March 31, 2005

ante-blogospheric reminiscences

Lastango says:

Remember BB – those decades Before the Blogosphere when you were the only one who knew anything?

Man, it was lonely. I walked around loaded with a mix of good info and useless facts, finger on the trigger in case anyone raised one of my topics. Chances to open fire were rare and folks already barraged wouldn’t risk another salvo.

Not only was society safer once we obsessive types could find each other on the web, but some of us got a surprise: we didn’t actually know much. There was more going on in the world than we had heard about. Issues had more sides and background than we’d seen. Other people had had experiences, read sources, been places we hadn’t. Some even - gasp! - knew more than we did. Umph...

Boy do I remember. I was a neo-con and a supply-sider for decades, with nobody to talk to. Finger on the trigger--yeah, but I was not about to chase off my few friends by upsetting anybody. Maybe just a comment now and then. I still feel a certain pride remembering a pal who said, "I thought you were crazy when you suggested I vote for Ronald Reagan. But you were right."

Good info and useless facts. Useless, that is, until you have children. Mine are great question-askers. It's weird, really. I've never done that. They seem like brainless lumps for days at a time and then they get into these question-asking jags and will hit me with one tough question after another for a half-hour or more. I have to dredge up my useless facts as if my life depended on it. Exhausting. Mostly it's my boys who do it; my daughter is a bookworm like me, and finds her own facts.

But the weblog was made to order for me. I've been doing it since November of 2001, and I still manage to find a few things to say. Actually I was preparing for years, holding debates in my head with imaginary opponents, or thinking of the crushing things i would have said if had thought of them in time...

Posted by John Weidner at March 31, 2005 8:02 PM
Weblog by John Weidner