This opening line is actually the last one I wrote for this entry, as the following is semi-related to the "Sleeve" entry from yesterday and I just now, at the end, realized it.
It stands to reason that a person's level of commitment, interaction, or involvement in something is responsible for how seriously they discuss or react to issues related to it. It's also a fact there are many different types of people in the world, and they should never be expected to agree on everything (or even anything in some cases). Within this myriad of personalities, there usually lies a majority and a minority. And almost always, you'll find a third type: the contrarian.
Applying this observation to storm chasing, it's common to find that the two larger groups are most often separated not only by their opinions on a given issue, but the seriousness of their involvement in the conversation to begin with. Chasing is many things to many people, so it's natural that some will lie awake at night carefully crafting their next rebuttal, while others simply drag their feet lazily through the water, just to make a rift. (Personally I'm somewhere in the middle, though I do tend to gravitate closer to one side or the other depending on the topic de jour).
The contrarian, as it pertains to chase-related debates, is almost always an individual who has strayed so far beyond "lazy rifting" that they really have no emotional investment in the art of storm chasing whatsoever. They partake of the activity (usually on a self-sanctioned limited or even strict basis; "I won't take more than two weeks off to chase regardless."), but it's more of a business venture than a journey of personal satisfaction. Practical, not passionate. Their viewpoints are often contrary not only to the majority opinion, but the level of seriousness given the overall discussion. Because they have no real ties to chasing emotionally, they remain perpetually on the outside looking in, and thus, have a nonchalant attitude towards chasing in general, which, when applied to a specific chase-related discussion, wanes further still.
Speaking as someone who cares greatly about chasing, I think it's fair to say I've just described my polar opposite personality type reasonably well. This would indicate I have at least some understanding (and more importantly, tolerance) of this particular brand of individual. But this is something you don't usually see from the other side of the fence. Contrarians not only contradict the popular opinion, they ridicule the majority for their level of commitment to said opinion. They are unable (or unwilling) to comprehend a point-of-view or an emotional investment that differs from their own, resulting in thinly-veiled snarks that they probably aren't even attempting to hide in the first place.
Majority and minority groups attack one another for their differing opinions, but never cross over into the realm of "you're taking this too seriously" or, to the contrarian, "you're not taking this seriously enough." Yet the contrarian finds more pleasure in pointing out what he/she sees as an obvious character flaw (too serious) than the actual issue. Perhaps this is a result from the contrarian's own character flaw? Perhaps the inability to see things through another's eyes?
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
It's Just The Internet (Wear It On Your Sleeve)
When did emotion become overrated? When did it stop being cool to wear it on your sleeve? Oh that's right, it started with the internet generation. The generation whose very lifeblood is virtual, digital, and only a keystroke away from annihilation. So it drips with irony that this bunch would be the ones who cling so tightly to the old world wide web proverb of "think before you hit 'send'." What exactly does that mean?
"Think before you hit 'send'" is basically telling us to collect ourselves emotionally, before we share our type-written thoughts with the world. It's not telling us to be certain we understand what we're replying to, it's not telling us to make sure we have all the facts, it's simply saying "calm down". As if laughter or tears trump misinterpretation or lies. Phooey.
For years I took heat over my animated posts on the WX-CHASE grouplist, a now mostly defunct group who's priority has always been minimizing signal-to-noise ratio, factual posts, and a mostly-robotic tone. Character was frowned upon, which made myself and that particular group of people a volatile mix for many years. Even if the facts were there, and the post was beneficial, there were still those who looked down on it if "feeling" was involved. I was once told, in a private email, that many members suspected I had "emotional problems" because of the way I posted. What was the problem? That I had emotions? After butting heads over and over, I eventually withdrew from the group.
"Think before you hit 'send'."
Then came Stormtrack. This was basically the answer to WX-CHASE, for people like me who wanted a place to discuss weather, storms, and chasing without having to pretend we weren't human beings. It was a beautiful thing, equal parts business, pleasure, and everything in between. Harmonic balance. The issue that eventually came to light with Stormtrack wasn't the stifling of emotions, but rather the clashing of them.
Membership grew exponentially, and began to reach beyond the seasoned chaser, weather enthusiast, and scientist. New blood and demographics were flowing into the forum like water, and the melting pot of personalities reached a boiling point (born largely of the overall ignorance-yet-frequent posting of many new members). Seasoned members grew tired of the drop in quality offerings, while new members felt slighted by the lack of interest in their presence. This lead to many "flame wars", where personalities clashed and the debates were often-times personal. Like the WX-CHASE brass, Stormtrack sought to eliminate this emotional element from its content. But, like every other forum that's actually active and is used often, it failed, and continues to fail.
Emotion on the internet and behind a post, status update, or email is not a bad thing. It's not the real world. In the real world, a person can get mad, walk up to a woman, and strike her. Then, a half hour later when they've calmed down and regret horribly what they've done, they cannot undo it. On the internet, a person can get mad, write a scathing review or critique, and a half hour later when they realize what an ass they were...they can delete it. Wow. With the internet, people don't have to think ahead. They just delete it later.
For clarity, it's important to note that I'm a firm believer in the "sticks and stones" mentality, meaning I don't buy that mamby pamby "generation hurt feelings" crap that words hurt as much if not more than a fist. They don't.
"Think before you hit 'send'" is basically telling us to collect ourselves emotionally, before we share our type-written thoughts with the world. It's not telling us to be certain we understand what we're replying to, it's not telling us to make sure we have all the facts, it's simply saying "calm down". As if laughter or tears trump misinterpretation or lies. Phooey.
For years I took heat over my animated posts on the WX-CHASE grouplist, a now mostly defunct group who's priority has always been minimizing signal-to-noise ratio, factual posts, and a mostly-robotic tone. Character was frowned upon, which made myself and that particular group of people a volatile mix for many years. Even if the facts were there, and the post was beneficial, there were still those who looked down on it if "feeling" was involved. I was once told, in a private email, that many members suspected I had "emotional problems" because of the way I posted. What was the problem? That I had emotions? After butting heads over and over, I eventually withdrew from the group.
"Think before you hit 'send'."
Then came Stormtrack. This was basically the answer to WX-CHASE, for people like me who wanted a place to discuss weather, storms, and chasing without having to pretend we weren't human beings. It was a beautiful thing, equal parts business, pleasure, and everything in between. Harmonic balance. The issue that eventually came to light with Stormtrack wasn't the stifling of emotions, but rather the clashing of them.
Membership grew exponentially, and began to reach beyond the seasoned chaser, weather enthusiast, and scientist. New blood and demographics were flowing into the forum like water, and the melting pot of personalities reached a boiling point (born largely of the overall ignorance-yet-frequent posting of many new members). Seasoned members grew tired of the drop in quality offerings, while new members felt slighted by the lack of interest in their presence. This lead to many "flame wars", where personalities clashed and the debates were often-times personal. Like the WX-CHASE brass, Stormtrack sought to eliminate this emotional element from its content. But, like every other forum that's actually active and is used often, it failed, and continues to fail.
Emotion on the internet and behind a post, status update, or email is not a bad thing. It's not the real world. In the real world, a person can get mad, walk up to a woman, and strike her. Then, a half hour later when they've calmed down and regret horribly what they've done, they cannot undo it. On the internet, a person can get mad, write a scathing review or critique, and a half hour later when they realize what an ass they were...they can delete it. Wow. With the internet, people don't have to think ahead. They just delete it later.
For clarity, it's important to note that I'm a firm believer in the "sticks and stones" mentality, meaning I don't buy that mamby pamby "generation hurt feelings" crap that words hurt as much if not more than a fist. They don't.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Out of the Blue
Good morning dear reader. Hopefully this entry finds you comfortably basking in the afterglow of a lovely Holiday. Myself, I'm lounging on my wonderful double-lazy-boy recliner couch thing, still in pajama pants. The way it should be, really.
The end of the month is nearing, which means the end of my December promotional push for "Out of the Blue" is also nearing. Just a few more days, and all those annoying facebook promos will disappear forever. I understand it's annoying to some people, but it's also necessary when you're trying to actually promote something. I always take the first month after a release to really push it, and once that first month is over, I never mention it again. When you sell something as obscure as a personal chase video, the audience is already small. Maximizing sell potential to that small audience early on is key, because once a chase video is a few weeks old, people stop caring (if they ever did). So, this week wraps up this latest promotional effort, which, by my modest standards, has been pretty solid.
Already in its first month, OOTB has outsold both "Tenacity" and "Weather", and is closing in on "Lemonade". Social networking, as much as I hate the very concept of it, works. Facebook has made all the difference, and has proven far superior to Stormtrack, which I completely boycotted this time around. "Blue" is doing better in its first month than any of my other videos did in their first month. And it's done so without the benefit of public viewer reviews (the one perk of using Stormtrack to advertise). So social networking has proven its worth. I am a believer.
The end of the month is nearing, which means the end of my December promotional push for "Out of the Blue" is also nearing. Just a few more days, and all those annoying facebook promos will disappear forever. I understand it's annoying to some people, but it's also necessary when you're trying to actually promote something. I always take the first month after a release to really push it, and once that first month is over, I never mention it again. When you sell something as obscure as a personal chase video, the audience is already small. Maximizing sell potential to that small audience early on is key, because once a chase video is a few weeks old, people stop caring (if they ever did). So, this week wraps up this latest promotional effort, which, by my modest standards, has been pretty solid.
Already in its first month, OOTB has outsold both "Tenacity" and "Weather", and is closing in on "Lemonade". Social networking, as much as I hate the very concept of it, works. Facebook has made all the difference, and has proven far superior to Stormtrack, which I completely boycotted this time around. "Blue" is doing better in its first month than any of my other videos did in their first month. And it's done so without the benefit of public viewer reviews (the one perk of using Stormtrack to advertise). So social networking has proven its worth. I am a believer.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
On We Go
SMOK, we both knew you were right when you said I'd be back. What can I say, I just have to write about this crazy obsession called 'storm chasing'. I love it.
Anyway, after sitting around for a few months with the "plan" to incorporate a blog system into my website like most others have already done, I came up with this redneck version instead. I'm lazy, so it was just easier to use the limited (but adequate) tools here on blogger to simply create a pseudo front page into my website remotely. A lot less work, a lot less thinking, and I still get what I want out of the deal.
So basically what this is, is an alternate path into Passion Twist. You can access any internal link found on the actual website main page from here, by scrolling down and looking to the right. Since I rarely update the actual website, I figured this would be an interesting alternative for folks who want to see what I'm up to and check in on the website while they're here. Again, the same thing everyone else did two years ago, but far more shade tree ;-)
A few things are now different since I resurrected this thing. You might notice that comments are no longer allowed. I debated a long time over this. I've always prided myself on being not only outspoken publicly, but also allowing a fair shot at rebuttal by my readers. After all, if you're going to take shots at something or someone, you should at least expect a fair amount of return fire. It's only proper. However, after battling endless anonymous hecklers, I grew tired of the attention it kept taking away from the subject at hand. There's a difference between thinking up the most outrageous stuff you can write down, just to get a reaction....and just writing what you honestly feel, despite knowing the reaction it will cause. In my opinion, the latter owes it to no one to make available the ability to fire back. So because I cannot keep hecklers away, and (to my own undoing) cannot stop myself from fighting with them, I simply chose to eliminate comments altogether. This blog is what I think. Outside opinions are not needed. If you read something so horrible you just have to say something, you can create a dummy email account and send it to me that way...so I can delete it.
The focus of this blog hasn't changed much. Expect the same thing you've gotten from me since day one, with personal chasing news sprinkled in. There will be chase reports (condensed versions that will appear later on in detail when time permits), Debris Show stuff, an occasional inspirational piece, and of course Passion Twist website news/updates/yada yada. For a third time, basically the same thing all other chasers already do, except held together with baling wire.
So yeah....I'm excited. I've shed the forums and group lists and all other public venues that I wreaked so much "havoc" on in the past just being myself. Now that I've left all those places behind (and I'm sure they're all better for it), I'll continue to do my thing right here on my own patch of virtual grass. It doesn't matter what you put over it....you can only contain this mouth for so long. Looking forward to the future :-)
Anyway, after sitting around for a few months with the "plan" to incorporate a blog system into my website like most others have already done, I came up with this redneck version instead. I'm lazy, so it was just easier to use the limited (but adequate) tools here on blogger to simply create a pseudo front page into my website remotely. A lot less work, a lot less thinking, and I still get what I want out of the deal.
So basically what this is, is an alternate path into Passion Twist. You can access any internal link found on the actual website main page from here, by scrolling down and looking to the right. Since I rarely update the actual website, I figured this would be an interesting alternative for folks who want to see what I'm up to and check in on the website while they're here. Again, the same thing everyone else did two years ago, but far more shade tree ;-)
A few things are now different since I resurrected this thing. You might notice that comments are no longer allowed. I debated a long time over this. I've always prided myself on being not only outspoken publicly, but also allowing a fair shot at rebuttal by my readers. After all, if you're going to take shots at something or someone, you should at least expect a fair amount of return fire. It's only proper. However, after battling endless anonymous hecklers, I grew tired of the attention it kept taking away from the subject at hand. There's a difference between thinking up the most outrageous stuff you can write down, just to get a reaction....and just writing what you honestly feel, despite knowing the reaction it will cause. In my opinion, the latter owes it to no one to make available the ability to fire back. So because I cannot keep hecklers away, and (to my own undoing) cannot stop myself from fighting with them, I simply chose to eliminate comments altogether. This blog is what I think. Outside opinions are not needed. If you read something so horrible you just have to say something, you can create a dummy email account and send it to me that way...so I can delete it.
The focus of this blog hasn't changed much. Expect the same thing you've gotten from me since day one, with personal chasing news sprinkled in. There will be chase reports (condensed versions that will appear later on in detail when time permits), Debris Show stuff, an occasional inspirational piece, and of course Passion Twist website news/updates/yada yada. For a third time, basically the same thing all other chasers already do, except held together with baling wire.
So yeah....I'm excited. I've shed the forums and group lists and all other public venues that I wreaked so much "havoc" on in the past just being myself. Now that I've left all those places behind (and I'm sure they're all better for it), I'll continue to do my thing right here on my own patch of virtual grass. It doesn't matter what you put over it....you can only contain this mouth for so long. Looking forward to the future :-)
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