free-speech

I'm going to tell you a wonderful, wonderful story that happened to me one time: I was perusing the works of the late, great George Carlin, one of my biggest heroes growing up. This was back in the day when you had to catch the special on HBO or else rent the video from Blockbuster (only a five-minute ride from my house on dinosaur-back). And I caught the one time in his stage act where he ripped into parents and children. Thanks to the miracle of modern YouTube, the clip is available here: As I watched that routine, as I listened to a man I'd laughed at and loved for most of my life, a funny thing happened: I began to become offended! I don't know why, maybe my guard was down, but this time I caught myself saying "Oh, no, George, that's going too far!" I mean, children! We were all children once. And as a dad of four, I'm pretty damn satisfied with myself for being the parent I've been. That little flash of irritation passed, and then I laughed out loud at myself. A wonderful thing…

It is time we faced the music, Internet fans: We broke everything. Social Media was a mistake. None of us are close to understanding how or why, but apparently we have created a monster. Social media seemed harmless enough when it came along. Social media was nothing but an extension of the exact same Internet we'd had for decades. Believe it or not, there is very little difference between modern Reddit and Usenet circa 1990. There's also very little difference between modern Twitter and an AOL chat room decades ago. Even before the now long-forgotten shared virtual network Second Life (bet you forgot that one!) wasn't that different from a MUD (multi-user dimension) towards the end of the 20th century, only with better graphics. So WHY has social media been at the forefront of what we can only assume will be the human race's downfall? What is so dangerous about the idea of letting everyone communicate all over the world instantly? Apparently, social and anthropological science has been…

Let Comedians Say What They Want - That's Their Job!

It Is Indeed Time To Police Social Media