The voices

Everybody's talking at me

These days, you get thrown in jail if you say you are English. Well, that's not true but I want to talk about it, I mean the concept, cancel culture even, being 'English', getting thrown in jail, which is all about 'the voices' if you ask me. We all hear the voices, because we see the voices. You are reading this in a voice, this is me talking to you in your head, hello there, I am one of the voices, and there are many of us. There are so many voices talking at you that it can become overwhelming, all of them together, I mean, if you try to listen to them all at once, like some kind of superhero that has gained super-listening and hasn't worked out how to filter them all out yet. Filter is a word I shall be using again in this piece, please, look out for it, because it's an important part. In fact, I almost entitled this blog as 'filters' but I didn't because I thought 'the voices' would be better. Look, that's a choice I made, let's see if it works out, here we go, here we fucking go!

Cheers to the voices

So this is a blog about whisky blogs, about whisky twitter, about YouTube whisky and about whisky awards, in particular the Online Scotch Whisky Awards (henceby and forthwith referred to as OSWA), in which I voted, and it's also not a blog about that at all, except it really is, but not really, well kind of. This is a blog about voices, about which ones to listen to, about where the voices are coming from, and about how loud those voices are. In whisky Twitter, I think, it's about, in part, how many followers you have, or how many engagements you have, or about what people think about you. In Whisky YouTube, it's about views of course, it's all about the views and subscribers. And when it comes to blogs, I guess, it's about the number of hits on your website, and about how many click throughs you get, or some shit, in fact, here is a list of whisky blogs if you are interested. I had a look. But isn't just about whisky, you could apply this anywhere, it's about the voices, there are loads of them. I think Ralfy is the number one YouTuber when it comes to whisky, I like him, I know some don't, but he is a big voice on YouTube, he has 163k subscribers, and he has done the OSWA, which debuts on Saturday, and my thoughts are as follows, but this could be about anything really, but it's about the OSWA, but it could be about politics for instance, or reviewing whole chickens at various supermarkets, as an example.

There he is, there is my boy

The OSWA is a filtered list of whiskies for you to vote on. They and, in part, their followers, have presented us with categories and whiskies in those categories to vote on, and I am totally fine with that because that's their business, and their business seems to be less commercial than some other awards, less influenced by the industry so to speak, although I am sure not completely, because nothing is truly unbiased, but I digress. I voted by the way, I mean, I might have wanted to vote for a different whisky, or maybe even a different category, but I did actually get to have a say in this, a voice, and that's more than I got for any other awards I have seen recently. It's not perfect, I mean, I didn't design it but it's alright and I had a say, it didn't cost me nowt. I had a voice, filtered as it was, and they even have a second 'unfiltered' selection for each award, the strangely named 'wildcard' or more appropriately named 'peoples choice' award. Anyway, we are all trying to be heard, and when we are listened to, it's a privilege it really is, and I thank you for reading this, I really do, thank you, thank you, I really appreciate your time here, I really do, if just one person reads this, then that's great, because I am just one person, and I so often give myself to just one person, we all do, thoughts and feelings shared for a singular person only, that's kind of beautiful, if you think about it. Nothing shared is wasted, if you really think about it, but of course, that might be nonsense, like this blog :)

One of the worst images on the internet today

So how do you filter things? How do you filter these voices? Well, you don't have to, or you can, and only listen to people you trust. How do you know who to trust and how do you know you haven't already been got at, by marketing, advertising or a subservient media that fails us daily by having the same interests as the ruling class, I mean we all are influenced since an early age, conditioned to accept some things as standard, such as, for instance, know your place, or, perhaps, some things are simply not meant for you, fucking serf, you wouldn't understand or you are simply too poor or too stupid! What I would say is watch out for those who treat you with contempt, watch out for those who speak down to you, even if they do know better, even if they are more qualified and more experienced. That doesn't mean much when it comes down to scrapping in the mud for apples, unless we are talking about an expert in apple mud scrapping. But experts, those in the know, should be, trying to impart their knowledge with kindness and compassion! They should be trying to make you a better more knowledgeable person, and if they aren't, well, what are they doing exactly? I'll tell you what! They are trying to get you to wrestle for apples without getting in the mud themselves, they want the apples, we all want the apples, but some of us have to mud wrestle for them, and some of us don't, but don't listen to those who aren't trying to get you out of the mud. If they aren't in the mud, and they aren't lending a hand, then they should, perhaps, get back in the mud, perhaps. 

Twitter, yesterday

I hope I am making myself clear as mud here, again, thank you for reading, thank you. What I am saying is, if they aren't helping you, they are helping themselves, I think, and there is a lot of that about and you should watch out for it, but really watch out for sources of information that just want to help you understand! For example this channel teaches you about electrical circuits, and it's excellent, a good example of kinda complicated stuff, explained really well, much more complicated than, let's say, tasting whisky. I could give many examples, such as those who only review things that are well out of the average persons price range, such as restaurants or 'other things' (maybe even whisky), but I will leave it with the YouTube channel who provides better explanations of electrical engineering than most universities.

Jail time for Ralfy, for some

So I shall be watching, perhaps, the OSWA on Saturday, I think, should be a laugh, I do like these kinds of things, and I am inspired a little, maybe I will make my own awards, maybe you should to? I love reading other peoples opinions and lists, I really love it honestly, it's great it's good fun starts a discussion with the voices, get in there first I say, be a conversation starter, or else, some other voice will get in there first, and be the leading voice or something. I can't actually remember what I voted for in the OSWA, but I am sure I will remember when I watch. In any case, these days, if you say you are English, or make your own awards, you can be thrown in jail, so to speak. But let's apply my logic previously to Ralfy. Is he trying to help? I think he is, but I might be wrong, but I think he is trying, making mistakes like the rest of us, but trying at least and that's something, that's something folks and perhaps that's all we can ask for, as 'consumers'. Well you have 'consumed' this, haven't you? Am I trying to help? I honestly have no idea, and I shall give this some serious thought indeed. In the meantime, let's see which filtered whiskies get these awards!

UPDATE LMAO it's three hours long, you can watch it below

So I watched the OSWA, and I have some thoughts on it. I mean, I didn't watch the full three hours of awards, that would be 'too much' and really unless I was watching it LIVE, three hours is a bit long innit really. So, that's my first piece of unwarranted feedback, it's too long, shorten that stuff please! Secondly, was that some sections drew a large 'no vote' part, and that showed, I think, that the filtered side of the awards were not really the best part of the occasion. In fact, the 'peoples choice' award side was much more interesting and relevant, so really, I think, my personal take, my recommendation, would simply be to get rid of the filtering in the awards and just 'open it up'. I was much more interested in the peoples vote rather than the people voting on the filtered whiskies.  And perhaps that isn't a surprise, because, as whisky drinkers, we tend to prefer the 'unfiltered' side of things. So for me, the awards were all about the winners in the peoples choice category, and I suspect that's how most would be thinking about it too, because I am never wrong, apart from when I thought I bought a certain type of Glenlivet at Waitrose. Still, I maintain that overall, these awards are better than the majority of awards out there.

UPDATE LMAO 2 - After some thought, I think it's fine, nice to have a filtered and a non filtered option, shows the difference between 'influencers' and 'the people', generates discussion and hopefully everyone learns something. Yes it's too long, for sure, but I have been enjoying watching bits and pieces of it here and there, and having the category on the screen helps a lot for scrolling through it.

 Like the He-Man says