If other cannot stop you, and you prefer it, you can talk about your “rights.” If you are beholden to others, you have the “rights” they prefer you to have.

I can agree that periodicals used to be more numerous, but I suggest a thought experiment where you prove or disprove to yourself that they were more influential than they are now. More influential to who, and what came of that influence? What about the counter-evidence, of the many periodicals that were not influential at the same time and in the same way? I think that history is conflict among elite groups, led by individual men, sometimes utilizing non-elites and sometimes not, sometimes utilizing periodicals and sometimes not. I think that periodicals were influential compared to a time before periodicals, because before periodicals there were no periodicals. But after that first bump from zero to one I don’t think they matter that much.

There’s a romance to the idea of the written word being important. Clark Kent could have been anything, and he was a journalist. The written word sure matters to you and me and most of our friends. But projecting that the written word matters to our enemies, or to the majority, that is an error. There’s whole other ways that the written word matters to giant parts of humanity. All Muslims are expected to read, but only / mainly one book. Social media has produced more “writers” than at any time in history, but it’s mostly eh (including this very message).

I dreamed I went to see a play. When the play started I realized I’d seen it before and didn’t like it. It was dull, and in the second act the actors put up a paper barrier around the stage so you could only hear the play not see it. This second time I saw the play the audience realized they were supposed to tear through the barrier, and they did. It was still a dull play, and I figured out it was supposed to be dull. After the play there was a reception with candy and beer. The candy was put out like it was free but you were charged for it. Whatever beer you ordered they would say they were out and give you something else like another beer with added water. I figured out these were other actors, and the whole evening was designed to annoy and disappoint the audience.

I like music! And I like the social side of music, because I was of a generation where you go to your friend’s place and put on a record and listen to it together. I was of a generation where you record your music on a tape and mail it to somebody, then they mail you one. I collected music for that social side for long decades, and made some good music friends that way. There was also a scarcity to some music, and if you were the guy that had that one recording you could do a real favor to someone who wanted it. Well… here in the year 2026 I’ve made my peace that the social side of music is not the majority practice. Individuals get the music they want, recommended by software, and listen alone in headphones. Music scarcity is largely a solved problem, too. That’s not good or bad, just different. Last week I was looking at my music collection and I asked myself why did I spend so much time collecting all this, organizing it, fixing the file names, when the social side is gone and the scarcity side is gone. Then I remembered. I like music! So I set up a little music server on my main home server and put all my music on it. Now I have a radio station for one and am listening to songs I collected this year, last year, five years ago, ten years ago, twenty years ago, forty years ago, and it’s awesome. Oh yeah, that one! Oh yeah, that one! Oh yeah, that one… enough to last the rest of my days. And if a friend wants to have or hear a thing, well, that’s still great.

Regarding regret
The only thing that makes sense
Is when I learned lessons
At another’s expense.

When you talk to someone who says “I don’t understand” as a way of saying “I don’t approve,” and who says “you need to understand” as a way of saying “you need to comply,” please understand that they wish you to stand under them.