What Did the Fish Say to the Fisherman? 

    It was either Abe Lincoln or Mark Twain who said something to the effect that, “It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt.” 
    If there was ever a time when people should heed this advice it’s now. We have so many people who feel they need to say something about everything that it’s like being buried in confetti. Our social media makes this not only easy to do but makes it possible to reach a huge audience. 
    Many of these self-styled ‘watchdogs of everything’ use social media to keep us informed and of course keep themselves in the public eye. Politicians and celebrities come to mind. Evidently, they think that anything they say or do is of great interest to many people. And that any mention of their name, whether positive or negative is better then not having their name mentioned at all. They feel that many people are holding their breath waiting for their opinions, feelings, and day-to- day activities. Sad to say, this is probably true. 
    There are also many people in these two above mentioned categories who are evidently secure enough that they don’t feel the need to deprivatize their lives, just for the publicity. 
    And then we have the leaders of our country who tweet or use other social media to tell us how they feel about every issue. I mean every issue. An example: This morning he or she is in favor of some issue. By noon they have changed their mind and are against the issue. By evening they have seen the light and are now once again in favor of said issue. And the amazing thing is that they feel compelled to tell millions of followers about this vacillation. There’s nothing wrong with changing his or her mind, but why tell everyone? It doesn’t make them appear to be strong leaders. 
    Of course, a large amount of this vacillation is magnified by the news media which tries their best to make these leaders, especially if their politics don’t agree with the news writer, look like idiots. 
    Now most of this would not have been possible if the leader had just kept his or her mouth shut in the first place. 
    It appears that at least half of the tweet readers don’t agree with what’s been said; so they feel compelled to answer, very seldom with reasoned arguments, but with vindictiveness, or whatever they think it takes to make the tweeter look ridiculous. It reminds me of little kids on a playground.
    “You did.” 
    “I did not.” 
    “You did?" 
    “I did not.” 

    Oh, the fish? He said, “It probably would’ve been better if I’d kept my mouth shut.”