Tuesday Twitterdeedum

I just listened and watched this video http://video.yahoo.com/network/100000089?v=4130309&l=100022574and loved it.

One of my favorite movies ever is Stand by Me. And, the song that goes along with it moves me, to say the least. So, when I saw the link on Yahoo, of course, I had to go there. It's a pretty cool production, and I'm sure a lot of folks might just want to get up and dance as the video moves along throughout the world.

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On this Tuesday Twitterdeedum, I have a question. Why do people feel the need (myself included) to apologize for participating in fads/activities that they actually enjoy?

For instance, I just read a note from a newsgroup where the lady said, "I'm not a fan of Twitter---but . . . ." Apparently she knew enough about Twitter to give an example.

So, why did she have to announce to her readers that she doesn't like Twitter? I'll bet she does, and I'll bet most of her readers don't really care if she likes Twitter or hates it.

It seems like most activities associated with the Internet need a qualifying statement, just in case someone thinks we're horrible people for participating in Facebook, for writing blogs (some people still call them blobs), or for twittering.

Can you imagine back in the '50s, when the hula hoop was popular, hearing people say, "Well, I think gyrating to those hula hoops is really stupid, but I went out behind the barn last night and got mine to twirl 32 times before it fell to the ground."

I can remember when people almost apologized because they cooked some of their food with microwaves. After all, that wasn't real cooking, and for any purists in the crowd, it surely was a mortal sin for food to be zapped rather than fried, baked or boiled.

And, we still seem to feel the need to apologize for watching TV---more than 60 years after its invention by that guy from the potatohead state. Somehow, there's still an underlying suggestion that people who watch TV lose brain cells or something like that.

I don't think so.

I'm not against reading books, cuz I do that too, but I have actually learned a lot about the world outside my little circle while watching TV. I've also enjoyed entertainment when I want to sit down and zone out. I'm a news junkie, so I love virtually every news magazine program, although I think "Dateline" has overdramatized itself too much of late.

I do make fun of my husband, and he probably feels the need to apologize when I catch him watching the feeder steer sales from Billings, Montana, where hundreds of Angus steers are paraded through the catch pen while the auctioneer rattles off his lingo to get the highest price possible.

Now, that's entertaining and educational, I'll tell you.

I've also caught him watching the trains go down tracks, on TV, again the RFD channel.

Having written about trains, I do see the educational value of such a show, but let me tell you, beauty is in the eye of the beholder on those programs. Having watched trains go down tracks near my home for most of my life, I don't derive a lot of excitement watching the same action on TV.

But Bill does, and he really doesn't need to apologize, just like he doesn't need to feel bad about watching fly-tying on Saturday nights at the same time the evening news is on. He knows I'll just go to another TV, and nobody has to feel like they've sinned.

I think we've got to get much more serious about what we do that needs an apology or a qualifying statement suggesting that we really don't want to be caught dead having the world know we this all the time, but----!

It's okay to twitter. It's okay to watch "Big Joe's Polka Hour." It's okay to blob or blog or whatever the heck that is. It's okay to zap that bacon in your microwave and cheat on your hair color and to watch naked people ride their bicycles in the Fremont Fair.

It's NOT okay to lie, cheat, steal, murder, desecrate the land, etc. Those things hurt.

Twittering, watching "The Office" or "The New Old Christine," blobbing every morning on the Internet---well, these activities may be less than acceptable for the judgment panel of callous sophisticates who laugh at tiny heads or look down their noses at us "less-than's," but I'm betting people who engage in these activities are having a lot more fun.

So, don't apologize. Just enjoy yourself, and you probably won't turn into a lizard if the world finds out.