The Nature of Things

We were without internet service for almost two days, which just brought home how much we depend on the internet as our connection to the world. It's where we get most of our news and it's how we interact with friends and family on a daily basis. And, of course, most importantly, it's how we blog! Finally, we are able to get online again, and it is a relief to see that the world hasn't ended while we weren't looking. Our radio silence is over. Until the next break in the cables.

I love the Internet. I especially love Google. How did I ever survive without it? But I guess I am revealing something about my age and my mindset when I say that I will never get used to the hatred, vitriol, and, in fact, the filth that spews out on the world through the Internet "tubes" every day. And it is all anonymous, of course. That makes it worse somehow. All that passion is so...impersonal. A couple of the websites that I frequent on a daily basis are prime offenders in this regard. Anyone who expresses a contrarian opinion from the accepted orthodoxy is likely to get screamed at in CAPITAL LETTERS AND MANY EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!! There may even be wishes for the death of the contrarian. This is something that bothers me all the time, but what really brought it to the front of my mind recently was the news last week that Rush Limbaugh had been admitted to the hospital with a possible heart attack. When I read some of the comments on the news story, I was a...