Opine, repine, supine

When you think about buying a new car, don't they suddenly seem to be everywhere?  To me it seems to be the same with a blog idea, I have an idea for a blog and then mysteriously I see the idea in many places.  This latest idea centred around our right to express an opinion, our right to not like that opinion and to express that discontent and the need to overcome indolence and to raise a challenging opinion.

I read today on the comments field of the "Jack of Kent" blog that, like law, journalism is now not a profession it is a business. I understand this view and have much sympathy with it but I do believe that there are a set of governing principles and an expected behaviour that define any practice or profession. Perhaps the comment was more a wry statement of the extant philosophy adopted in the media rather than a de facto opinion.  

Previously I have commented on my concern over society's ability to learn how to play with it's new toys.  Johann Hari and the Independent for me are just the tip of the iceberg with journalism's failure.  Note I said "journalisms" failure, I believe JH has made mistakes from which he can learn and for which he can atone, but the failure lies in the system.  In general the news media don't seem to be leading and innovating with these radically different communication channels but perhaps that is the point.  For a while at least, blogs, podcasts, twitter etc are the antidote to institutionalised news.  Eventually though the lack of professionalism, the abundance of unsubstantiated opinion and the paucity of evidential facts will drive the users of these new tools to regulate themselves or at least find some way to evaluate the credibility of a blogger/twitter. 

These new tools do appear to give unprecedented access to the champions.  @daraobriain has just shy of 1/2 a million followers on twitter. Last Sunday at midnight, I responded to a comment by @billbailey where he expressed his opinion that The Apprentice was "a vortex of drivel" (a comment that has now been deleted from his twitter stream).  My comment was based on several opinions that I have formed independently of, but seemed at least vaguely consistent with, Bill. (1) Dara is a good guy, (2) Dara is a funny guy, (3) the apprentice is a lack lustre entertainment show that has taken a moderately interesting idea and bastardised it into something quite disgusting. These are based on (for 1) I feel that the "true" Dara is glimpsed on many of his shows but to me a splendid part of his nature was captured in one scene in Three men in a boat. There was a sequence where he was admiring a cottage, not far from me, with unadulterated pleasure. With his lilting Irish accent he exclaimed "would ya look at that house". Nice guy.  (for 2) I watch many of his comedy shows and laugh often. (for 3). I watched the first series and was entertained but felt slightly concerned that the programme was essentially a reality TV show, "I'm a pretentious wannabe, get me into here". I stopped watching and have caught some moments, especially salacious outtakes on other shows.  So this was my comment: "Bill, we know Dara has to pay the mortgage, let's hope he doesn't give too much of his soul away". Exaggerating for comic effect I thought. I don't believe anyone has a soul, if they did, Dara would have a big one, and would have to give only a tiny bit away to work on the show :-) . I also accept that he is a professional clown and must earn a living. In his shoes may be I would do the same, I don't know the full circumstances but the fact remains, if I could afford not to, I wouldn't diminish my integrity by being associated with The Apprentice. It's an opinion, formed on scant evidence - I haven't watched it for years- I accept I may be wrong. What is fascinating is that I got a response., "@Jim_McD Give my soul away? Hosting You're Fired? I'm a professional clown. Christ, some people take this shit waaaaay too seriously."  I'm not sure if the last statement was autobiographical but I certainly wasn't taking it seriously.  Good putdown, you have to admire him.  I can't help feeling though that I touched a nerve, still, the point that resonates the most is that a single twonk heckler in half a million audience got his opinion heard and responded too.  What power we wield with this new toy.

Another dialogue on twitter brought opinion into the fore recently when one of the other heros (@mitchbenn 25,000 followers) got drawn into a debate with a nobody.  Mitch was angry, articulate and right in the main.  He teetered on the brink of righteous and then made this statement, "2. But you DON'T have the right to criticise my working methods because you have no idea what they actually are.".  When someone says it tastes like poo, we all accept that this means it tastes like i imagine poo might taste - unless they said earwax, we all know what earwax tastes like, don't we?  Mitch went on to say, "You said it was sloppy and not thought through. How do you know how much care and thought goes into it? Are you there?".  Clearly, the heckler meant "it appears to have been" [that you didn't put enough work in].  He was wrong.  He expressed an opinion on scant facts.  Does he have a right to?  My view is yes.  Should Mitch have responded? well, I think yes; the visceral anger that fuelled his dialogue was intoxicating.  Mitch is a fabulous lyricist and has a wonderful way with words.  Does it matter that I don't agree with his defining point? I don't think so, I am starting to get familiar enough with these new toys to know that we get a very real response and occasionally, like real life, its not as polished as the old media.  We must all learn to relish in the experience of unadulterated (edited) human thought.  Go on, express an opinion, just don't expect anyone to agree.

Then the final piece that underscores but also threads through this soliloquy was @robinince 's  piece in The Now Show last week.  It seemed to be the essence of my own view on News Papers and all the News Media.  I haven't read a newspaper for over a year - if not longer - I found it more and more difficult to distinguish opinion from news or fact or evidence based commentary.  Robin's view; don't read a paper, read a book.  Don't be lazy absorbing other's opinions, form your own opinion based on facts. 

My view is additionally, once you have formed an opinion, don't hang on to it like the only piece of wood following a ship wreck.  Keep revising it, researching it, testing it and listening to other's views and don't fear using new communication channels to do this.  

Greed is good

		Is it? Is it really?  Do we teach it? encourage it? revere it?  Greed takes hold of weak people and twists them into snarling sociopaths, shaped like human beings but missing some vital components of human existence such as;  integrity, community, ethics.   It is possible, initially, to be conned by the facsimile of humanity as it is presented but scratch the surface and that shell, which echoes with the cries of futility, stands bare in front of you.  Any endeavour, whatever its nature, will ultimately fail if it has at its core a selfish desire. The tragedy of the commons is no apocryphal parable, it is not solely an ancient moral, it is a truism.  It is a breach of a fundamental tenet of our existence that some amongst us defile to the detriment of all.

Sinophone

I am not a sinophone, I think eventually we may all have to become at least partionally sinophonic. 

I've been regularly reading articles on http://www.kurzweil.net/ with interest but today one arrived in my twitter stream that disappointed me.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/globa-accelerating-technologies-will-create-a-global-state-by-2050

So I have submitted a comment and I am awaiting its approval:

The “Global Language Snowball Effect”

I think some of the fundamental facts have been missed here. Chinese is (one of) the fastest growing langauge(s) on the internet (http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm) , it is probably more likely that some derivative of Chinese will become the global language, if such a global language were to develop.

It was also disappointing to read the following:

” It will certainly not be Chinese, since the world will utterly reject China’s incredibly clumsy and stupid writing system”

From a non sinophone perspective this may be a much held view but is it really a sensible view. To express it in such a clumsy and inarticulate manner just detracts from what was quite an interesting premise. A small bit of research would show you the variety and richness of the languages that are similar to Chinese. A little further research might have shown you that despite your (and my) ignorance of the language it is a powerful analytic language that depends on sytanx rather than morphology.
I suggest this article is edited to remove what appears to be xenophobic content that adds little to the debate.

I wonder if it will be added?

"Honesty makes people sad"

To all my software development and project management pals.  Being on the bow wave of technology and technology adoption by corporate entities can be tough ;-)

Check out more Dilbert

Your opinion counts

How much are we, or should we be, swayed by other people's opinion. There have always been opinion leaders.

In the Pharmaceutical industry we even have a TLA for them -- KOLs.

I think its part of the natural human condition to want to fit in, even if we are trying to fit into a remote tribe of geeks teetering on the edge of geekdom. No man, as they say, is an island. [A brief interlude and a search on the internet reveals] John Donne, the author of this poem, is "they".

So as much as we wish to form our own opinions it is inevitable that others influence them. The speed of that influence is noticeably quicker since the advent of social networking.

Many people are left stone cold by surrealist art - I find it quite liberating. Admittedly Fey Poem Coffee Break seems a strange title but this and the intriguing image gave me something to think about and pleased me. Is it art? Does anyone have a right to criticise it? or the artists right to create it? are you influenced by my opinion?

The following picture is one of my favourite pieces of my own art. Is it art? Possibly photography is just recording fact. I would maintain that in someway I orchestrated or composed it; some part of it is fortunate and "right place right time". I simply don't remember if I asked Ellie and the guys to stare in the water or if something had just caught their attention. I'm not sure if I was consciously aware of the striking juxtaposition of the weeping willow hanging soulfully into the Thames and the jagged stark tree jutting in menacingly from the side. I do know that I edited the photo, in my mind I can still see Will standing under the tree, I clipped him out, as he wasn't looking into the water. If you do like this picture, and I hope you do, were you influenced by my monologue?

So why all this bleating about "influenced by opinion"? Well, a mate of mine, Drew, put a very funny comment on Face book about "Dances with Smurfs" - a small amount of research identified this as a joke name for Avatar. Drew, whose opinion I respect, clearly thought that "Dances with Smurfs" is a less than edifying demonstration of James Cameron's artistic ability. His opinion was in polar opposition to my previous discussion on the subject. So should I allow my view to change, I must admit I stopped to think -- as I do respect Drew's judgement, and it has influenced me even though my feelings were clearly modified by the context of my viewing. 

Clearly this is not about if either of us is right or wrong, but more the nature of opinion and the age-old instinct to create a consensus and if this is enhanced or influenced via virtual networking.

I would say that opinion is not a solid fact; it is context and mood sensitive and will evolve and age as all things do. A gut reaction can be more visceral and true to base nature but a developed savoured opinion can be more lasting and give a balanced view.  So perhaps we are now more prone to circulating "gut feel" via networking sites and we will just have to get used to accommodating each other’s raw truth rather than considered opinion - my view was not considered I mean, I have no-way of knowing if Drew cogitated or evoked.  

On Avatar then, despite its obvious shortcomings in plot and blatant simplistic moralising that is to be expected from Hollywood, I still believe it was a visually and aurally outstanding experience and a fantastic movie to share with the kids. It provoked some fascinating philosophical discussions about spirit and the meaning of self from the scenes where consciousness transferred from one body to another. I would still recommend it - just don't go and watch it with Drew yet, until I've had time to work on him.