I have been on an extended vacation lately, yet haven't left off my online activity. I am a convert to the twitter persuasion of content for the moment. I see the cleaving of a metaphorical claymore with its limitations. Some of the greatest writers were inspired by boundaries, for it allows a mind to stop exploring the "no edge" universe which Hank Green so aptly described the reaches of space. Instead, it forces the hand to make the best of the area available to interaction and self-expression. In short, an empty room is a matter of perspective. To the ignorant it is a prison, but a creative and optimistic mind notes the opportunity to fill it with content & purpose.
As pertains to Twitter: Yes it is a medium that lends to stupidity, but at least it is boxed away into a mercifully small package of 140 characters. It takes a meticulous and patient person to write what they mean in the same space. If it requires more than one tweet to expound upon your subject, a succinct #hashtag will summarize the common thread between postings. It is almost laughable when a rash person rants half cocked on a subject, because their paragraphs are taken more easily out of context. Continuity is an important virtue to hold even more dearly when the stakes are so small and the potential is great.
While brevity may not always be the soul of wit, it is a highly prized virtue in a fast paced world.
The same can be said on an intellectual level. I function better when I am not faced with many options. I can stop calculating what additional routes might be available, in fact, some avenues close when not pursued in a timely manner. I then must choose from a shortened menu of paths, and put all my energy behind the one I must undertake. Joss Whedon's Avengers featured a villain who took this idea to the extreme. Loki perceived that humanity had a history of following the example of others rather than blazing their own trails. What he failed to ask himself honestly, was whether he was a person who was such an example worth emulating. Further irony arises from the fact that Loki was the God of Mischief in the Norse mythos. Instead of encouraging entropy and chaos from free will gone haywire, he had taken the opposite strategy of making humankind his unquestioning sheep.
I don't want to spoil Dark Knight Rises, only that it is a fitting end to the Nolan trilogy of the creation, fall, & conclusion of Bruce Wayne. Nothing in Batman was admitted to be superhuman or supernatural, Nolan's vision was to turn a unblinking spotlight on the heights of nobility and hope depths of depravity & despair found in human behavior and simple choices. The frightening part of the content of the movies is the basis for logic of the "villains," that these beliefs exist as seeds in the hearts of men, but that so few have the courage to stand for what is noble or the nerve to question social norms with a revolutionary philosophy.
The Avengers was star-powered lighthearted fun and thrills, leaving the theatre knowing that such characters will remain fixed in that universe. The Dark Knight trilogy will not depart so easily from your subconscious, it raises questions as to "what would you have done?" and "do you have it in you to make such a decision? What compels you to action?"
