Border Wars.

Borders are vital and ubiquitous. Because of their importance, they are often the focus of the most spirited, bitter, and ceaseless conflict.

But it is an essential conflict because without boundaries there is no me, no you, no us, and no them. Microscopically, life itself depends on the thin border of lipids that holds in genetic code. Telescopically, the Universe is everything that is on this side of the unfathomable border between somethingness and nothingness.

Some borders are razor sharp and others are disputed and blurry, but they all share the attribute of being strife with friction and heat. Some are firm and monolithic, others are constantly in flux. And thus borders are interesting places to be.

The blog world as I understand it is a collective selfish endeavor of self publishing mostly about one’s self. It’s also redundant and repetitive and mostly recycled. Objectivism tells us that there is virtue in selfishness and who doesn’t like the idea of recycling, even if recycling is not really that great in reality.

Today is my blog-birthday and selfishness and recycling are extant concepts right off the bat in the real world, so why not in the blogosphere. Children are clearly selfish and the disintegration of their diapers is the benchmark of the recycling debate. I am righteously selfish and hopefully the little bombs I drop on this blog will go over better than decaying diapers. To quote Reese, “God, I love this country.”

The two most common first sounds a baby makes are “m” and “n,” and that’s not just when they’re filling their diapers. M and N are essential to form the three most important words: “mama,” “mine,” and “no!” It should be no surprise that the majority of blog content is synergistic with those three concepts. I suppose that developmental linguists just might add “meme” to that list when the first group of blog babbies begin babbling.

“Mama” is the source of sustenance, but we also seem to inherit our politics, religion, and various psychoses from our parents. “Mine” is the first physical boundary we learn about and typically the most important border we guard and expand during our life. And “No” establishes our metaphysical borders: our desires, our beliefs, our aspirations, and our tastes.

What an attractive hobby blogging is. After irritating your friends and family with rants on the forbidden topics of religion and politics, or boring them with your latest technerd fascination, you can post it on the internet and imagine that there are thousands of people who give a crap. Relentless clicking of the refresh button only feeds your ego when your page views pass into the double digits.

Sign me up, the world needs to hear what I have to say. Plus, I’ve been kicked off just about every other outlet (e-mail lists, forums, other people’s blog comments) for wearing out my welcome and challenging the local culture. You might classify such people as trolls (or illegal aliens), but perhaps some of them are just immigrant proto-bloggers who have yet to establish a blog of their own.

It’s not surprising that challenges to local culture spark ire and censorship; after all, people like to fight their wars at or beyond their borders, away from their soft centers and no one takes criticism well.

So with this in mind, I start my own blog. I intend to spit venom at hypocrisy and stupidity, occasionally inform and enlighten, and otherwise indulge my current interests. I understand that blogging is not conducive to becoming President, getting or keeping a job, or impressing women. Such tasks typically involve covering up your true beliefs, denying past actions, whitewashing your personality, and pretending to be productive.

Oh well. Aspirat primo Fortuna labori…

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