28 Mar 24

We’re well into the information age and as with other ‘ages’, the cons of this current one are becoming obvious.  

We lost something in the Sixties and Seventies.  People stopped making local connections and started a more inward search.  Perhaps that was necessary at the time but it came with a cost.  The numbers were shocking.  In addition to the increasing divorce rate, fewer people attended church and lost those social connections.  Fewer people joined local clubs and fraternal organizations.  Fewer people attended PTA meetings.  We saw the demise of many of those organizations and when parents stopped paying attention to what was going on in their schools, it affected their children negatively. 

We see story after story about how computers are making us more isolated than before the information age started.  We see it directly with the isolation in our own children.  Add a pandemic to the mix and we’re accelerating our society in the wrong direction. 

But, computers become powerful and beneficial when they bring people together.  Dating apps, Meet Up, FaceBook… have allowed humans to make connections that they could have not imagined without them.  FaceBook deserves much of its criticism, however, I’ve enjoyed many subcultures there since joining.  I’ve had discussions with some people who I would have never met otherwise.  My wife and I attended the same college and at the same time.  I drove the college’s buses around campus.  We’re quite sure that she got on my bus at least once.  And yet we didn’t meet until ten years later and through a dating app.  I can’t imagine my life without her and if it wasn’t for computers, we would have never met!

It’s true that some of the local stuff can be quite dry.  Zoning issues don’t get me too excited either.  But, it doesn’t have to be all work.  We can have fun too and that’s where the whiskey comes in.  It’s called ‘Whiskey and Politics’, not ‘Liver-and-onions and Politics’.  I’ve found that even folks who are not avid whiskey drinkers find the title inviting.

My goal is to post the Whiskey of the Week on Mondays.  Stop by, see what whiskey is featured, read the latest blog post, and head over to your state, county or city page and see what’s going on there.  You’re always welcome to dig through the agendas and minutes and alert us to something I missed on the Discord Channels.  And you’re always welcome to mock my mediocre writing.  Just don’t miss an opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.  I’m planning the next meetup.  Don’t miss it.  Skál!