The Warpfish Chronicles

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

On the Soapbox -- June 12th, 2003

But, it appears I couldn't avoid the temptation of climbing on the soapbox (and LiveJournal makes it so easy). A venue for me to offer my opinions, and people can take or leave them. And a chance for me to stand up and be seen among the anonymous masses.

Yes, this is most definitely sanctioned electronic voyeurism. And I participate in it fully. In the past, when people wanted to let their opinions be known, they would go down to their local park, climb on their soapbox and Use the power of their voice to reach people within earshot. With the web, I can climb on my metaphorical soapbox, and reach thousands -- if they want to listen to me.

Power, but power granted by people only if they want to read my journal entries or these essays. Power only granted if people decide I have something worthwhile to say.

And it's power that's granted and taken away millions of times across the entire Internet. People who normally would not have a voice, can stand up and shout -- and each individual can decide whether or not they want to listen.

That's revolutionary, and that's wonderful, and it's something we're all a part of, even if we're aware of it or not. We can build communities across governments, across, societies, across races.

We make the status quo look at itself and wonder if things need changing, and that's always, always a good thing.

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