Honest to goodness! I keep promising to keep up with this blog and well . . . I don't. Don't get me wrong, I love this blog. It's my voice to the outside. In many ways, it's my real voice. It's that guy beyond the humor and the (alleged) witty (or is that witless) status updates on Facebook and Twitter. It's the guy who's up for a fight to defend what he thinks is important and criticize what he thinks isn't.
On Facebook it's a funny old thing - you want the people who follow, or rather friend, you to like you. Perhaps more accurately you want them to like the product that is you. Let's be honest - I don't really have 1225 friends - I have 1225 "friends". I like them, hopefully they like me, but I don't know them, and they don't know me. I have long been contemplating setting up a "Like" page and asking people to gravitate in that direction so that I can somewhat reclaim my Facebook page as my personal space, but I worry that such a request will smack of ego. The truth is that there isn't much that's personal about my current page. The people I talk to on a daily or weekly or monthly basis - you know, the friends I actually know - don't post on my wall or comment because they'll wind up with 50 emails (to be fair 49 of them are mine)! Again, don't take this the wrong way - I love that people out there care enough about me without having met me to want to take a personal interest in my life, but it is a surreal thing to have folks posting on my wall and then chatting amongst themselves as though it's a public page. Of course, I did bring this on myself - I did open myself up, and many people frankly don't know that this is a personal page. The tricky bit is that I do want to share personal elements on my page with friends and family, but I don't want to open up any more to folks I don't really know - you know? :)
This blog lets me say what I really think about the world without a flame war ensuing, because somehow commenting on this seems to take more time and the format somehow asks for an opinion rather than a snippy remark quickly jotted down. A blog is something to seek out and not just an item in a never ending news-feed to "Like" or ignore. As a result, I have been yearning to use my voice more (my inside voice rather than my literal one). I do post the occasional link to things I believe in or can't believe. I suppose I do this because I think people should see what's outside their window and also because I like healthy debate. Of course, there isn't really much that's healthy about debate on Facebook is there? I honestly couldn't tell you why. Perhaps because it seems so quick. As we scroll down the news-feed, it all flies by and maybe we forget the verbal middle finger we just extended as quickly as we forget it in the car from which we flip birds of varying degrees.
I'm a feisty, scrappy little guy, and I like to tell it how I think it is. Frankly I think it's been driving me crazy to suppress my opinions for the sake of being palatable to all. I certainly don't think I am the alpha and the omega of opinions, and am fully aware that mine is no more valid than those on either side of me (unless they're wrong). Yet sometimes I need to stand on that soapbox and point out what I think is hypocrisy, yadda yadda yadda . . .
So all this drivel brings me to The Show on richardiancox.com - that brilliant sophomoric podcast brought to you semi-weekly, monthly, or is that annually by the brain trust that is myself and Sharon Alexander. I feel that The Show should have a little more spice in the veins of Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, and Kermit the Frog. I don't always want to play nice. I mean I am nice, but I want to stir things up a bit. Besides, good comedy so rarely comes from "nice" don't you think? I don't want to alienate anyone, and I hope that everyone comes along for the ride, even if just to risk opening your eyes to another world without actually going over.
I don't know when or if these changes will take place, just taking that first step of putting it out there. I think that generally the loudest among us get the most attention. I don't want to be loud, but sometimes I want to push back at those who are getting too loud. There seems to be more and more hate out there these days. It's on our news channels, on our social networks, it's out of the mouths of the ignorant. I would like to do more to point out that ugliness and invite people to hold a mirror to it. Maybe The Show can be my little way to disarm this nastiness by making fun of it. If you feel like it, have a listen and laugh along.
