h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Fenny! We met a number of times here already so I thought I ought to come here and give you a proper greeting. I want to comment on your paragraph about tolerance and the world, and about your compassion. This is something that I think I have too, and I wish that more people had it. It makes life very painful for me, but I would rather be compassionate, and suffer with other people who suffer, than not.

But what about the good stuff, about beautiful and wonderful people and events and places and things? I wouldn't be able to keep sane if I didn't know about the better bits. The problem with TV and Radio is not that they show us so much bad stuff, but that they cannot really get to the heart of the good stuff. Their nature constrains them into showing a limited perspective.

We need more personal, positive interaction in the world. What is your opinion - can the internet really serve as a medium for meaningful interaction, communication, bonding between people? I ask because I spend much time here, as you seem to do too, and I do think that this is helping me reach out to people.

Hi Case.

Thanks for recognising my compassion. It is painful, but as you said, and I keep answering those who suggest I'm too thin-skinned and I ought to "grow an extra skin", I'd rather have one skin too few than too many. I'd rather recognise pain and suffering, than turn my back on it.

This does make somethings difficult though - we were talking about a holiday in India, and I know I couldn't go, because I couldn't be a rich tourist and pass by all the poor people (I understand it has a lot of *beggars doesn't do it justice, sorry* people who are poorer than anything I've seen in England). It's not that I'd be too proud, it's that I'd be in tears from minute to minute. We were in Turkey on holiday, and I got caught by the old-woman-lying-in-the-street-looking-hurt routine. Yes, I did want to stop and check she was all right. (And my loving kind sweet husband stopped me because she was, and she was preying on tourists like me). And she did get up and move on after we passed - but I still felt immense guilt.

I'm suffering fatigue about the Israel/Near East situation (I'm Jewish and hoping for Peace). The BBC is not as objective as I'd like, and I occasionally discover that as a Jew I'm expected to listen to John Doe's complaints about Israel, and not stick up for the country. This is hard. It also means I want to step aside from my feelings that Israel is doing things wrong, and excuse Israel to these people (I'm not going to give them fuel for next time!) and then go back to watching another Cease-fire turn into bloodshed. I've got fatigue to the point where I am cynical about Cease-fire, because it seems to me that the most violent of the Palestinians are willing to Suicide to break it - and Israel is keen to respond as manipulated.

There are good things. I am a very "day-to-day" person - I tend to forget the bad things, scab and heal the hurt, because there's no other way. I love nature (through a window), I love computers (how sad!) I love music (without measurement), and I've started to learn to draw. I love my husband, who keeps me sane and gives me support; I love laughter and the support that brings; and I'm enjoying work.

I do think the internet can build bridges between countries/nations/cultures and all divisions. I don't think it's the only tool we should use - education should be "up there in lights". I'm not sure whether you have followed the "Thompson/Venables" string, as it relates to parental education, but society has become too centralised and simultaneously fragmented (in England, though: I don't know about South Africa). The Cultural Environment is one which should breed tolerance (I'm now referring to my new religion, which has superceded Judaism: Oneworldism - promoting a belief in Tolerance for the Greater Good) and understanding.

I can see you (personally, now) are successfully reaching out, building bridges, bonding. There are people, I know, and I know some, who've turned a meaningful cyber-relationship into a marital relationship. I would like to think I'm successfully doing likewise, although I would temper that: 1) I'm not on long and often (maybe two-three hours per day between work and sleep) and 2) I have a butterfly-tendancy to flit onto the next project, and I don't know how long I'll stay addicted. But I admit I am addicted, and H2G2 is a fascinating global mixture of intellects, and wonderful place to exercise my own intellect (I stutter a bit when I speak, so I'll never be verbally as fluent as online - this is a brilliant medium!) I'm not normally so verbose - I have to work hard to stop being concise!

x x Fenny

Hi! There are lots of beggars here too. There are huge complications involved. For instance consider this example: there's a woman who is really poor, in bad health, without enough food to eat, and with three or four kids to support, without a husband, and she lives in a really cheap and dirty slum and gets sent out daily to swindle people with false sob stories, and she makes large amounts of money, and then the guy who owns the slum takes it from her, beats her black and blue and sends her out to get more. This is why police and wellfare and other social systems ought to function well. They don't here.

I'm similarly concerned about what's happening in the Israel area. Not to mention Northern Ireland, India/Pakistan, Tibet, Indonesia, Central and South America, and the entirety of Africa.

I think it will be a good idea to use the internet to promote knowledge of other cultures, and tolerance!

I also think verboseness is good! This message would have been longer if it wasn't almost half past two in the morning right now! I've just earnt the top of the 'longest postings' list with my latest nocturnal online efforts.

Hi Case. Thanks for pulling me off the fence some time back. I have probably climbed back on by the time you read this, but I needed the opportunity to thank Kassandra for her friendship in a way that indicated my feelings to the humourless masses.

Fire can only burn when there is air, fuel, and heat. If cyberspace is full of hot air, no wonder flamings occur!

My husband and I roleplay in an attempt to escape the horrors of the world. For a few brief hours some evenings, his characters and mine can set all to rights. All the horrible evils and injustices of the world, corrected in our sitting room!

x x Fenny (optimistically)

My 'characters' are trying to do that on a full-time basis!

I will sometime soon send you some more views and info on precog! There has been absolutely breathtaking amounts of that around my life these past few days - you know what matter I talk of! I hope to be able to make some of this info publically available ... it will never prove anything, but it is definitely interesting!