Hypocritize at will. If you exhibit a contradictory philosophy, you at least have a philosophy to contradict. I make it a point to contradict myself on a regular basis if for no other reason than to be roundly hooted by my kids and wife …and dog. The King needs to know he’s an asshole as Canute so ably demonstrated…pardon my indelicacies.

As a teacher, you are regularly near students whose chief pleasure in life is to point out hypocritical actions or words and the key is to listen to them, perhaps defend yourself within the bounds of reasonable discretion but to never fade out without a good brawl. If you didn’t surprise them , they’d be Twittering on their little twitterphiliac gadgets instead of listening to you.

Then again, a hiatus from this seductive pox is most conducive to all manner of free-range thinking….and the planting of little seeds of hypocrisy that can grow up into big giant Redwoods of Effulgent Contradiction in the fullness of time. A person who does not contradict themselves is either not saying anything of merit or is too cautious or maybe altogether too damned agreeable to attain any worth of note……

Enjoy your hiatus.

I have enjoyed all of the articles that I’ve read at FPR. Without the website I would not have discovered a wonderful group that shares many of my values. I don’t always respond with a comment.

In centuries past, people joined literary societies or clubs such as the Masons to interact with people of similar interests. Some of these organizations (Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.) survive because they are vehicles to carry out the group’s mission statement. This mission of an on-line magazine is to exchange ideas. What better way than the internet?

Perhaps without the internet, a group like the FPR founders, would have created a newsletter or magazine. This endeavor would require a constant influx of money to survive. Much time and money would have been spent and one (dare I say “unlucky”?) person would have the responsibility of editing, transcribing and mailing out the product. The internet has made it possible to have those who participate to do so with a minimum of time and expense.

The internet is a tool available to our generation; nothing more nothing less.

Can we become slaves of our technology? I suppose that is a topic for another article/essay. :)

“The other question is whether the time we authors invest in this site is detrimental to our own lives and souls. Again, I know that in my case I am torn between an engagement to contribute content weekly as much as possible and the feeling that by doing so I have been sucked into the blogosphere and out of my contemplative habits and concrete human engagements more than I like.”

Here is one of the issues I have with FPR. I really enjoy many of the contributions and the insightful comments. I also appreciate that the postings are not simply link-filled sound bites or simple off-the-top-of-the-head rants. Yet to actually read every post and the following comments would demand a great deal of time away from other, more direct human engagement as well as contemplation.

Why do the editors not consider limiting the number of posts per week? This might benefit both regular readers and the contributors themselves?

For me there are two main questions. One is whether choosing to use this medium undermines the message that we all want to communicate. One of the effects of spending time on this site ought to be a desire to spend less time on the internet and at the computer. But at the same time we want the site to be something people want to spend time reading, and we want the writing to be substantial and intelligent enough to make it worth spending time reading. So in some degree we are necessarily at cross purposes with ourselves, while hoping that the overall effect will be salutary.

The other question is whether the time we authors invest in this site is detrimental to our own lives and souls. Again, I know that in my case I am torn between an engagement to contribute content weekly as much as possible and the feeling that by doing so I have been sucked into the blogosphere and out of my contemplative habits and concrete human engagements more than I like.

I suppose my conclusion is that, for the sake of carrying on an often very good conversation and discovering new sympathetic characters and learning from them, we (or at least I) are enduring a certain amount of inconsistency. But consistency has been called the hobgoblin of small minds. Readers must decide for themselves whether that is a realistic response or a cop-out. I have to read my children their bedtime story.

Certainly you can send letters or write papers and so on which people who aren’t in your local community read, and vice versa? Isn’t the point about coming to a healthy balance in terms of local versus distant and so on?

So I second Freddy and Emp’s comments.

For defenders of the status quo, it is strikingly convenient: “We make a world in which it is increasingly difficult to survive without e-mail, Blackboard, and other such technologies; you should either A.) accept that world and shut up, or B.) crawl off into a hole somewhere so we don’t have to listen to you.”

Not being a Luddite, I am inclined in the end to agree with freddy. The problem is not technology itself — human beings have *always* had technology — but the utterly uncritical enthusiasm with which our culture greets technological innovation.

To ensure we use our technological power wisely as that power increases, our cultural & spiritual restraints which determine how that power is used should grow stronger as well — along with connections to the wisdom of the past which tells us who we are and how we got here.

The current trend, however, seems to be in the exact opposite direction. As we grow more powerful we have grown more careless and deranged.

And, I truly miss the acerbic observations of the beloved misanthrope, D. W. Sabin! Dude……..!