It has been a while since I have written a general interest piece and my

reasons for not doing so are as follows.

I have been distracted by the ‘Octo-Mom's new body. She's only had eight kids? Damn!

I don't know what I hate worse now...reality, or reality TV

shows. They're everywhere. They have blurred the line between

crap and reality, and I don't know if you have noticed outside

your window lately but the reality part has gone to crap. It helps when

I am having problems writing Here is how I approach article writing. I

usually sit and stare at the monitor until I remember one of the many

things I have thought about earlier during the day. I usually have a

hard time remembering what those ideas and thoughts were, which

can make the act of writing all that more difficult for me. But I

usually remember one or two kernels of ideas and that for me

is usually enough to get started.

However, lately I haven't made the effort. I figured why

bother? I'd just be one more voice in a chorus of millions.

Everybody has something to say and thanks to all the gadgetry

that we surround ourselves in everyone has their chance at

their fifteen minutes of stupidity and to go ahead and say

what‘s on their minds. So why add my voice to the already millions?

Here's why. Because most of what I am reading and a great deal

of what I see and hear everyday is utter crap! I know for a

fact that the world was pretty screwed up long before the

internet and hyperlinks made their debut. I was around. I

heard. I saw. I was told about it by my peers. But I wasn't

drowning in that information either. I wasn't repeatedly and

continually bombarded with the news of what was happening at

any given moment anywhere on the planet.

Do we really need to know all the details of everything that

happens everywhere? Can we really digest all of that

information and process it and be expected to know what it all

means? I find it odd. This whole process of "eating

Information". This addiction that plainly so many people have

with needing more information. Most of it brought to you by

the information highway. Too much of anything is always a bad

thing. No matter how good the good thing appeared to be. This

new age of communication that we are in has a lot to offer

humanity. Unfortunately for us all the price is very high.

News travels at the speed of light now. From a cell phone in

the Australian desert I can write an article about spiders

and then upload the article with a few pictures to go along

with it and in about two minutes the story is available to

anyone on the planet with an internet connection. Or a cell

phone. In a half hour the story can be picked up by a news

channel and aired on television. I am connected. I am

connected to you. You are connected to me.

The problem with all this information and ‘connectedness' is

that hate and bigotry and crime and the worst human behaviour

imaginable also travel at the speed of light. Porn sites make

up about 15% of all websites on the internet and some would

argue porn is freedom of expression. Yet there are sites (in the

thousands) devoted to child pornography. There are sites

dedicated to killing, torture and human slavery to name a few.

Terrorist cells are set up and maintained via the internet.

Thanks to that ‘connectedness' your enemies and their views

are only as far away as your laptop or home computer. There

is a very dark side to the web. There are consequences that

aren't in my view being talked about enough. Don't get me

wrong. I love being connected just as much as the next person.

However, I still see the effects of those consequences I

mentioned being played out in the world daily. Most people

when online automatically discount most of what they see and

read as the garbage that it is. Others don't. Others eat up

this information true or not. The rapid fire barrage of daily

news from all directions has rendered millions of people

unable to tell the truth from fiction.

Thanks to the rapid fire delivery of info we also live in the

"conspiracy era". You see there is no tool or ‘structure'

that you can rely on to verify if what you are reading is

actually true or not. Most of the time if the news isn't

already widely known or accepted you will have to make that

judgement yourself. This has allowed distrust for everything

to manifest itself into conspiracy theories about everything.

This happens because so often people read something in the

news and believe it. When they quickly find out that what they

thought was real (see Balloon Boy) was phoney they lose a

little faith. When they see this happen everyday they begin to

trust no one and see lies where lies may not even exist. The

line between truth and lies is completely blurred. Theories

abound from who is responsible for 9/11 right up to the latest

ones about earth quake machines and I would be an idiot if I

didn't mention my favourite one of all, 2012.

I will close by saying that there are inherent problems with

the world wide web. Because there are inherent problems in

each one of us. The internet is an outlet for the worst that

is in all of humanity. It is now being exposed in it's most

base form for all to see. When I was growing up I knew the

world was a screwed up place. I didn't need the internet to

show me. I didn't need the internet to remind me. I already

knew and that seemed to be enough. Today I struggle against

cynicism and abject despair because it would seem that the

world is feeding on itself. We seem to be living in a 'dying'

age. The herd appears to be over-bloated and sick. Like the

old and diseased animals in a heard that was allowed to get

too big we are now all starting to show the signs of a the

same sickness. According to everything I have read this

morning in the news and in various articles and blogs, things

aren't getting any better either. At least that's the way it

seems....it could all be lies. Ah well....see you in my dreams

Octo-Mom. I'm sorry if that was way too much information.

By Brian Ringland 2010 http://www.the-over-rated-truth.blogspot.com