No comment

The other night I left a comment on a random blog I came across (thanks to the button near the top of most Blogger pages) where the writer had posted a criticism of Best Picture winner Crash that was much like what I had thought: good movie, but too heavy-handed to be “best” (he apparently leaned toward Munich, which after I see that I can comment on). My comment was more or less just agreeing, and not particularly clever, but given that I wouldn’t mind such things being left on my posts—or any comment left by an actual living human rather than a scrawling robot, whether agreeing or disagreeing or being complete non sequitor—it seemed worth the effort to do so for this person. (There were only two other comments, so it wasn’t one of those blogs with a rabid readership.)

Then after I’d clicked post on the little dialog box, the focus returned to my blog (back before clicking the Next Blog button), and then I couldn’t get back to the one where I’d just posted the comment (as best I could tell). I hadn’t noticed the name of the blog, and attempting to search the blogs for references to the Oscars brought way too many results. So somewhere out there in the vast electronic wasteland some person has a few of my words acknowledging I’d read what he wrote, but it’s unlikely I’ll find where those words are.

If you love something, set it free…

I’ve had a few such incidents here on my blog, where some random person came across it and left a comment. I have no indication those individuals were inspired to return intentionally, but that’s not something I’d expect. Obviously, I can’t get even the people who are acquainted with me (and who, when I prompt them to read it, claim to enjoy it) to read it regularly (without prompting) nor to leave comments when they do. I guess what I write doesn’t inspire that level of effort. Or maybe the commenting feature is buggy and when people have tried they’ve encountered problems, and have given up trying; I wouldn’t put it past technology to be against me in that regard.

It usually is.

I later came across a blog where the writer identified himself as Christian conservative (yeesh, this is seeming like I was actually bothering to read—it was a small part of my online experience last night, I assure you), but where (amongst other topics) he had a piece where he commented on something another blogger had asserted, that being that Christian conservatives should be libertarians, because the conservatives (as exemplified by the current administration) had adopted big government, and conservatives really should be in favor of less government, not more.

Yeah, they should, from what I can tell.

Anyway, I glanced at two other posts, one where he asserted that the Constitution holds no inherent protection for legalizing abortion (technically true) and criticizing the Supreme Court for the Roe v. Wade decision, but suggesting that it should be left to the states to vote on (and of course, hoping that people would outlaw it in such a vote). Agree or not, at least there he seemed to have some Constitutional foundation for some of his argument. I didn’t see if there were comments (and I certainly wouldn’t attempt to leave one, either agreeing or disagreeing—not that I would—because I’m not of the opinion that there is the possibility of changing anyone’s mind on that topic).

Another post I glanced at (and again, it’s amazing I recall this much, given how briefly I did so) was a predictable lambaste of the Best Picture nominees (bringing this back to that) and how, based on what was nominated, it was clear Hollywood had an agenda. Here I did notice the comments, which commenced with someone noting how one could usurp the ostensible power of Hollywood by not seeing the movies (it is true that the most powerful politics in Hollywood is that of making money), and throwing in an appropriate jab about “or you could continue to comment on movies you haven’t seen.” And then it went back and forth between the blogger and some commenters in a rather predictable fashion. However, the controversial nature of the blogger’s viewpoints clearly inspired readers to leave input.

I am not controversial enough, or really, controversial at all. That is my undoing. Worst thing I ever did was try to not just piss off people (not to be confused with trying to always please them). In this era, I am mere background noise.

At least I can live with that.