Liberty as Ball Of Yarn

Ogden Nash was a witty fellow.

And not just a little insightful at the same time.

"The trouble with a kitten is that / it eventually becomes a cat..."

I'm reminded of that philosophy from time to time, most often when I read a political diatribe written by someone who, while clearly passionate in their conviction, lacks the depth of thought to pull it off.

Or, as the less verbose might express it, there really are a lot of obtuse folks wandering the highways and blogways these days.

The problem, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in our inadvertently giving the aforementioned obtuse-esque not only a license to freely express their remarkable density, but a variety of forums in which to put said density on public display, from news site comment sections to celebrity poll questions, from Facebook postings to Twitter twitterings.

G has a theory about life that rings both tender and true.

Everything is a tradeoff.

For everything that we receive, there is, in some form or another, an eventual price to be paid for it.

In this particular case, it is the advance of technology, creating a wondrous place like the internet where anyone and everyone can and, much, too much, to our chagrin, does, feel free to share their point of view on an infinite list of life issues in a most ad nauseum fashion.

When the argument is well framed and exquisitely articulated, it can be a thing of priceless value.

When the argument is the verbal equivalent of the passing of gas at the dinner table, the devaluation is meteoric.

And, when all else fails the aforementioned gas passer, the justification offered is that tried and true chestnut, that crowd pleasing, oldie but goodie..."freedom of speech..."

At which point, both G's and Mr. Nash's respective points of view find purchase.

The tradeoff for being given the freedoms we enjoy is that freedom, by its nature, is non exclusive.

Or, as the more poetic might express it...

"The problem with freedom is that / you have to give it to everybody..."