Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Feb 1, 2010, at 5:23 PM, Marie McHarry wrote:

> No. It's just been really, really quiet. I've noticed that usually in
> the depths of winter when homesteading isn't so busy this list turns
> to political discussion. Now that that topic has become something that
> most of us what to ignore, I think everyone is hibernating.

Marie, I think there are three primary parts to the decline of the  
homestead list.

1. As with TMEN and other gardening/country living mags, once the  
subjects have been covered multiple times, it is challenging to go  
back to them and find something new to say. And it is tedious to teach  
the same class over and over. The teachers tire and retire.

2. There are so many other lists available to each of us that with  
slight effort we find a more perfect fit. I have found one, for  
instance, consisting mostly of people who are bright, articulate,  
accomplished and respectful. We have adult conversations. The list  
owner has a light hand but will not tolerate personal attacks and put  
downs.

3. Politics. I let myself get sucked into the political discussion  
here, which started out somewhat reasonable and devolved into hysteria  
and babble.

There is another issue that both amuses and troubles me. I thought the  
Internet would be the library of the world with all wisdom immediately  
at hand and, more, that it would help lift each of us to our maximal  
level. Alas, the wisdom has become deeply diluted by our human need to  
feel important. We easily find something new, embrace it, erroneously  
think we have become instant experts. And then we broadcast it willy  
nilly and feed upon the responses. The library becomes cluttered with  
The National Enquirer.

Perhaps it is a sign of our apparently deteriorating time. Major media  
thrives on death, disaster and dilemma. We fight back feebly with our  
e-mails and our blogs: no, not me, not my life, my life is fine, see,  
look at all I am doing, look at all I know, look how smart I have  
become. It seems to me that we have become unbalanced. Our focus has  
fanned and blurred. Like Stella, we need to get our groove back.

And the beat goes on.

Gene