May 20, 2005

Why I Don't Quit Blogging

 by Jeremy

The short answer is that I have absolutely no idea. I'm not breaking any traffic records, as you'll notice. And in the week or so since I've decided to return to active blogging, I've been called the following:

• douche
• scum
• stupid
• a bad writer
• droll (that one hurt my feelings)
• a 'fuckin disgrace to society piece a shit'

I think I may be missing one or two. And this blog is only getting a few dozen visitors a day. I do take that sort of stuff more or less in stride, but it's hardly a recipe for setting aside all my other interests so I can bring on more of that crap.

But something is giving me strength to come back (other than prescription pharmaceuticals). And I think it has something to do with needing to know that there are at least a few people out there who have not completely lost their minds. I think that readers of this blog have been disproportionately sane and good people. Thank you for that.

One thing I'd more or less given up on, though, is my search for people on the Left whom I can disagree with and trust at the same time. But I'm currently thinking that Marc Cooper might be such a person:

Here is what he says about the Leftist notion that the U.S. should pull out of Iraq immediately:

I find it extremely difficult to imagine that being a persuasive counter (at least for those who give a rat?s ass about the Iraqi people themselves) to the status quo.

Indeed, it?s a moral forfeit that cedes undue and dangerous credence to the Bush admin?s disastrous stay-the-course strategy.

We need a third position that moves toward an end of the U.S. occupation but does not, in the process, abandon the Iraqi people to car-bomber fascists.

It will be of little consequence to those blown apart by suicide-bound fanatics to stand over their corpses and say: ?It?s all Bush?s fault. There was nothing we could do.?

And here's Cooper on the filibuster:

The best way to get better judicial nominees is not to defend to the death the most anti-democratic of parliamentary maneuvers, but rather to start figuring out how to win electoral majorities.

If the Democratic Party and/or the Left is going to have any relevance it's going to be necessary for people to hold their noses and plunge back into the cesspit of reality along with the rest of us. I'm much more likely to have my opinions influenced by Marc Cooper's honesty than by some angry person's abusive tantrum.

Are people like Edward Kennedy, Robert Byrd, Howard Dean, and Al Gore farther Left than Marc Cooper? Or do they simply thrive on the sound of their own snarling and snapping and on the poisonous energy they're able to draw from an angry crowd?

I'm not just blogging to lash out at the Left. What I want is for the Left to wake up and start making sense again. I don't have to agree with you but, for the love of God, stop bullshitting yourself (I don't mean you, of course. But I do mean you over there).

I really did try to be that kind of liberal for a lot of years, but gun control pushed me over the edge. If the gun control advocates had been honest enough about the causes of violence to admit that weakness invites abuse, but pressed for responsible ownership, I would still be a full-bore (both puns intended) liberal. Abandoning honesty to pursue an absolute control made me unable to adhere to the party line.

Of course, when my sister accused me of being a brain-washed fascist because I was serving my country, that was a big turn-off, too.

Posted by: Patrick S Lasswell at May 20, 2005 05:15 PM

Brainwashed fascist. That's a good one. She meant to say that it might be possible to cure you and make you well again, once you accept that you have a problem of course.

Posted by: Jeremy Brown at May 22, 2005 04:04 PM

?Are people like Edward Kennedy, Robert Byrd, Howard Dean, and Al Gore farther Left than Marc Cooper??

The answer is an unhesitating yes. Furthermore, these men are all in their mid fifties. There is little chance that they will ever change for the better. If 9/11 didn?t compel them to reevaluate their mindset---then nothing else will likely do the trick.

Posted by: David Thomson at May 23, 2005 04:42 AM

Well, I don't know about waiting for the left to wake up and make sense again. I'm not sure the real left ever made much sense, although at least they had a good excuse before Communism had been tried and found wanting. But, at least to the best of my recollection, liberals used to make more sense than they do now (of course, I was one of them--does that make me biased in my recollections?)

Anyway, I don't want to talk about all that boring stuff--I just want to say, I'm glad you're still blogging. I think one of the reasons bloggers blog, even if the traffic isn't going through the roof, is the same reason actors act even if the house is small. It's not quantity (although quantity can be nice, too), it's quality. It's having a conversation with interested people, about interesting things. It's putting your opinions out there in the marketplace of ideas. It's, it's....habit-forming.

Posted by: neo-neocon at May 24, 2005 01:23 AM

"I'm not breaking any traffic records,... And in the week or so since I've decided to return to active blogging, I've been called the following:

douche
scum
stupid
a bad writer
droll (that one hurt my feelings)
a 'fuckin disgrace to society piece a shit' "--JB

-------------------------------------------------

I must say I am impressed.The mind boggles to think of the terms of endearment you might have collected had your traffic volume been greater.
Hope you keep on trucking.Whenever I make my way here,I always find something interesting and/or informative.Sometimes your musings are even 'droll'.------ :-)

Posted by: dougf at May 24, 2005 08:59 PM

Thanks, Neo and thanks, Dougf.
I have to admit that I usually don't get quite so much attention. It was mostly from one site.
I'm trying to think of something droll to write here, but it's hard to be droll on demand.

Posted by: Jeremy Brown at May 24, 2005 09:07 PM

"We need a third position that moves toward an end of the U.S. occupation but does not, in the process, abandon the Iraqi people to car-bomber fascists."---MC

-------------------------------------------------

I try to be civil or at least wordy, but I fear I don't share your enthusiasm for Mr.Cooper.

Oh sure I appreciate his dissections of the Democratic Party as much as the next guy,and he does make an effort to actually THINK about his positions,but I am a 1 issue person at the moment(Iraq,Iraq,and in case I get bored---Iraq).Not just because Iraq is momumentally important per se,but because I believe it now is THE war in the WOT.

Marc is frankly clueless on this issue and his postioning is not really all that different from other loons on the left.He merely cannot reconcile his intellectual conceits with leaving the Iraqis to the tender mercies of the head-hunters,but would have been perfectly content to leave Saddam in power.Yeah,yeah I know that is perjorative ,but in a binary situation, if you don't do 'A',then you must perforce be in favour of 'B',even if all you do is engage in inertia.

I think the quote you used in your piece says it all.The only proper reply to this superficial 'analysis' is -----WTF? Is not what he suggests exactly what GWB is trying to do? Is it not what GWB has been trying to do for over 18 months ? What distinguishes Cooper's 'position' from the administrations stated intents?

I have critized Mr.Coopers Iraq confusion and 'progressive' dogmatism as 'small and cramped',and baring major surprises I see no likelihood of changing my mind any time soon.
If he is the best the 'progressive' left has to offer,Karl and George probably sleep fairly well.

Posted by: dougf at May 25, 2005 10:18 AM

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