A bunch of unrelated stuff

First, let me repeat again my admiration for Rachel Maddow's show on MSNBC. I love it that she can have Zbigniew Brzezinski on and be his intellectual equal. Zbigniew Brzezinski is no lightweight. She is charming and gracious to all her guests, whether they agree with her or not. Such a nice contrast to the shouters and asshats on other programs.
Did I mention that she is smart?

In other news: comics and the people who comment on comics.
There are a few comic strips I follow because I need a laugh once in a while, or a thoughtful comment even.
GoComics.com is one of those places where people who read the comics can comment on what they read. On the one hand, this boggles my mind. People are so hungry to make a mark in the world they have to comment on the day's comics? This is especially pitiful when you see that people are commenting on decades-old reprints (is that the correct term when we are speaking of the internet?) of Calvin. On the other hand, I find myself actually looking, however briefly, at the comments on one particular strip.
I read a comic called Pibgorn, http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn, about a fairy, the winged kind, and an eight hundred year old succubus and an ex-Episcopalian organist. It's not your usual comic strip concept.
There is a coterie of rabid fans who constantly comment on the drawings, the convoluted plots, and the hotness of the succubus (and she is indeed, smoking.) Every day they are there. And creating a community of sorts around this comic strip. And I ask—WTF is wrong with these people, don't they have a life? I mean, comparing insights in a comic strip?
This is not the only place this happens. Indeed, you almost cannot go anywhere where your opinion is not solicited for whatever your internet site is showing. What do you think of this ad, this video, this song, etc.
Please tell me this is not "Democracy in action."

The hell of all this is, that in the case of Pibgorn, at least, I find myself actually reading the comments! God help me, I am being sucked into this mess. This mess where your opinion ostensibly matters to someone else than yourself. To some other asshat on the other side of an electronic divide.

I eschew most of this supposedly interactive computer relationship, though I do belong to a Macintosh computer forum. But of course, Mac computers (and iPods and iPhones) are IMPORTANT, they are not like comic strips or news items or whatever.

Do you ever find yourself annoyed or delighted by something said by someone you never met or expect to meet, who has been contributing to the forum you belong to; do you find yourself responding to their posts as if they were a relative or friend in the room with you? If so, you're screwed. You need a life with real people in it. Turn off the computer and go look, already.

I had more, but I'm getting tired. It's hell getting older, you just can't bring up (pardon the expression) the same level of distaste and condemnation you could as a younger person. And if you can, you find you don't have enough energy to really care.

The world is going to hell and has always been going to hell, it's just that we don't see it because we are too busy trying to make money or make people do what we want or trying to get laid.

Are you ready to commit suicide yet?
Have a good night's sleep. You'll feel better in the morning.

I do what I can to make the world a better place.