Do You Feel Lucky?

(and feel free to comment! My older posts are certainly no less relevant to the burning concerns of the day.)

Friday, December 11, 2009

Plenty of Drawbacks To Me: Trying to Present a Balanced Picture, Here

To read most of what's on here, people might be like: this dude's a dream come true. YOU DAMN RIGHT. But yet, I feel that's not entirely the whole picture. I ought to fill in the shadows behind the highlights, too. There's plenty of drawbacks to me.

First, I'm almost forty years old. Second, I'm almost fifty if you want to look at it a little more long-view! Put it this way: I'm a lot closer to sixty than to being born. In short, I'm old as dirt.

Older, in fact. Most dirt isn't as old as people like to think. Dirt isn't a static compound - there isn't a "dirt molecule" that can be isolated and carbon dated. No, dirt is a real mix of things, and much of what makes up dirt is constantly being renewed and made new - primarily by worms, but also by such things as lichens, and by people and animals dying into it. It's all part of the Cycle Of Dirt revered and celebrated by many cultures who are perhaps a little closer to the earth, than we supposedly enlightened types have grown.

That's another drawback - see how I constantly fall into lecture mode, where hard science is concerned? As if you didn't already know all that. As if you needed me to tell you that the composition of dirt is largely heterogeneous. A dirt-eating toddler has that pretty well sussed out. But there I go anyway, laying down the hard facts all brass tacks and explicit. It's insulting, not just to your intelligence but also to my own tact! But I can't help it - I love talking about dirt.

That could be another drawback. Potentially. I guess it depends. Do you like dirt?

But it's more than just dirt. I can't help it in general. I refuse to sit back and let Big Science dictate to us its consistent and partially fictitious worldview that it wants us all to swallow whole, meanwhile I'm sitting right here with all these hot, obvious facts and conjectures constantly springing to my fingertips! Damn right I need to share that. It's a duty that I uphold. Stick around as I explain it all! Hot from the top of my head.

See though, but the big thing is, I see all that as a plus on my side. Others may disagree, but we should remain skeptical as to the value of their opinions, unless and until they demonstrate that they can take me in an argument.

That's another one that cuts both ways, depending on which side of the facts you're on. Because, I try to never get into an argument, but that's mostly over concerns of fairness, because I'm too awesome at it. That's why I try to remain neutral and argue on behalf of the facts. Because if I have to take a side, and you're on the other side, well. Things don't look good for you, is all I can say. About the only hope you have is if you can get me to switch sides. Which can and does happen! As with dirt or with anything else, it all comes down to the facts.

So, that's a little more balance to the picture for you. Don't worry, I still rule.

No comments: