One of the things I’ve noticed is that people say they want transparency in things but in action, they really don’t seem to want it.

For example, politically, I’m a conservative (more of a libertarian).  I am not particularly “into” politics but I do follow it pretty closely and will debate any issue even if I have to switch sides in order to debate it.

But other people take it seriously. Very seriously.  When someone links to one of my blogs, it shows up on my article (cool feature) and so I see people calling me things like “the worst kind of political nutball” or “a total douche” or whatever because my political views don’t match theirs.

That’s just the thing though. The more transparency you have, the more likely you are going to find yourself disagreeing with someone on something.  I’m pro-choice, agnostic, skeptical on human caused global climate change but an environmentalist (my new house will use virtually no fossil fuels), socially liberal, fiscally conservative, and on and on. Just what I’ve mentioned is enough to offend a whole host of people.

If you take your politics that seriously, you’re going to spend a lot of your time being offended.   I have the luxury of being able to say what I want because I’m the principle shareholder of my company. I’ve read how that annoys people but on the other hand, it means I can put into action business theories that seemed (at one time) crazy.

My viewpoints are all over the place because of my background probably. When I say I grew up poor (for an American) I mean literally poor to the point where food was a genuine concern at times.  I only have Stardock now because I started it to pay for school until I could get a “real job”.  But it does mean I have lots of opinions that people may find controversial.

The CEO of a larger company or one where the CEO doesn’t have total control of the company (which is the norm of a company our size or larger) is going to be a lot more politically correct and restrained.  But in becoming restrained, consumers and users lose out I think because there is so much “stuff” out there that the average person knows nothing about that they can find out about because of the anomaly of one of the larger “indies” happening to be controlled by a single individual.

Obviously, it means my politics will offend people at times. I make a point not to donate to any political causes.  But my views are all over the map.  I listen to NPR in the morning on the way to work, Tivo Fox News “Special Report” and MSNBC’s Hardball.

If you are easily offended or base your opinions of other people on their positions on specific political issues then obviously my blog is not going to be a fun place for you to visit.  But on the other hand, if you like to read a lot of stuff on a variety of topics from someone who has had the opportunity to see and do things that many others may not have, this can be a very interesting place.