY KEEP COMING BACK! And the commenter starts things over again, and again, and again, and the hostility ramps up higher and higher, and the vulgar rhetoric escalates even as the substance diminishes to near zero. What a strange species we are. Or maybe not so strange, given that much of human civilized behavior is but a thin veneer laid over a boiling mess of primal urges. It seems that we are condemned to be fuck ups, as opposed to the reasoned individuals that we think we are. We're not so removed from our evolutionary ancestors as we like to think, it seems.

Humans, animals, bacteria, cells, viruses, molecules, atoms, quarks, strings, angels dancing on pinpoints...down, down and down we descend into almost nothingness. And that's what we are. Patterns in the void. Or perhaps swirling clouds of chemistry, coalescing and separating. Or lizards locked in a death embrace, spinning and spinning in the dirt. Or wolves fighting over a scrap of dead rabbit. Or idiots feuding over nothing, bound and determined to never see the other side.

Or, scritching a kitty under the chin. Having a sense of humor, and of charity. Winking without cynicism.

Then again, what choice do we have? When all's said and done, we never left the void. Not really. We ARE the shadows in Plato's cave, while the mystery dances outside. Is this mystery good? Is it bad? Nah, those are just the grunts of hominoids, the scent of a skunk, the chirping of crickets, the pop of hydrogen in a test tube when you light it, a flare of the sun, atoms wrestling, quarks coalescing, strings vibrating. The universe flexing its muscles while we dance to the tune of a savagery beyond comprehension. And everything absolutely inevitable.

Hm, had no idea what I was going to write there, but I DID sort of bring it back around, I think. Best wishes to all of you on this 4th of July (my mom's birthday, btw. Better give her a call!)