In which I break the fourth wall
Me again.
First, no fucking way am I going to surrender. I’m not sure what Dubya’s SOTU coded wingnut message was when he urged his storm troopers to “finish well,” but I do not intend to go out with a whimper. They’ll take my Bill of Rights when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
But tactics are another matter. Is blogging and writing for Raw Story effective? Sad to say, I just don't know. Our numbers here are pretty small in the grand scheme of things; I have no idea how many people read what I write for Raw because they are not set up to track it. So how am I supposed to know if, as a college prof used to say, the game is worth the candle?
A few of you have reached out to me over the last year or so, and I am grateful. But there are far easier ways and more effective of making contact. And I struggle to find meaningful ways of measuring my impact, which suggests it is not that great.
I know I’m no Digby, but I harbor the conceit that I have something to say, and that I say it well enough to be worth listening to. We are even Koufax nominees, which gives some validation to the idea that we are not just chopped liver. But is writing the best allocation of my scarce resources? If you haven’t tried it yourself, you have no idea how much time even the half-assed job I do on this blog can take. And I don’t even want to think about the cost, in both hours and emotions, of the editorials.
When I first heard about blogs, before I got active politically online, I thought they were online diaries -- places where emotional exhibitionists paraded their personal lives, loves and demons. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) Most political blogs are not about personal soul-searching, or the person behind the rhetoric. This one certainly hasn’t been, but I must admit, I am doing a little of that kind of introspection now, and letting a little self-doubt show. I am looking for reasons – not to resist the evil, but to keep doing it this way. That’s why I asked the same kind of question over at dKos last week – I am a bit afraid of the answer, but I want to know if my writing is the sound of one hand clapping.
I guess what happens next is in part up to you, folks. Readers are the other hand. So tell me how what we have been doing helps the cause. I am not looking for anything specific, but please don’t tell me about what a wonderful thing the blogosphere in general is. And if you have ideas about how we could do it better, or how together we can actually make some noise, so much the better.
However my pilgrimage comes out, I know we have attracted a ragtag group of a few hundred regulars here, and I want to say again that even the relatively infrequent feedback I have gotten from a few of you has meant a lot. But if a few more of you could see your way to transmitting instead of just receiving, it would really help. We aren't passing around the collection plate (yet) -- as pathetic as it may sound, I guess what I'm really asking for is a little acknowledgement, encouragement and, dammit, participation.
We now return you to the tragic farce already in progress.
First, no fucking way am I going to surrender. I’m not sure what Dubya’s SOTU coded wingnut message was when he urged his storm troopers to “finish well,” but I do not intend to go out with a whimper. They’ll take my Bill of Rights when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
But tactics are another matter. Is blogging and writing for Raw Story effective? Sad to say, I just don't know. Our numbers here are pretty small in the grand scheme of things; I have no idea how many people read what I write for Raw because they are not set up to track it. So how am I supposed to know if, as a college prof used to say, the game is worth the candle?
A few of you have reached out to me over the last year or so, and I am grateful. But there are far easier ways and more effective of making contact. And I struggle to find meaningful ways of measuring my impact, which suggests it is not that great.
I know I’m no Digby, but I harbor the conceit that I have something to say, and that I say it well enough to be worth listening to. We are even Koufax nominees, which gives some validation to the idea that we are not just chopped liver. But is writing the best allocation of my scarce resources? If you haven’t tried it yourself, you have no idea how much time even the half-assed job I do on this blog can take. And I don’t even want to think about the cost, in both hours and emotions, of the editorials.
When I first heard about blogs, before I got active politically online, I thought they were online diaries -- places where emotional exhibitionists paraded their personal lives, loves and demons. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) Most political blogs are not about personal soul-searching, or the person behind the rhetoric. This one certainly hasn’t been, but I must admit, I am doing a little of that kind of introspection now, and letting a little self-doubt show. I am looking for reasons – not to resist the evil, but to keep doing it this way. That’s why I asked the same kind of question over at dKos last week – I am a bit afraid of the answer, but I want to know if my writing is the sound of one hand clapping.
I guess what happens next is in part up to you, folks. Readers are the other hand. So tell me how what we have been doing helps the cause. I am not looking for anything specific, but please don’t tell me about what a wonderful thing the blogosphere in general is. And if you have ideas about how we could do it better, or how together we can actually make some noise, so much the better.
However my pilgrimage comes out, I know we have attracted a ragtag group of a few hundred regulars here, and I want to say again that even the relatively infrequent feedback I have gotten from a few of you has meant a lot. But if a few more of you could see your way to transmitting instead of just receiving, it would really help. We aren't passing around the collection plate (yet) -- as pathetic as it may sound, I guess what I'm really asking for is a little acknowledgement, encouragement and, dammit, participation.
We now return you to the tragic farce already in progress.
posted by bluememe at 2/02/2006
5 Comments:
I'm honored to leave the first comment to this post. . .I visit Blue Meme at least once a day because of your pithy comments on key issues. More often than not, I get a perspective from you that I hadn't considered before -- even though I regularly read DailyKos, AmericaBlog, DU, Hoffmania, etc. etc. as well. Count me as someone who would be very disappointed (albeit understanding) if you decided to stop blogging at Blue Meme.
Yours is one of the very few blogs that I make sure to read DAILY. I like your writing and capacity to express things better than I would be able to. I'm one of those really radical lefties that sees the Rethuglican party destroying the America where I was born, lived, and that I fought for in my youth in Vietnam.
For the first time in my 52-years I truly FEAR for this country and the road to despotism upon which Bush has set us. Bush is not only the WORST PRESIDENT EVER, he has destroyed our reputation in the world, broken our military, repeatedly violated his oath of office, set politics here in the U.S. back 100 years and to our future detriment.
It will take a generation or longer to once again restore America to its former glory. And worst, after the five years of raping and pillaging this country and looting it of its treasure, as well as reputation, the coming financial meltdown of our economy from the profligate spending of the "party of fiscal responsibility" that spends money like a crack whore in Columbia may PERMANENTLY reduce America to "just another third-world banana republic."
Can't happen? Why is Hugo Chavez the ONLY person aiding our seniors and poor with heating oil subsidies? BECAUSE RETHUGLICANS DON'T GIVE A SHIT FOR ANYTHING EXCEPT LINING THEIR OWN POCKETS. (How else can you manage to gain over 12% earnings on the stock market year after year as they do in the Senate - good luck?)
Hey, blue -
Let me put this simply: Keep doing what you're doing. I know how much time and energy it takes, and I know how little return you get, but that shit just doesn't matter. What matters is that you take the opportunity to have your say. It doesn't matter if anyone listens (although I believe they do) and it doesn't matter if you make a difference (again - I believe you do). What matters is that you, like the thousands of us others out here, are not just bending over and taking it up the ass from our administration. You're not giving in without a fight, and that's important.
There are very few people in this world who have the power to change things for the better. The sad truth is that those who do have that power invariably change things for the worse. We, however, do not have this power. But we do have the power to have our say, and I feel that we are obligated to use that power. Just as we are obligated to vote, however meaningless that may be.
Which I guess brings me to my point. I think blogging is much like voting. It's not my blog that makes a difference, nor is it your blog or anyone else's blog (despite what arrogant windbags like Atrios think). It's the combination of them that's meaningful. It's the fact that we all have dissenting opinions and we force them to exist where others can see them that matters. It's the fact that we are doing something - anything - rather than just sitting back and watching TV while the fuckers destroy our world.
So I guess what I'm saying is: Please - keep fighting the good fight. The point isn't that we win (although it would be nice), it's that we don't give up without a fight.
I read BlueMeme every day. Like the funny pages, it helps me get my day started. Your writing is marvelous. I think it very ably taps into the thinking community's angst, anger, joys and fears. Sure, I read Americablog and Atrios too, and they're fine blogs. Bluememe, however, is clearly head and shoulders above the rest in editorial quality, and is proof that quality is more important than quantity.
Maybe we as your readers should try to give you a little more feedback, if only to say "Right On!"
I think you need to sell custom logo mousepads and thongs.
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