The Warpfish Chronicles

"28 years on the planet, and I still haven't figured out what's going on."

Bloggers, bloggers, everywhere -- March 9th, 2002

It's hard to miss the proliferation of weblogging (or blogs) on the Internet these days. I think it's a good thing -- it's a sign of how the Internet can act as a tool of empowerment, spreading ideas and thoughts and feelings, which is what liberty is about, even if we don't agree with those ideas, and thoughts and feelings. (And there are plenty of websites that were so filled with hate that I wished that I could compromise my principles and blast those sites from the universe. Of course, if I did that, I would be just as bad as them.)

I do find it kind of funny as well, since people who remember the BBS scene recognize this in terms of the posts and messages of the day that sysadmins would post. But, since it's on the web, it's a new trend, as opposed to a new facet of something as old as time. We all want to be noticed, to be more than a flicker of a candle in the eternal night. These messages, insubstantial, gives us this presence, this idea that we are not alone. And, with the global nature of the Internet, we can reach an audience far wider than ever before.

Thus, we see another aspect of the web -- the power to bring people together who would have never met in another era. We broaden our horizons, and this gives us hope that the future can be different than the past, for, while we may make war on strangers, we very rarely make war on friends.

That being all said, the weblog is a nice concept of data management. But, I'll stick with reasonably discrete essays. I ramble very easily, and these Chronicles help focus that to something a little more productive.

As for what people talk about in weblogs -- love, hate, honour, dedication, courage, fear. And many more things. A picture of humanity. Sometimes very pretty, sometimes very ugly.

I hope we all get to see it someday.

Jerry's Home Page