I have said before that the internet and mass connectivity is a mixed blessing. This blog is a product of that new capacity, prior to which a typewriter or notebook and pen were needed. I did start a diary in the 1980's which I wrote in sometimes intensely, and then not at all. I am aware that I have a vast ability to cross-reference, double-check information and add charts, photos and similar data now. I don't take that for granted though, if I had to, I could return to the old way.

Today I read about yet another group of humans who have not benefited from the increased agency that modern communication can offer. They call themselves incels, short for involuntary celibates. Some of these folks have been involved in mass shootings lately, something which has brought their plight, or perverse victimhood, to the attention of the better adjusted. Involuntary celibacy sounds terribly frustrating don't you think(?) and not something a healthy person would voluntarily want to label themselves as, except perhaps in jest. And not that often, besides.

Here is where online activity can form an almost perfect self-reinforcing feedback loop. Groups of disaffected individuals find each other at this forum or that site and saturate themselves in material that buttresses their already negative world view. It is a precinct of self-loathing and, oddly enough, entitlement, that together with large dollops of pornography and hate-site propaganda creates a dark stew. I'm guessing that back in the bad old pre-web days, such people either disappeared into the cracks or were forced to get their acts together.

Should the plug ever get pulled, maybe I'll take up parchment and quill.