What do you know?; Seriously

There is the old adage Write what you know. While on a blog it’s easiest and obvious to write about ideas or topics you know intimately, it may not be best for you or your reader.

The problem is Write what you know is not such a big jump “Read what you know”. I’m pretty liberal, and surprise, surprise the Daily Mail makes me nauseous. However, I shouldn’t be entirely put of by the amount of jingoistic nonsense such sources spout. It’s a mistake to assume that other conclusions than your own are illogical.

I have found that if you break down your decision making process many parts of that process are coloured by emotion. Some very good friends of mine are quite conservative. A major difference in our views often arose from a single point of contention; Should the strong or the capable have a responsibility to support the weak or lesser capable.

I believe that a number of aspects outside of my control (genes, parental influence, schooling, being born in the UK) have given me an advantage over some other people in life. As such I feel I should use some of the benefit I receive to invest in others, and give them chances they may not otherwise have had. This can be through as simple a source as taxation. I am childless, but I am happy in the knowledge my taxes contribute to the education of the nation’s children.¹

On the other hand some of my friends feel that their use of the resource available to them are the reason for their abundance. They would argue that sharing that bounty with people who have not made the same amount of effort (and therefore not reach the same level of abundance) is unfair. They would argue that the world has enough opportunities to allow any man to better themselves and improve his circumstance if he wishes to.²

While I of course often agree with these friends, they are not stupid. I still respect their opinions, I still concede arguments and accept parts of their reasoning. This leads to me blogs, I don’t always wish to write about what I know. I especially don’t wish to read about what I know. That’s one the reasons I write on so many topics.

I started this post attempting to write something exploring how you can find new reading material using Technorati and Google. However I think it turned into something much more fundamental. Blogs make it easy to reenforce the ideas you already have. I blogged this week about a group of people who made harassment their norm. While it’s easy to criticise such a group from the outside, there have been several posts noting what a gradual downslide meankids had.

I can only encourage all my readers to go out and spread their wings, read something different. I’m going to post a follow-up looking at some of the way I find new places to read. If nothing else, do two things:

• Google the antonym of your opinion
• Try stumbleupon for some topics of choice and just see what you find

So, go out there and diversify!

¹ It’s worth noting that I also feel that I have worked hard for what I have. I believe in the theoretical idea of “effortocracy”. Your reward is not based on how much you start with, how much you got from anyone. It’s based on how much you put in.

While I believe that the social benefits system is good, I would advocate the government basic guaranteeing jobs over hand outs. It’s not entirely practical, it’s been argued we can’t invent that many jobs without wiping out the need for minimum wage labour anyway. I would rather have a society which allows everyone to work if they want than one that supports those who are willing to find a way subsist on the minimum the society will give them for doing nothing.

² This argument is the foundation of the American dream.

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