Popular sites devolve into mindless crap. Unpopular sites are, by virtue of their unpopularity, irrelevant.

The overall level of intelligence on IWETHEY is much higher than the norm for the general online population. Even the people I disagree with here impress me as being smarter than some people I agree with elsewhere. But I can't escape the feeling I'm caught in some debating club here. Are we making a difference? Are we at least limiting the power of dumbocracy? Or are just chattering amongst ourselves?

Just recently I've reviewed my reasons for rejecting Objectivism all those years ago. They're still valid, but the fact that I even needed to review them is disconcerting. Also, they all seem a little less important now than then. My sense of proportion is shifting. The appeal of Objectivism to the intelligent (which are not necessarily non-stupid) is that it's an expression of anger at the invincible stupidity of the masses. It's no real solution to the problem, but at least it acknowledges the problem.

I'm smart enough that I can manipulate stupid people for my own amusement, and keep them distracted enough that they do less damage. I've done it before. But I felt bad afterwards, as if I'd debased myself somehow. There are lots of people throughout history giving that sort of thing a bad name, and nobody giving it a good name.

What I want is a solution. Powerlessness sucks. It's no fun being right when you're not the one making decisions. I might just settle for small acts of revenge, such as:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void)
{
while(1)
printf("\\t\\t\\b\\b\\b\\b\\b\\b");

return 0;
}