Crossing the Bar
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
© Alfred Lord Tennyson.
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Twitter is the perfect example how technology can change society. When we first got into Twitter in 2008 it was seen as a perfect tool some idiots to spout nonsense 24/7, and, my first reaction was it will be like MySpace. How right and wrong was I?
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First things first. Twitter is for talking crap! That is the whole point of it. If you take Twitter seriously then you are just as silly as the response you get when you post something contentious on it. The only thing is that others take these things seriously and I cannot change peoples mind or do a digital Canute and turn back the tide of technological change. Just as the captain in the poem by Tennyson does not know what is on the other side until he ‘crost the bar’.
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One of the funny things that is going to be on Twitter in the next few weeks is the online spat between Rupert Murdoch international mogul and Kevin Rudd the Australian Prime Minister. Kevin Rudd has accused Rupert Murdoch of unleashing his newspapers and other media outlets to attack the Labour policy of connecting all the homes and small businesses on the internet super speed highway, because it will direct allow competition to have a good chance against FoxTel Mr Murdoch’s cash cow. Obviously Rupert Murdoch denies this and say his publication have the freedom to do what the want.
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Therefore this is the democratisation views and opinions. Anyone can join the debate and send tweets to whoever they want. The only problem is that when you allow anyone to say anything, a lot of people will say what they want. So to hear that people are threatening rape because Jane Austin has been put on a ten pound note is not surprising. Of course it is wrong but it shows that some people are not right in the head. Allowing anyone to get involved in any debate will get a load of garbage because people talk a lot of garbage, including me, well especially me!
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There is no answer to this if you want a free Internet and free comment. We have all trolled someone or been trolled by someone we disagreed with. Being baited or trying to illicit a response which would show how easy we or they were to get upset, why? Well mostly because we disagreed with their opinion, but, didn’t have any respect about the views espoused. It is the action of lazy thinking and closed minds, but, when there is nowhere else to go in a debate then abuse follows.
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Like I said there will be no answer to this and the fact that the police are going to have to become more involved in the arbitration of online spats things will get more silly and expensive. The only way not to be influenced or upset with Twitter is to ban Twitter. The crossing of the bar is complete.