You can tell a lot about a person by the web pages they bookmark. Twenty years ago, that would have sounded like gibberish, but today it's pretty true. The bookmarks on the computer I'm pounding on right now in my den generally fall into three categories: websites with free games for little girls that are less educational than I'd like, with the exception of PBS Kids; farm-related websites and the websites of businesses that inspire us, like Central Market in DFW and Tanners Orchard in Illinois; and finally, the websites that deliver my addiction to me - the news sites.
I am a news junkie. I read the local paper, blog sites, national papers - wherever the clicks lead me, I absorb it. It fascinates me that I have access to information from around the world, stuff that's happening right now, literally at my fingertips on a device the size of a bar of soap. The only subject I truly leave alone, unless something really huge happens, is sports. I find that not liking sports frees up a lot of my time, and thankfully I found the only man in Weatherford, Texas, who agrees with me. Worked out nicely that way.
As for the rest of it, I'm in. I want to know what the writer has to tell me, from celebrity fluff to the politics that are changing our world right now. The 24-hour news cycle, a development that has happened even since I started college, has taken what used to be private or unknowable - even if just until the newspaper delivery tomorrow morning - and uploaded it unedited for us to devour.
The same phenomenon has also given us a wonderful opportunity to discover, understand, and engage with the world around us. We are only beginning to grasp the ramifications of our connectedness with the world. I watch my kids buzz around the computer, witness them master an iPad the moment they pick it up, and can't even begin to imagine what's around the bend. All I know is, it's gonna be cool.
Meanwhile, I'm frantically trying to make heads or tails of the present day. Politics are fascinating to me. Not just the policy-making and campaigning done by politicians, although I do enjoy those aspects. But I also watch the spectacle of modern American politics, as created by our friendly 24-hour news cycle. The effect that a figure like Barack Obama or Sarah Palin can have on people - it's intense and visceral.
I know that passion in politics is nothing new, but it's on display now like never before, instantaneous and uncontrolled. There will always be disagreements, differences in opinion, opposing perspectives and the stubborn refusal to accept that not everybody who doesn't think what you think is rotten. We are, after all, humans. But I honestly hope that someday we can channel this incredible tool we have developed, the technology to communicate instantly and globally, and use it not just to talk but to listen as well.
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