What point is served when my ears are deafened by self-blown horns, my scruples are sullied by the narcissistic minority which feels that manufactured cool is the only meaningful end, my mind is besieged by those whose best efforts are aimed at glorifying themselves while demeaning others, my intelligence is insulted by the eighty percent who do nothing of import, and can only venerate the boastful and self-important?

It is clear that I was  born in the wrong century, or the wrong dimension, or the wrong universe. I value intelligence, quiet competence, unadvertised charity, the pragmatic, the esoteric, quality over quantity, building up over tearing down, a logical left brain, a creative right brain, and balance. I am certain that my value is minimal when compared to the universe at large. I know that I can control only myself, and that only with difficulty.

It is not that I am spectacularly unworthy. It is rather that I am conscious of my relative worth, understand upon reflection that I am but a tiny speck of protoplasm, short-lived and consigned to a backwater. I aspire to ignore the pompous and the asinine, to pity the builders of shrines to themselves, to lament the sheep who can only follow, and to deplore the arrogant who feel qualified to lead.

Knowing that I am a relatively competent human being, even though that counts for little in the grand scheme, should be its own reward. Observing the loud, the arrogant, and the self-righteous for what they are should insure my understanding of the rewards of the fool, and give some comfort to life in a minor eddy. However, among my many failings is the occasional need to cry out in the darkness, to lament the status quo, to climb back aboard the sway-backed steed and to fly the banner of reason.

Those sorties are short-lived, at best, because the pretenders are legion and I am but one, too proud to capitulate, too stupid to retire with grace. With wisdom, I would negate the advice of John Donne, pare my life to the minimum, retire to an island, and pull up the drawbridge for good and foever. When you have sought everywhere, and belong nowhere, lonely discretion may be the better part of vainglorious valor.

Plurktalk is a weekly live videocast that I do with several of my friends from Plurk. There’s more about it at this link. The first hour or two of the show is fun, joking around and personal stuff, mainly. Recently, we have been staying late into the night, often until one or two in the morning, talking about serious things, like what makes guys act like guys and gals act like gals? Are we what we are, in the main, due to nature or nurture? You know, things like that. There are not many of us that late, and we are not looking for a lot of new participants at this time. It gets complicated enough as it is.

For the show on July 22, I am going to try an experiment. We are going to read a text and form our discussion loosely around the parts of the text that strike each of us as being the most important and meaningful. Those will probably be different parts. That’s what makes this so much fun.

The text is the final book by Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country, published after his death. It is a short, direct, to the point text that discusses every facet of our society as it exists today. Whether you agree with it or not, it is astonishingly intelligent and thought-provoking. The people that will be participating in the discussion will, of course, need to read the book. That would be helpful for those who just want to watch the ensuing mayhem and participate in the chat room, as well.

So far, the discussion panel on camera will be made up of myself, @pritcharddesign, and @Willfall. If you wish to participate in the discussion, you must be able to stay awake for the hours between 10:00 pm Central on June 22 and 1:00 am on June 23. You must read the book noted above. And you must be willing to appear on camera. If you think you would like to do this, send me a private plurk and I’ll think about it. No guarantees. Stickam gets way laggy with too many people on video.

Everyone is more than welcome to come to the first couple of hours of the show as usual, on or off camera and in the chat room. The chat room will definitely remain open during the Late Night portion, and you are welcomed to participate fully with us in that way, to comment at will and help us discuss the issues in that way. We will all be watching the chat window. That is how the big kids usually do it, I’m told. Still, only the selected few will be able to be on video or on microphone. If this works out, I’d like to have different guests on video each time we do a themed show, in addition to the usual panelists. We would love to have you on the show. The last few discussions have been fascinating. This one promises to be even better, and livelier.