Are we forever blowing bubbles?

Back in the day, there was a popular children's story that quite bizarrely included the issues of; nudity, civil disorder, deceit, vanity & profiteering.

So far removed from current children's offerings of getting a bit Tipsy with Lala (albeit that even this may help them speak Gaga later in life) this tale - 'The Emperor's New Clothes' - at least taught people of that generation that everything is not always what it seems to be!

Increasingly however, that message is being virtually forgotten as we rapidly head for a virtual world when NOTHING is what it seems!

I have previously mentioned in my post 'Is all of this really worth it?' what really matters in the world. That is, 'real' people helping other 'real' people to live their 'real' lives better.

Shortly after that posting people in the Middle East started to protest for justice and the Arab Spring movement took off.

Obviously there was absolutely no connection between the two previous paragraphs but sometimes two unconnected 'facts' are 'connected' to give the impression that something that isn't, actually IS!

Will buying an imaginary farm, looking after imaginary animals make you or anyone else a better person? And, if 280m people worldwide can be convinced that it will, will any good come of it?

For Zynga, Farmville's owners, a lot of good will come of it. They hope this second dot.com "bubble" will continue to grow, and will help to earn them the projected $9.8m that a stock Market flotation will somehow bring them.

Bubbles are by their very nature flimsy, and at some point, like all good blisters, likely to burst. Just ask any West Ham supporter! Although, to be fair, they have been blowing bubbles for years and years.

When times get hard and the only option is to sell the family silver & other treasures, how much will a "virtual" combine harvester bring on 'Cash in the Attic'?

However, all of the above can also quite fairly be labelled a load of hypocritical old "tosh". And, if that is the charge, I plead "Guilty, your Honour!"

I accept that this blog is written in the virtual world of the inter-web, to virtually no-one, and has little or no value, other than to some very kind souls who occasionally read it; smile and nod; give me a virtual pat on my (to them) virtual head, and in so doing give me the encouragement to carry on.

No different to Farmville then! Doing good is great! But from time to time, just doing something that you enjoy is sometimes worth paying for.

Now, if we could combine both those concepts in a working day....wouldn't that be great...for everyone!