Too Much Information or Not Enough?

We are getting "Future Shock" (ed) from an information overload. The book by futurist Alvin Toffler published in 1970 described maladies of today long before home computers drove us onto Al Gore’s Internet highway.

We ignore hundreds of millions of blogs, tweets, websites, etc., simply because too many exist. Amazon has, at my last counting, 837 separate books on numerology. Probably, all of them are different definitions too. Do you think I’m in an uphill battle?

I’ve gotten wise to what must be porno sites that use pretty females to lure tweeters into them with clever witticisms that all sound alike. Then comes the bait of the really filthy "pick-up line" phrase. I suspect that if recipients don’t know what it means, and I don’t, it won’t matter. Also, if one doesn’t follow or get it, which I didn’t, they get "unfollowed" very quickly. I felt quite insulted until I figured out what must be the gig. Another cue is clicking the sites to check them out, "User does not exist" comes up. Hum?

Initially, I thought young actresses wanted a mentor of a former actress, so followed my Twitter feed. When they didn’t find me on the IMDb website, became discouraged, thinking I was some phoney. I was a 99-seat waiver darling [my term] of critics. It’s a long story. 99-seat waiver work involves stage plays. See! I know the lingo. Of which several reviews a year for many years in trades and newspapers brought me notice. Not having kept clippings, I have no record that is even true. Old reviews don’t even exist in Cyberspace since it was so long ago. My only paid work other than print ads and bit/extra parts (depending on the medium) was one Super Bowl "Hey Charger" commercial in 1975. I think it was 1975. My Nun who was hot for the Dodge Charger doesn’t show up on searches. Jamie Farr and Paul Link don’t come up either for their work on that ad campaign. They must have been in an alternate reality too. So, essentially, we don’t exist, but I know they do. Removing "a former actress" from my Twitter bio might restore credibility and discourage "fishers." Or, is it phishing?

I actually do read Twitter tweeters whom I follow. It isn’t a number game of how many I have to validate my existence, of which I have few, so I’m kept humble. I also drop Twitters I’ve followed, but who tweet, nothing other than where they are going and what they are doing. Except my real friends—though I’m beginning to consider some virtual friends as real. Am I headed for a padded room yet? So, how can I complain when I stop following too?

See how easy it is? I’ve already overloaded you with too much information or TMI?

This got me to thinking about the overload of information. Short-story—long, I worked as an actress when only three networks existed. Yes, I am that old. Let’s leave it there, shall we? With so many news organizations spewing their particular dogmas, our heads are spinning. What and who do we believe when validating every piece of information is impossible?

We rely on online news organizations of people we don’t know. We’ve never seen most of their faces until they show up on cable "news" programs. At least we knew what the big three news anchors looked like.

. . . Me, too! . . . I also suspect people who don’t put pictures in their bios of being really ugly, hiding their real identity, or really Internet inept. However, when someone uses Tipper Gore’s picture for a phoney Twitter site, ANYTHING is possible! We can see how easily con artists dupe people into sending strangers from places they’ve never lived bank account numbers for inheritances of people they’ve never met. Do they and the Viagra spam ever end?! You’d think Viagra would have a built-in audience. Honestly, life was simpler with only three channels.

Again, what and who do we believe? We rely on major television and radio networks, cable, and known on-line sites to give truthful information. When those entities have agendas, can we believe them?!

We must sometimes rely on gut instincts. When gut instincts are lacking from lack of an experiential life, we might as well give up and go fishing. No, not phishing—fishing, fishing.

Number One (1) has (Adjust) as its initial tier and word pattern. This lesson must be so important, so, not to become a (Jackass) who will (Just Ask) for answers that it is the very first tier. Although, "I’d rather ask questions and look stupid than not ask and be stupid." Since, "Dust cannot cling to thin air," we might not comprehend answers to our questions anyway, if having no frame-of-reference. Therefore, adjusting to a myriad of life circumstances and getting life’s questions answered by others must be a balancing act between the two.

Programing citizens to believe propaganda, was much easier with only three networks to spew it. Imagine when we had fewer sources of information. For example, with only "The Ten Commandments" and one sacred Book, programing people was a cinch. We just accepted that those documents confirmed reality. Yet, with information coming from infinite sources blanketing the planet, we still do.

Not to mention the other Commandments that we don’t seem to scrutinize thoroughly either, but forgiving our fathers and mothers is easy when we must honor them, unconditionally.

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. [This text is from an updated version that didn’t use Thee, Thou, and Thy.]

Besides parents getting free farmhands to work long hours, did this mean, honoring them no matter what? Did brutality, drug addiction, or incest matter to the person who fashioned that Commandment? Or, did he just lack insight and foresight of the pitfalls of that commanded edict? Honoring parents under all circumstances may just be enabling them to continue bad behavior as well passing it onto offspring. Gee, how is it that this planet is becoming so screwy?

When giving adults a behavior pass, it becomes easier to comprehend why people overlooked and ignored Sandusky’s actions. When we are to honor parents/adults unquestionably, this is a prescription for the Sandusky scandal and coverup. Abuse of women, children, and those who weren’t like "us," has occurred for aeons. Modern times now question past precepts and now we disparage such actions. Whoever wrote "The Ten Commandments" was unaware of human nature and how it would evolve from such decrees.

We must ask what kind of person really wrote The Ten Commandments, and just how naive was Charlton Heston? I mean Moses. Are the ones who fashioned that document the same kinds as those in the United States Congress who fashion laws to benefit themselves and hurt citizens?

Many, who were young adults during the era of three networks, protested to end the Vietnam War. Those in the Occupy movements are now doing so to end political thievery. It seems the time has come to wake up to injustices.

Does this, 2011 Four (4) year, allow for being (Moved) to make changes and be (Made Victorious) over wrongheaded thinking? So, though we are "Future Shock" (ing) ourselves into stupors, perhaps, too much information is better for making decisions than little information where we couldn’t make them, properly, either.

There, I said it. So, go ahead and "unfollow" me. It’s only my one opinion of many.