I got an email today from a long-time supporter who is worried about me. I responded to his email explaining that he doesn't see the half of it, and that's why I'm seriously thinking about walking away.
His email (I'm concealing his identity) read:
You are clearly suffering from mental fatigue from all of the terrible atrocities you are watching in the course of gathering the news. Your rants are getting to be over the top when you accuse the listeners of seeking bloody Roman Coliseum-like news. I for one understand that terrible things can happen to individuals or groups of individuals, but I don’t seek out that type of information. You need to better keep your life in balance or you will destroy yourself and fail to deliver actual news the people need about the state of the world.
Best wishes,
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My reply:
You are correct and just this weekend, I have been seriously . . . . VERY SERIOUSLY . . . . thinking about shutting down this entire endeavor.
I make really good money doing this, and I won't be able to replace that really good money . . . but then, too, I don't NEED to. All my debt -- ALL of it -- is paid off.
I would need some small amount to buy food and pay property taxes. So I _can_ walk away from this; and am actually looking at whether or not to do so.
It isn't just the news, it's the idiocy I encounter each and every day from people who talk as if they know anything, but don't.
Whiney, complaining, dolts who think what I SAY is somehow worse than what's actually being DONE.
I don't want to abide these people anymore. Their whining. Complaining. Then, there's the endless stream of emails to all three email addresses telling me "watch this video" or "Listen to what this person says."
In addition to that, I have moron after moron writing me: I forgot my Username. I forgot my password.
Then, there's the voice mails. E V E R Y hour of E V E R Y day. Calling and leaving a voice mail as if they're calling into the show to express a view. Oh, and you'd be shocked at the drunks calling and slurring. They're the worst of it; leaving ten minute messages with their drunken drivel.
Even the postal mail is a hassle. People sending me -- of all things -- newspaper clippings; or print outs from the web of stories they read, all telling me what they think about it.
It's as if they view me as some sort of fucking social worker. A psychiatrist. A Counselor.
And if all that's not enough, there's the User comment area under each story. Fight after fight. And some people writing to complain about other people. It's like fucking Kindergarten.
I really am at my wits end over this and want to just close up shop and walk away.
I've really had quite enough of it all.
