Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Too much for the average person

I firmly believe that there is too much information out in society these days and with this constant barrage of information it is actually hurting society more than it helps.

In the past a person would know most of what was happening locally based on the local newspaper or papers and the local news station, they might here what was happening in their province/state and the odd story about what was happening in their country and perhaps the one right beside them. With the explosion of the Internet, personal computing and every Tom, Dick or Harry having a voice it has become a race to see who can hit you with the most information.

You get news companies travelling the world telling you about things happening in every nook and cranny in the entire world whether it affects you or not. You have companies like Wikileaks that are gathering secret/not so secret/ or down right embarrassing documents and posting them on the Internet for the entire world to see.

Now my question to the sane individual is do we really care or need to care about all of this. For centuries one politician has called another a name, one country became angry with another and sent a nasty letter but is it really news worthy? I personally don't think it is.

As a society we need to take steps to protect ourselves from this bombardment. Perhaps it's time to kill off the 24/7 news channels, tell companies it is not ok to publish every leaked document that comes to you. You wouldn't like it if your privacy was invaded and all your emails and correspondence was published to the world so why is it ok when someone does it to a government.

The government keeps secrets, it always has and it always will. Some secrets probably should be revealed so that they don't do dumb things, but others need to stay secret to protect them, us and our relationships with other countries.

So this holiday season, take a step back and really think. Do I give a rats ass about all this information and does it really benefit my over all life? You will be surprised at how much you really don't want to know.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Christmas season or silly season.

It is officially December and things are starting to get crazy. For those that celebrate Christmas whether it be a religious holiday or just the gift giving holiday for you it is time to get all your ducks in a row and get ready for December 25th.

The malls are already insane as everyone is out looking for the perfect present for friends and family. Here the snow is on the ground which means no one can see the parking spots, so they simply park where ever there car fits. Even if it means parking on the grassy hill.

Christmas cards are being purchased and mailed, the postal service is being overwhelmed with packages and letters.

I am a little slow this year, my lights are sort of up but not fully working (and of course I don't check them when it is warm out), my tree is not up yet, I think I may be done all my gift purchasing except for the few little things that I need to buy and ship out. My decorations are also still buried in the basement. I will have to pull them all out this weekend so the house looks a little more festive.

Company Christmas parties have also started. Now who doesn't love these awkward events. You get to hang out, eat, drink and dance with people that you spend 5 days a week or more with and that you probably have nothing other than you work in the same company in common with. Someone will inevitably get to drunk and do something stupid that will be talked about for the next year (one year at one of my parties a secretary got up on a table dancing and stripped).

So with this season be safe, kind and courteous because everyone is stressed out this time of year and we all need to take a step back and relax and enjoy life, friends and family.