I have a bit of writer's block at the moment.
Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. I would just have a think about some of my least favourite things such as woo, Big Music, the media, global warming denialists or post-modernist/post-structuralist/deconstructionists.
But it's just not happening for me at the moment.
I hang out at my favourite blogs and some others looking for inspiration.
Nothing.
Someone's posted something good. I can't be bothered posting a comment.
What would it be like to create an anti-Dikkii? I could blog about stuff that I can't normally say.
Free speech is an illusion.
Peer-group pressure, contract law, defamation, perjury, contempt of court, copyright, national secrecy, corporate confidentiality - is it fair to say that these wouldn't exist either in their current form, or even at all, if it were possible for free speech to exist?
Would truly free speech usher in a new golden age of transparency? Or would it result in a few more failed marriages.
But anti-Dikkii interests me.
How would I protect myself from legal action?
What if I said something that was very, very wrong and it came back to haunt me? You can't even joke about terrorism or paedophilia any more. What was funny once becomes trial by hysterical media.
Do people really accept media releases which are clearly cleverly spin-doctored reverse ferrets as the facts all along?
Why woo? Why can't people just accept that there is usually a normal rational explanation for things that go bump in the night?
Why homeopathy? Why reiki? Why veterinary acupuncture?
If God existed, wouldn't He sentence evangelicals to hell? After all, even God couldn't possibly tolerate the self-interested sucking up that evangelicals do?
Is Richard Dawkins being a fascist in expecting religious moderates to speak out against religious extremists? If not, am I a hypocrite for not speaking out against the violence in Somalia? Is everyone condoning bad stuff in this world if they simply don't get the chance to speak out? Even if they speak out about as much as they can?
Do woo merchants with good intentions have a duty to expose fellow woo merchants who are frauds? And should they go after them with extreme prejudice?
Is apathy the ultimate payback for technological achievement?
Do I need more money?
Why does it not worry me that all my friends from school and uni are earning more than me? Is this wrong? Is it doubly wrong if I still consider myself a capitalist pig?
McMansions are offensive. And people buy them. What ever happened to taste? And why is it necessary to have a master bedroom that can fit three four-post king-size beds?
Who really needs an ensuite bathroom with two washbasins? And why these and not a bath?
Will our kids kill us for allowing them to grow up with shoebox-sized backyards?
How did the urban planners for the Plenty Valley manage to forget about parkland?
Anti-Dikkii is an interesting concept.
Why does economics not have an Alan Sokal figure to tell the theoretical humanities to butt out?
Why does everything that I'm doing at work have to coincide with this week? And why do we hide behind euphemisms such as "due diligence", "fair and reasonable", "meets expectations", "performance management" and "key responsibility areas"?
Do post-modernist/post-structuralist/deconstructionists now run senior management? And the public service? And why do they love Freud and Jung?
Reality used to be a friend of mine.
