WHAT WOULD VOLTAIRE POST?

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I was thinking the other day about all this Internet stuff and the social networking that goes on with Facebook and Tweeter or what have you.  I know writing this blogue everyday and even going on Facebook, is a chance like many of you to express myself in some capacity and give vent to my emotions whether they are strong, weak or indifferent.

The big sissy Voltaire (Note Marie's hairdo)

It all got me wondering what it would be like to a Voltaire, or Mark Twain, how would they handle this, or would they ignore it? François-Marie d'Arouet (1694–1778), better known by his pen name Voltaire, was a French writer who played a large role in defining the eighteenth-century movement called the Enlightenment. With a name like Marie though, he would probably spend a great deal of time indoors so no one would pick on him, thus he spent that time writing. He wrote plays, stories, and poems philosophical in its design and nature, and he directed many of his critical writings in contrast to the writings of philosophers such as Leibniz, Malebranche, and Descartes. He was a rebel and serious. He probably wouldn’t have appreciated my humor.

Good old American Twain

Now Mark Twain on the other hand probably would have had a grand time on Facebook, writing and poking fun at everyone and everything, that was his style with his keen observations and probing outlook on life as he saw it. There was no pretension from the man, just hard honest looks at himself, his country and even God. He wrote free of any pretentions and said in essence that life is only serious when we can laugh at ourselves!

I know that TLW (The Little Woman) and my kids must cringe at the thought that this tool called the Internet is in my hands! Thoughts such as: should I get out of bed this morning and read that blog? Or what did he say this time, or even: how expensive is it to change my last name I wonder?

A sorry ass blouer

But Voltaire and Twain would have both embraced the idea of free thought, whether they agree with what is posted or not, and may have even posted in protest against some of the things that is up there on Facebook, and what comes from this venue.

People say thay are wasting time on Facebook, but what is really happening is a wonderful recording of our daily lives, something that never happened before! For instance, the passion of politics, the popular cultural events, even the recipes that are posted on Facebook, all give a great memorial to what we think and feel today. Just think of our great grandkids, reading about us after we were long gone, seeing inside our homes and where we spent our vacations, what our pets names were and what we drive. They will clearly see what we as individuals really are like, so many years ago.

I always wished I knew more about my grandparents. My mother’s mother and father I never met, and my Dad’s father died long before I was born too. Who were they really, were they the serious hard workers that had no time for frivolity, or where they more light-hearted? Was Grandma a shopper, a great cook, a great mother, a great person? What was the inside of their home like? My grandchildren will know all this because of the Internet, because I participated in something that opened the doors to history and let out the stale air of curiosity, and exposed who I really am. (Sorry grandkids, but I tried).

If we had the Internet way back when Voltaire was around, he would have supplied us with paintings and woodcuts of his life I’m sure, and so we would have had a glimpse into life in the 18^th century.