Portentous

General feelings about spam e-mails has made decent fodder for past tirades. A recent entry in this journal consisted of bellyaching about all the junk recently landing in the inbox. Seems it has become tolerable again, with maybe one or two unsolicited messages showing up daily.

Took my advice and stopped clicking on the spammer’s links to unsubscribe, creating apparently an additional mess when I had done so, more or less like a snowball effect. Now that it’s subsided, perhaps the extraneous effort actually worked. Who knows?

A new e-mail presented itself prior to my starting this week’s essay, acting sort of like a muse. “Word of the Day,” was the subject line, whose main offering was Portentous:

1. Relating to a serious matter, ominous
2. Performed in a pompous manner in an effort to impress
3. Self-important to the point of pompousness

Who or what does that make you think off? Never mind, I won’t answer the “who” part of the question, my trying to keep this discourse politics-free, which gets this writer in trouble all the time whenever stepping onto a soapbox otherwise.

Social Media comes to mind, with everyone’s self-promotion. Someone posted the statement, “I don’t like to brag,” yet the person did anyway, like they normally do. I could go on and on about this topic, but, much like with politics, the subject matter results in my being ostracized, ignored, or losing a few followers. Too bad the truth hurts sometimes.

Now, if only the junk mail that lands in my postal box had an unsubscribed link, or a phone number like those for the “Do Not Call Lists,” eliminating the clutter and waste which gets deposited immediately into the recycling bin at the garbage corral. Just think of all the deforestation for making paper that can be avoided, slowing down the effects of climate change: another topic that sends me to the doghouse and takes away all the accumulated “attaboys.” Lost habitats for endangered species could be lessened as well.

I’m so sick and tired of having to be politically correct all the time, watching my “p’s” and “q’s,” and the rest of the letters in the alphabet. Maybe I should spend less time on Social Media, where trolls, bullies, and hateful individuals safe-harbor; which makes me think: how did repugnant people spread their vitriol before the existence of the Internet? These keyboard warriors would certainly not lambaste someone to their faces.

Case in point, I checked my Twitter timeline to see the Braves were leading the Phillies, 14 to 3 in the bottom of the 6th inning. They lost to Atlanta last night, 9 to 2, sending hopes farther down the tubes for our hometown heroes in their quest to at least obtain the wildcard position in the playoffs.

The comments made in the threads after Philadelphia’s tweets were filled with hate and virulence by so-called fans, calling for Gabe Kapler’s firing, sending sundry team members back to the minors, and various obscenities too vulgar to mention. This makes me wonder if these armchair managers would be as vitriolic while standing face-to-face with those they are throwing under the bus in their responses.

Probably not, I tend to think. They would be all smiles and complimentary, asking players for their autographs, telling them how much they are admired, blah-blah-blah.

I was going to write about poison ivy and hemorrhoids in this diatribe, but I’ve reached my 500-word quota, and will leave it until the next time. Thanks for stopping by, and for your continual support.