I believe that much of writer’s block is simply that a writer has nothing to say.  They can tell you their opinion but when they have to see it in writing they realize how stupid they sound.  Hence — writer’s block.

A problem with social media deals with the above stated point.  By putting up a picture of a dog, cat or cartton character the writer can post really insipid material from behind a curtain.

I have learned to be tolerant.  I know and like two guys who have different political beliefs.  The one preaches love and tolerance by posting hateful and untrue statements.  The other uses only material that supports his personal opinion.  My tolerance is to either see the picture and move on or read the headline and confirm the bias.

The second problem deals with the unsocialness of the social media.  I never have meaningful conversations.  I see remarks like, “beautiful”  “Cool”  “Neat” both reflecting the age and the lack of conversation.

I decided to not respond unless I could use a full two lines.  I morphed into being sarcastic, playful and nibbling, trying to stay in the bounds of PC.  It worked — for a while.  One person caught on and responded with sentences and interchange.

These are problems as I view them.  A short one word response may keep another going.

Originality becomes the third problem.  I mainly see reposts of something from the web or someone else’s post.  Nothing original.

This leads to my fourth problem.  If you want to be original you need more than an original idea YOU NEED COMPUTER SAVVY.

That segues into the fifth problem.  Like minds swim in the same ponds.  No room for thoughtful objections.  For example in my area FB is graffiti for old people.

There are several types of posters as I classify them

The KNOWITALLS — there is not a subject they do not have an opinion on but the RIGHT opinion as well.  They have a continuum from supreme know it all to “you  entered my field of expertise”  Most are shunned, avoided or murdered.

There are the HATERS.  These people spew hate, anger and end of the world stuff.  They can be political, even religious.  They are fun because I make bets with friends that I can get them to say or post certain things.  These people HATE themselves back to the States.

There are the CONTRAS.  A bit different than HATERS.  These posters disagree with every comment.  Sometimes they disagree in the same discussion.  These people die because they refuse to seek medical help.

The LOVERS, sometimes I refer to them as POLLYANNAS.  Everything is wonderful.  The people here are so nice, this is better that is better and what sucks is just different and you better stop being a person of dissent.  These people get robbed a lot and die in accidents.

Then there are the WATCHERS of which I am one.  We tend to monitor the social media waves looking for remote signs of intelligence.  I use to try to make contact but found that betting on when they become insipid a bit more profitable.  They live long miserable lives.  They usually have a dog.

The most common are the DOERS.  They have made their life an adventure that must be shared with everyone.  Here is me on the North Pole, now the South Pole, here I am eating Italian food guess where, Oh yes on our 6 week stay in Italy where we also filled in that small bit of world knowledge we were missing.  Now we can move up to the KNOWITALL group.  A variation of this group is the I FOUND THE ANSWER group.  This group latches on to some native religion, herb or drink and then meditates, stretches, wakes up with sun, hikes the mountains in close proximity to true knowledge not about God but the actual meaning of life.  If they do not get injured or murdered they usually die happy in their belief.

Well there you have it.  Five problems, with examples, of social media.

If I get bored I will rewrite this in a style or voice of one of the characters.  Strictly to improve my writing craft.

I woke up the day after I posted this and realized the biggest problem with social media.  When you engage in social media you STOP THINKING.  The internal dialog you have with yourself has a replacement with another voice — and you answer the other voice.  If you get enough other voices your opinion or thought tends to take the form of the voices.  Think about that.

I belonged to a writing group that posted a 30 day challenge.  I say belonged to because I am gearing up for NANOWRIMO in November.  I intend to venture into new territory.  But I love to write.  So I will do the 30 day chalenge as well.

My advantage is I am retired and single and have resisted the urge to work or volunteer here in Cuenca, Ecuador.

I will title the in caps and if you would like to use the prompt for yourself please do.

This story stems from a union meeting in 1978. As a paramedic in a Florida county we had just received our Teamster credentials. Our first meeting changed the way I view a reaction to information.
The paramedics had power. Their voices would now be heard. The power of a voice came through the beer they drank. They sang, the chanted, they argued, they yelled. I stood with a soft drink like a fish out of water and asked the newly elected vice president what we were protesting and clamoring about.
I will never forget the look on his face and the looks on those around him. They were stymied. They had no issue. They only had perceived power. That is, until someone screamed “more money.” A smile came across their faces as they began chanting “more money, more money” As it eventually ended we had no money issues but we had some back pay issues that were handled under a different union that we changed to.
This leads to my close friend. She leans heavily to the left and says things that cearly spell doom to the future of America. I lean to the right for a litany of reasons. The biggest reason is logic, not emotion, prevails. Actually, that is not true as insanity prevails but logic, not emotion is the starting point.
A slight digression is necessary here. I believe there is only one part that serves the same goal that promotes money and power. I cannot understand the millions spent to get a job that pays 170,000 plus benefits. Unless, of course, it pays more that we don’t readily see.
I mentioned to my friend an article I saved about the destruction of education to the American male. I simply stated that this article I laminated because I saw what it portrayed. I learned to let other people talk so I could learn. I believe I do not know enough until I have something to base an opinion on. The sad part is I had so few opinions on anything partly because I never could get accurate information. i seemed to be hearing my information in sound bites, from Hollywood and a dishonorable media.
Then I watched the Academy Awards and heard a speech about equal pay. Since I have time in my retirement, I decided to see if this statement she made held merit. I found that the equal pay for women and men in Hollywood stemmed from a well known actor receiving more money in a leading role than his female counterpart. Seemed like the request be that experience, box office draw and past record was trumped by a need for equality. Part of the insanity in the U.S.
During my research I found a government statistic that women in their twenties earn more than their male counterparts.
I shared this with my liberal friend who demanded proof of that statement. When I offered her the proof she said, “They can make statistics say anything” I honestly took a step back. I listened to her dislike of a female conservative pundit who specializes in “cut to the bone” attacks on liberal double standards. Until that moment, I always felt her tactics a bit too heavy handed. But I no longer feel that way. She exposed the double standard and brought out the smiling hate from my friend.
She will always be my friend. I will still listen to her opinions, but I will also get closer to understanding the crazy thinking that sits in the middle of liberal thought.

These are the rough questions that will ultimately bring about more questions.  Facts will be checked and “no spin” is allowed.

1.  Why is the highest gun violence come from the areas with the strictest gun control laws?
2. Why do they have gun free zone rallies guarded by security with gun?
3. Why is it that a person of faith can believe in something that another finds ridiculous, while the person who chastises has a belief in nothing? (my question really needs a statement to clarify.  I know where an Islamic fanatic stands on most issues but I do not have that solid feeling in dealing with a person of no belief)
4. Why do big companies like GE not pay taxes?
5. Why is the former CEO of GE the head of a federal program for US job creation?
6. What ever happened to the two counties in Florida, one with 147% voter turn out, the other with a hundred percent vote for one candidate?
7. Why did Clinton get impeached twice?
8. What ever happened to the women who filed sexual complaints against Clinton?
9. If 911 was a government run event how come the next administration did not reveal it?

more to come.

A reader reacted to one of my dialogues.  The dialogue went as follows:

The young child, around age seven, threw the paper on the floor.  A woman sitting near by nicely asked the young boy to pick the paper up and place it in the nearby garbage can.  The child screamed.

At first I thought the child had stepped on something.  The child ran to the mother who had already begun to challenge the woman’s right to educate her son.  I watched in silent amazement as the dissolution of a culture put on a live performance.  The offending lady begged forgiveness but the mother and child would not let it go.  The eventually packed up their toys,placed them in a vote for Hillary  tote bag, and left muttering at the nerve of the woman.

The woman looked at me and said, “You did not seem phased by this transaction?”

“No, I come from a very liberal city where this is common.” ******

I left FaceBook, I write for myself, I even left the U.S.  I decided that the world was no longer a place where my input made a difference.  However I thought the woman’s interjection to the boy’s behavior appropriate.  The world is now in the hands of the young.  I can only hope that the mindset of these future leaders does not lean in that direction.

So I brought this incident up with people I knew.  Most people stated they would have followed the lead of the  correcting woman and encouraged the child to throw the paper away.  Some even stated the rewarding good behavior as a psychological principle.  I thought  that positive.

Then I saw these same people violate the psychological principle they just espoused.  They agreed that opening trade relations with Cuba, a failed policy, to be a positive event for the people of Cuba.  A friend of mine pointed out that the Cuban government has killed, tortured and abused their people for 50 years and he saw this  trade agreement as rewarding bad behavior(which I silently agreed).  Well you would have thought he told one of these people’s children to pick up their trash.