Do we talk too much?

Probably do and since the on-set of cell phones and the Internet we converse a whole heck of a lot more than ever before. Are we saying anything more than before, probably not, we are just hashing and re-hashing the same old words just more of the same.

How did we ever survive in the sixties and seventies without all this mass communication on a daily basis? Last night I had dinner with a friend and both of us received text messages during our meal. Neither one of us obviously thought it was odd or an inconvenience. We were not bothered but the normal daily occurrence. The Internet allows us worldwide instant communication with millions of people and I venture to say about any subject that comes to mind.

For example: I was talking to my daughter last week and using my weird sense of humor the subject of Chinese cheeses came up. Luckily my daughter understands my sense of humor. Within minutes of the initial question, “Do the Chinese have cheese?” Neither one of us could remember seeing a cheese dish in a Chinese restaurant, well a Chinese dish. I was able to Google “Chinese Cheeses” and discovered that yes there is Chinese cheese and matter of fact there are three different Chinese cheeses.

Being that I have been a lover of all thing knives since childhood, I discovered an Internet forum which I joined ten years ago. http://www.bladeforums.com/

When I joined in July, 1999 there were already 2,000 members. I was psyched. That many people all in one spot talking about knives. This forum includes some of the most knowledgeable purveyors and makers in the world. This forum has been exciting and basically has changed the face of the knife industry. Now ten years later there are over 138,000 members on this forum. At anytime day or night there will be around 700 to 800 members on-line. That is a lot of people talking knives. There are sections relating to non-knife issues and even total nonsense. Some of the forums are restricted to members only and the moderators keep the spammers and troublemakers tossed out faster than you can be bothered by them. There are other good knife interest forums and I have been known to read them as well. Checking Bladeforums has become a daily habit. I have learned a lot from these guys and I have also been bored by some of the members asking the same old question over and over. I guess freedom of speech is their right and I can easily skip right over the boring stuff. But please people discover for yourself which is the best knife. I own over a hundred knives, so what do I know? I have successfully used four different styles of kitchen knives in the last week, each a different blade length, width and metal. Maybe it isn’t the knife in general but the user. At least all four of them were decent knives.

It does seem that the forums were a lot more interesting when less people were on-line. I guess we have covered all the truly relative subjects and now we are waiting for the next big development. I have become bored with the forums for now, but I will remain a faithful member.

There is a new forum for Shriners now. http://theshriners.proboards.com/

This forum only has 27 members and apparently very little activity. With 191 Shrine Temples you would think we would have more to discuss. One problem is the average age of Shriners is somewhere around 70. Not many of them are Internet savvy and some think it is OK to pass around spam. “Oh No, Pass it ON, the country is going to hell in a hand basket!” So I guess it wasn’t really rock-n-roll after all but all the politicians you elected. Maybe allowing all of our industries to move overseas and not buying American wasn’t such a good idea. I know you don’t like illegal immigrants but you also don’t like picking the fruit and digging the potatoes yourself. How about the real issues of the Shriners and the 22 hospitals? Apathy is our worse enemy, but maybe as the years pass by, more Shriners will connect and we can rebuild this great fraternity.

Maybe we do talk too much and maybe we aren’t really saying anything. I think all this communication is better than not talking at all. At least with forums we can choose what to ignore and what to learn from. Sometimes we can depend on our Internet friends to be more supportive than people we see every day. I have four Internet friends that I have known for over ten years, we all live hundreds of miles apart. They are as close to me as the friends I have living in Tupelo.

Conclusion: We probably do talk too much but at least we are communicating. Maybe the lack of mass personal communication in the sixties and seventies is why the world is like it is now. We should encourage the exchange of free ideas and respectfully understand all people are entitled to their opinion. We should continue to read, continue to learn and continue to respect each other.

The only people that are wrong are the closed minded and the ones that use cheap dull knives.