I am a bit of a frustrated introvert. Neither shy nor aloof, just a watcher. A listener. I don’t generally extend myself to new relationships and find myself uncomfortable around people I don’t know. That in itself is uncomfortable. I know that humans are social creatures and the connections we make with people can be beneficial and healthy particularly as we age.

Facebook is not fun for me so I go on and off periodically. Living in Mexico though makes it difficult not to have it because so many businesses use it as their platform. Of course part of the Facebook ecosystem is groups, which I loath. I equate joining groups to admitting yourself to an asylum. That said there is some good to come from it like learning how to become sane. I like a challenge so I put myself out there as a way of sticking my toe into very cold water. I’m going to learn something from this even if only that people in asylums are crazy.

I try many times, albeit unsuccessfully, to think three times before I say something. Words matter. They have impact. They leave a mark. Like meditation it’s something I should practice every day. When I see comments in groups that are not well thought out or based upon nonsense, I lose my perspective and am compelled to comment. As a former professional researcher it’s second nature to me to go out and find as many points of validation to an idea or concept as I can. In spite of all the resources available people just repeat rumors they have heard and swear by it to the death. They are called (Right fighters).

If you rely on the internet to get information I have really bad news. AI is and has been feeding you that information and AI doesn’t have the ability to discern the difference between right and wrong. All it does is scrape content off the internet and try to put it into a cohesive context. If the content is incorrect then AI will not know it. Eventually it will work out relevance, but you should never trust what’s out there. Here’s a sort glimpse into the past, present and future.

There is a perception that I am an intelligent guy. Maybe yes, maybe no. Seems I’m not smart enough to keep my thoughts to myself. It’s a work in progress and Facebook groups helps me to do that. I know there is nothing I say that is going to stick. People are lazy and will just go with whatever idea appeals to them. With motivational bias and being a right fighter, it becomes impossible to have fruitful debate. These people refuse to to budge.

Bill Murray is attributed with saying, “It’s tough to win an argument with a smart person, but it’s damn near impossible to win an argument with an idiot.” Another quote, from the movie War Games, “The only way to win is not to play.”

My task is to remain silent and be thought a fool rather than open my mouth and remove all doubt. Learning how to debate fairly is another task. It’s ineffective when someone points out an uncomfortable fact if you deflect or redirect criticism. Learning how to say something is as important as the message.

The words (I’m sorry) are not in the bitches lexicon.

I’m learning not to scorch the earth around me when I am faced with an uncomfortable feeling. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater doesn’t resolve the problem. May be best to step away from something and think about it or just move on.

YouTube is poison. Yesterday the TV was mostly off. I found a great podcast on Sirius/XM, Scamanda and you can find it here. I liked the feeling of not having people on an electronic box telling me what to think or buy.

My TV of choice these days is Britbox and The Great Courses signature series, an Amazon Prime channel. I’m about to go through the entire Poirot series again. I admire Neil DeGrass Tyson, but listening to him easily discuss quarks and nuclei makes my head hurt. I prefer the history of Hannibal.