Opinions, by Joseph S Bonsall, March 1, 2003
No matter the issue of the moment, everyone has a valued opinion and the
Internet certainly provides a plethora of forums to that end. Anyone can sit in the comfort of their home, logon and weigh in on politics, current events, religion, pets, lifestyles, war, taxes, terrorism or even - God help us all - Joe Millionaire.
No matter where your individual interest may reside, there is a chat room or a poll vault or a message board somewhere on the Internet that provides the freedom for you to exercise your First Amendment right to speak up. Yes or No, For or Against, Right or Left, Right or….. Wrong. It doesn’t really matter. The fun part is to get involved.
For most of our lives, (I will be 55 years old this May) there has been no place where we could go to express ourselves. Our family members and friends already know our feelings, and strangers for the most part just don’t care. Those pollsters on CNN and Fox never call us. Who is this guy Gallup any way? Where is Nielsen or even Zogby? All we get are telemarketers who call us during dinner.
Of course, just about every restaurant, hotel or Jiffy Lube provides survey forms that we can fill out. Rate our friendly service, tell us what you think, blah blah blah….. no fun at all. Who ever fills out one of those things?
It would be more fun to call one of those “How’s My Driving?” 800-numbers. Does anyone ever do that? I guess if we saw an Orkin truck driving 100 miles an hour through a school zone we might whip out the Nokia and call that number (after we have called 911, of course). However, even that is taking a chance. Just like ordering from Sears….. this conversation could (WILL) be TAPED. Even if we really despise putting that much on the line for a new set of pillow shams, we do it.
The point is….. everyone has something to say about most everything, but most folks never get to step up to the plate, UNTIL NOW!
The Internet has changed us all. Welcome to cyberspace where you can logon and speak out, either as yourself or by wearing Harry Potter’s cloak of invisibility.
The lonely, the quiet, the shy can type in CAPS on the Internet. The boisterous, the loud mouthed, the opinionated can even be more, well….. boisterous, loud mouthed and opinionated.
There is a point to all this rambling. Beings I now have my own web site, I have in effect provided myself a forum of expression. From time to time, I will weigh in with my own opinion on a wide variety of subjects. I have no timetable. I may write a commentary once a day, once a week or once a month. You’re just going to have to come back and visit from time to time.
I assure you that I will try my best to make it all as interesting as I can. You are all welcome to discuss these various commentaries on the josephsbonsall.com Discussion Board, in the Forum marked Commentaries…..where your comments will be heard and appreciated. Feel free to agree or disagree. Just keep it all clean. I welcome a good debate.
My opinions are certainly no more important than yours. I just thought that along with G.I. Joe and Lillie and other writing projects, a Commentary page might be stimulating.
So, welcome aboard! Join in! This could be fun!
Blessings to all,
Joseph S. Bonsall
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|