Zoë Stagg

It’s a crossroads of interwebbin’: The New York magazine profile of Nick Denton, the opening and hubbub around The Social Network, and my wonderment over people’s distinct difference in approach to sharing on this crazy forever machine.

I have a very outsized reverence for the power of this beast. “Post nothing that which is subject to change,” and all that. But now that everyone and their dog has a Twitter and a Facebook (true fax not cliche—I follow two of said canines) the vague “ask me more about this update” is more than ubiquitous.

YOU KNOW. The “Katiebear ‘wishes tomorrow will be a better day.’” Of course setting off the thread of “OH NOES. Wha happa?” comments. It’s weird to me. Along with the extreme caution with which I post, I also post nothing that isn’t under my real name, lock down that which should be (not that he would want it, but Mr. Denton would not have access to my Facebook,) and figure if you’re going to allude to it, you should either just post the whole shebang or keep it to yourself.

Maybe it’s that I’m the exact age whereby the only internet I’ve known has been in my adult life. There was no such thing until I was precisely 18. Add to that, it’s been basically a tool and necessary platform for work—it’s a utility, not a toy. But not everyone sees it that way.

To wit. So one of said “A TERRIBLE THING HAPPENED” posts showed up this weekend. It sounded legitmately dire enough that I inquired about it (in person, because I do not participate in teh “wha happas?”) and the response was “I don’t want to talk about it.”

But. Um. You posted it. On the internet?

“Yes, but that was how I felt about it, not the thing itself.”

I guess I didn’t know you could separate the two? As very nearly everyone now dabbles in some form of World Wide Disclosure, the juxtaposition between the shocking amount people are willing to share and that which they should, is like the new tattoo. The “that’s forever, and someday you’re going to regret it” of yore.

Though I suppose since somewhere on the triple dubs I’ve posted something about how the ultimate goal of anything around here should be to inform or entertain…yeah. I figure, say the whole thing or don’t. You are your own privacy setting. Question its contribution before you post. And for the love of Dishwasher Pete, any tease should have a payoff. There’s an audience to consider.

It might be a series of tubes, but this thing ain’t no vacuum.

Barry Goldwater (via livejamie)

[I’ve also seen it quoted: “You don’t need to be straight to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight.”]

Now then.

It’s a snappy quote, no question.

Go, go Goldwater, indeed. Of course the sentiment is attention-grabbing because Barry is a gasp Republican oft credited with bringing Conservative back, which is perhaps the most common thing people know about him.

Though digging in, it gets pretty interesting: Goldwater graduated from a military academy; He was a Major General in the Air Force Reserve; He was on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

So military cred by which to make said assessment? Roger that. Moving on:

Politically, Goldwater opposed the New Deal; He voted against censuring Sen. Joseph McCarthy; in 1961 he said “we’re not going to get the negro vote as a block in 1964 and 1968, so we ought to go hunting where the ducks are”; And he opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Ooh, right? Gets dicey. But, but! Gay rights and don’t ask don’t tell isn’t that kinda a civil right’s issue? So why the wha now? 

More than just being Conservative, Barry Goldwater was a Libertarian. He opposed the Civil Rights Act because it was an intrusion of the federal government on states’ rights and the individual liberties of private folks.

Goldwater’s Big L streak runs wide and fast. He was against any God-like encroachment on politics and wildly anti-Religious-Right (“Every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.” Ahem.) And he’s pro-abortion-as-personal-choice.

Whatever you are, whatever you do, make the choice of and for yourself.

Yesterday the Senate voted down the defense authorization bill because it included zapping Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The NYT editorial today says, “History will hold to account every member of Congress who refused to end this blatant injustice.” It also advocates Obama exercising executive hottentots and just stopping the ejection of servicemembers.

How Barry might have thought about that as the ultimate big government solution, I don’t know.

I do know that wearing this uniform, there’s a whole heap of parts of me I don’t/can’t/won’t mention. I know that I made the choice to wear it willingly. I know that the jobs people take within this big Army are as varied as they are on the outside, as are the soldiers who fill them. Smart, not, fast, otherwise, shooting guns, shooting cameras, filling out paperwork, filling up gas tanks. And yeah, if you’re categorizing, gay-straight-black-white-girl-boy-blah-blah whatever.

Maybe what Goldwater was saying, was… in uniform, you’re just a soldier.