Why Wear Your Opinions On Your Sleeve

I remember the day when, if you had a strong opinion about politics or community problems you would write a letter to the editor or, at most, share it with your friends and family. That was definitely twentieth century behavior. In the early nineties I switched careers from SuperSub at the local schools to bicycle shop owner (which I have continued with for nearly thirty years). Being a brick and mortar/ mom and pop shop owner in rural mountain town comes with certain rules of acceptable behavoir. Being a liberal is acceptable but ninety percent of your customers do not want to hear about it. Here in the twenty first century Americans feel it is proper and acceptable to utilize their internet connection to foam at the mouth about all sorts of complaints and concerns. The entire gamut of rants are thrown in our face every single day via social networking. There is now serious spillover from electronic media to encounters in the grocery store, post office and any other place that mouths and minds mingle. It seems we've all become hyper-opinionated...and I am blaming the internet and all of it's facets. We are all writers now and we can all have an audience. Our opinions are displayed out in the open for public digestion and regurgitation...and if you don't agree with me, I can electronically eliminate or disown you.