You Talkin' To Me? Is Blogging Heroic or Villainous?

"You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?  You talkin' to me?  Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here.  Who the f*** do you think you're talking to?"

"Roger Ebert called this quote 'the truest line in the film.'  This line was also described by Ebert as 'Travis Bickle's ... desperate need to make some kind of contact somehow—to share or mimic the effortless social interaction he sees all around him, but does not participate in.'"

I also like this Kris Kristofferson song, which was used in Taxi Driver.  It seems like a good representation of who I think I am (except the part about getting stoned).

The Pilgrim: Chapter 33

I would simply modify Roger Ebert's interpretation and say that blogging is a desperate need to ask questions to those involved in the world around me.

Before you get confused by the use of Bickle as an analogy, I was going for irony. 

I must say that unlike the character of Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, I have an ease with interacting with people I do not know. I am a generally diplomatic person socially, who would rather compromise than argue.

It though has presented a contradiction when I write. 

I tend to be more caustic, acerbic, and open when I write. I suppose that it is the result of having had to repress what I think in order to get along in a retail environment, in which everything is driven by sales and, "A time to ev'ry person for love of money."

I suppose that is what drew me to blogging. I wanted to write what I saw as true, but more importantly to break-free from the quotidian of going along to get along with people that can say some of the most ridiculously offensive things I have ever heard.

I do not know what others think I am trying to accomplish, but I am not some nutty revolutionary type. I am not in the "Free Mumia" crowd. In fact, I was a member of the College Republicans in Santa Cruz, California until 2006. 

There is a long story on why I have become interested in advocating issues of social justice, but I suppose that the simple answer is that, it is always the one you least suspect. 

And I'm David X.

Keep in mind, that I live in Spokane which is along the border with Northern Idaho, aka, the land of neo-nazi's. Perhaps that has skewed my perspective of the bigger picture, or perhaps it is just a tree within a forest.

Up here, there are people that will passionately argue that, "black people don't have a soul." The same people also love shows like Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity. It was also the one place that would give Mark Fuhrman a job in radio.

That's who is amongst their audience, but also people that are targeted with radio ads for remedies for sexual impotency.  They sure know their audience. I didn't ... until recently. And to think, I was nearly hired as a producer at the radio station that Rush Limbaugh once called home, KFBK in Sacramento.

Did I forget to mention that Spokane is also home of the Spokane Arch-Diocese, which is one of the main Catholic churches that was embroiled in sex-abuse scandals in 2001? 

Spokane was also home to former Mayor James West and opponent of gay-rights bills, who was recalled in 2005 after a scandal in which West used gay-chat rooms. 

Idaho is also the home of former Senator Larry Craig, who you might remember as that guy who solicited sex in the men's room of a Minnesota airport.

Spokane is also home of the third highest number of alcohol related fatalities.

It seemed like that was the unholy trinity—perverts, booze-hounds, and racists or PBR for short.  Sorry, if I just eviscerated your love for your favorite beer.

By the way, I do not insinuate that homosexuals are the same as generic pervs.

I started to realize that I could not be a passive well-wisher who grew-up listening to folk-oriented music (Dylan, CCR, Springsteen, etc), and instead had to do something to change the situation.

Do you now understand why my perspective on social justice began to change?

On the NFL

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