First Blog Entry 2007

I have wondered what to blog about. Glenn Greenwald has the wiretap and other US constitutional issues, Amanda Marcotte has feminism, the guys over at Sadly No! have sarcasm, Prof PZ has his squid and the creationists, Riverbend has her collapsing country and the great war of error to blog about, Phil Plait has the universe itself as his blogging subject. So what will be MY issue?

My own life, is relatively speaking, quite dull. Very happy, but dull. Sure I have my hobbies, but they are of little interest to others and oddly enough I do not seem to require the applause of others. I practise my hobbies because I enjoy them, not because I want to be praised for them. I am also a markedly solitary individual. So my life would not make a thrilling reading.

Even my romantic interests would not make for worthwhile reading. I am 25 year old man who has managed not to have had sex in what it supposed to be only the most sexual free-wheeling age of all time (if you listen to the sniffs of the un-approving moralists at least) despite not having any special desire to remain a virgin. Quite the reverse in fact as I have always considered myself something of a hedonist.

Indeed, the only romance in my life occurs when my faulty faculties mislead me into thinking that perhaps person X would be interested in progressing beyond the current level. Infallibly my imagination has been mocking me. In fact, in December I did make such an inappropriate advance, acting upon the promptings of my malevolent imagination. It was awkward, for all involved, and as yet it is uncertain what the fallout will be. Akward, yes. Interesting; not very.

I would also have ethical concerns regarding privacy about blogging about my life and romance. Romances (and other social events) involve two or more people so how can I expose the doings of others without overstepping the boundaries of ethics. Perhaps tomorrow I will blog about the ethics of relationships and intersex/male/female interactions. Watch this space tomorrow to see if I decide to open that can of worms.

Perhaps then I could write about my culture? The ethos and pathos of being an Afrikaner? However I am now, and have always, been a cultural outsider. So my views about it would merely be another ill-informed rant clogging the internet.

Perhaps I could write about my Atheism? A contentious subject indeed, as many people would be shocked to know that I am an atheist. Why they would be shocked is difficult for me to fathom. After all many people are atheistic about Zeus or the FSM, I merely extend my atheism to cover to include the one they make exception for.

Perhaps I could write about rationality? The pronounced lack of reason in world and personal affairs is what leads to -in my own not very humble opinion- the majority of suffering in the world. Witness the Iraq front of the Great War of Error (GWE), a war held for a purpose that remains obscure to this day, taking a country that was functioning and turning it into one that is almost as broken as Zimbabwe. However I feel ill-equipped to deal with such a topic. It seems unlikely that the world will ever give up believing in invisible friends in the sky and I do not have the skills or the desire to meddle with the minds of others. I am not the prophet of Reason.

Perhaps I could write about South Africa? I do after live in the country and will most likely share in its ultimate fate. Again, I feel as if I can not make it work. The arguments I would use are too similar to those used by the fascist theocrats of the “American” right wing. They have misused the arguments and viewpoints with such reckless abandon that merely using similar arguments would -in my own eyes at least- taint me with a patina of corruption. Gilt by association one could say. The important difference, that of context would be lost in the world of the wired. What is true here, is not true there.

The solution then is for me not to have a chosen blog topic, but rather to move from one to another as the mood strikes. So lets see how that works out.

Tally
100kg +/-
M = 2