If I may be so bold #1

BryanThompson's picture

I have lived in Peachtree City since 1984. And now, for your amusement and consternation, I intend to add my viewpoint on subjects of discussion here in the blogosphere. In doing so I recognize that I am not the PUBLISHER and the PUBLISHER has the final say on what gets out to the public through their site.

If you will allow, I wish to state my personal take on this medium of "blogging" as a starting point.

Blogging is one of the new areas where people get to learn how to "act like a grown up". Like many, I went through that "adolescent" phase hiding behind the barrier of anonymity. That was long ago, after the creation of Arpanet, but before the Internet. (I have never written here before.)

If you are going to express an opinion, in my opinion, you should be as willing to identify yourself as you would be writing a column or a letter to the editor. Thus I use my real name here. I fear nothing, just as if I were a professional journallist.

Adults find ideas interesting, and discourse about ideas and ideology to be worthy of attention. What is not interesting to many is the name calling and personal insults which seem to be all to prevalent in blogs. Although heated commentary and give and take can be amusing, they can also be tiring. I hope to offer observations about the underlying topic that you will find interesting.

Many ideas and ideologies have a direct impact on one's life. For example, we might consider differences of idologies on development, a popular topic of late. Sadly, it is often the trivial items that capture our attention. The primary focus I shall aim for is those things that affect our lives.

My musings will be more analytical than passionate; and my rebuttals based more on the concept behind the statement than the statement itself . Although I pretend no great literary skill such as the late Celestine Sibley and Lewis Grizzard displayed, perhaps you will find my comments passably interesting.

Finally I recognize that any advice I might offer is probably worth what I am paid for offering it.

....and if you go look at my picture, no I'm not HIM. Although summer in the arctic is kind of boring and there is a long off season in my profession....

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Shame On You Santa
Git Real's picture
Submitted by Git Real on Sat, 04/07/2007 - 9:34am.

I can't believe that you would use a phony name like Bryan Thompson. My girls took one look at you and said that's Santa. They're firm in their decision that they know Santa and they claim you're no Mr. Thompson. Please don't hold it against them come Christmas Eve. You know how honest kids are.

Well Santa... Welcome to the board. You've got a lot of fans around here. I still remember the space man with jet pack that you got me when I was 7 and the Rat Patrol model kit that I got when I was 6. But I have to ask. How good do I have to be to get a Harley?


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Real Names
Submitted by dollaradayandfound on Sat, 04/07/2007 - 8:23am.

Might be interesting to freely converse with names that you knew were real people who lived next door.
In my opinion, however, The Citizen may as well shut this site down if that were required.
It has to do with the same reason we vote with a secret ballot. Presure can be brought to bear in so many ways it is almost unbelievable. For instance, if you wanted a bank loan and also wanted to criticize in a comment the same bank for some of their practices, what do you think?
The mayor is your neighbor and your son works for him, but you think he has voted wrong on a subject. Would you tell him so on a blog?
There is no end to these problems.
It is agreed that some take advantage of being hidden and say totally unnecessary things.
The world isn't perfect.

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Dollar, it's not a secret ballot
Submitted by swmbo on Sat, 04/07/2007 - 2:14pm.

Dollar, I confess that I do not have all the details but I have been told that there is a way to determine how a person voted. In the primary, you can determine how a person voted by what ticket they pulled (Rep, Dem or General). But, someone who is very familiar with election laws and campaign strategy said that there is a way to tell how a person voted in the "privacy" of the booth in a general election. Maybe someone on the blogs knows more detail.

-------------------------------
If you and I are always in agreement, one of us is likely armed and dangerous.

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Good Point
Submitted by thebeaver on Sat, 04/07/2007 - 10:15am.

Yet the libs want to remove the secret ballot from union elections.
This will cause people to vote in ways they normally wouldn't because of pressure from union supporters.

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$'s Saturday Morning Blog
Enigma's picture
Submitted by Enigma on Sat, 04/07/2007 - 9:29am.

Keep your meds right where they were when you wrote this last blog.

By far and away, it is the smartest and most coherent blog you have written!

Kudos!


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So It Wasn't Only Me?
Git Real's picture
Submitted by Git Real on Sat, 04/07/2007 - 9:37am.

I do say... that was quite impressive Dollar.


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Remember...
Tug13's picture
Submitted by Tug13 on Sat, 04/07/2007 - 3:51pm.

I said dollar is smarter than we think. Smiling


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$
hutch866's picture
Submitted by hutch866 on Sat, 04/07/2007 - 9:04pm.

and look how he repaid you, insulted you and your kids.

I yam what I yam...Popeye


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Remaining anonymous
mapleleaf's picture
Submitted by mapleleaf on Sat, 04/07/2007 - 8:19am.

Some of us prefer not to reveal our name so we may keep the focus on the message, not on the messenger. It also protects us from vile personal attacks, which we can shrug off more readily.


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Understandable but I must disagree
Submitted by swmbo on Sat, 04/07/2007 - 7:13am.

Mr. Thompson,

While I understand your interest in bloggers posting their names, I must disagree. There was a time when discourse was polite . . . when people could disagree without being disagreable and people did not take it upon themselves to personally tear their opponent down. Regrettably, that is not the world in which we currently reside.

No, we live in the age of Jerry Springer, where people shred eachother for entertainment. It started with Morton Downey Jr., who eventually recognized that a person who attacks another person (as opposed to attacking another person's argument) succeeds only in diminishing himself. That is the reason that I do not respond to certain posters; I love a spirited debate but I will not participate in literary mud-slinging.

I have no doubt that some of the most strident posters here would go to the home of someone with whom they have disagreed to deliver their message in person. There was a poster who was spoofing people's logins and posting as if he was that poster. Would it have been better for him to have had those posters' actual names? What if he had offered to exchange child pornography under those posters' actual names?

Anonymity allows for honest and open discussion. Civility is the choice that each individual must make in the course of that discussion. That choice is the same no matter what name one uses.

-------------------------------
If you and I are always in agreement, one of us is likely armed and dangerous.

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