Normally, as patient readers know, on Sunday I do my grocery shopping before doing McD’s with my friends in the Ironwood parking lot.
But I won’t be doing that this week, partly because I am sick, but mostly because the world is sick.
It’s developed a terrible fever. I mean, it’s really burning up. And that means that where I live, Richmond, the air is not really fit to breathe out there.
Why it’s any better when you’re inside is beyond me. People do know that inside air and outside air are the same air, right? It’s not like we live in hermetically sealed isolation units. What’s outside comes inside and vice versa.
Oh well, I suppose people need to feel like there is something they can do to protect themselves. What else can the government say when it’s the motherfucking air we breathe that is the problem?
We’re all doomed? Head for the hills? Time to bash your neighbor over the head and steal their go bags and SUV?
Actually, I would love to head to a higher elevation. Particulate contaminants are heavier than air, and thus tend to settle in low lying areas over time.
So now might be a very good time to visit your friend who lives on the mountain. As opposed to being where I am, which is below sea level.
At least we have the sea breeze to keep the air moving.
As I mentioned yesterday, I am very worried. My thoughts are increasingly stark. Potential acts of eco-terrorism keep popping into my head.
And even eco-war. The stakes on climate change are getting higher and higher. Eventually we will stop asking bad actors to stop killing the planet and take matters into our own hands, even to the point of invasion.
And as things get worse and worse, the feeling of being called to fill the world with my voice grows stronger. I no longer feel like I have a choice. This calling will eventually overcome my enormous inertia and I will get into the thick of things somehow.
Yeah,. somehow. That’s the question now. How do I get my voice heard? Where is the most proper and effective point of entry? How does a nobody like me get enough people’s attention to get the ball rolling on making myself into a pundit?
I am sure there are places online that could give me some tips. But how do I know what tips are good?
Part of me – my id side – wants to just say fuck it, pick a point at random, and trust that the power of my voice and my words and my message will attract an audience regardless of where I start.
I feel like a diver on the edge of the high dive board. I’ve gone past the point of thinking I might climb down out of fear, and now I am trembling on the brink, waiting for the energy to be right.
Of course, I could just dive in. That’s what I will do eventually, after all.
But there’s some shit I have to go through first.
More after the break.
There are things far worse than silence
Looking at the above, it occurs to me that my biggest fear is that wherever I take this voice of mine, I will make my big entrance, clear my mighty throat, lay down some words of blood and fire laden with wisdom, insight, and the will to destroy evil words….and get absolutely no response.
And I mean nothing. Not even cricket chirps. Zero reaction whatsoever. Like so many times in my life, it will be like hadn’t even been there.
Opposition I can handle. Hell, I thrive on it.If I made a post on Reddit then went to bed, and in the morning I found my inbox jam packed with hate emails, I would be the happiest man on Earth. I would dance with joy.
That would be worth far more to me than a lot of tepid agreement. People saying “Gee, I guess you’re probably right. ” and “I’m glad someone finally said it” and “you know, I never looked at it that way before. ”
Thanks…. I mean that. But what are you going to DO about it? I’m not doing this to entertain you, I’m doing it to inflame and inspire you.
I want to build a network of hardheaded pragmatic liberals determined to fix the world by any means necessary.
Even bribing billionaires to stop fucking with democracy. These people are compulsive money hoarders. If we attach a big fat tax cut to our election finance reform bill, they will not be able to stop themselves from biting that hook.
Come to think of it. I could sell it to the billionaires as a way to stop people from hating them. We only hate billionaires because they fuck with our elections.
If they stopped doing that, and paid their taxes, nobody would care.
Anyhow, back to silence. I can’t guaranteed that I won’t get ignored the first time I post to my chosen subReddit. Or the tenth time. Or the hundredth time.
But I know that I am capable of analyzing the posts that do gets lots of replies and activity, and learning from them.
And I can also analyze my own posts and figure out what went wrong and apply those lessons to future posts.
So really, it’s just a matter of picking a place and going for it. And trusting in my ability to really, really piss people off to take care of the rest.
It’s about time I used that power for goodish.
The way I see it, it’s okay to be an asshole if all your assholery is directed at much bigger assholes than you could ever be.
People like that kind of asshole. Enough to, ya know, buy their merch. Pay to hear them talk. Maybe even work for the cause.
Who says you can’t get rich doing the right thing? At no point will I compromise my morals for money. This entire enterprise is a moral crusade on my part. I want to use my voice to destroy the hateful smallminded garbage passing for morality these days and get people back in touch with the pure, wholesome, uncompromised morality that not only leads to doing the right thing but purifies the soul as well.
I’m slightly ambitious.
So yeah. I can see this thing happening.
The only question is…..when?
I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.