I've been blogging for two months. Its been fun. According to the Sitemeter icons installed (I have no idea of their accuracy) my readership has risen steadily, though not the number of comments, which remains low.
I've been thinking about the left's apparent domination of political blog commentary in Australia. Maybe this reflects my starting point in the blogosphere but the left do seem to dominate things. Blogs which I like, and which are more to the right - such as Catallaxy - seem to consistently dodge major issues that interest me, such as the war in Iraq. I wonder why? I have recently been reading The Currency Lad which provides counterbalance. Tim Blair , who can be witty and sharp, does not go for depth.
Expressing non-left-wing views on left-wing blogs is quickly detected as a right-wing intrusion and resented by the leftist blog members. This is an issue as, unlike many of my friends and colleagues, I am not firmly on the left of politics. Moreover, I am much less interested in a person's general political stance than their specific views. The predictability of political views of those on the left (and the ' 'aint it awful brigade') depresses me. Greenhouse, Iraq, Work Choices, John Howard, unemployment, ... the list of 'disasters' goes on and on.
Many on the left have transparently inquisitional attitudes - recently I was attacked for being a 'cheerleader for mass murder' because I articulated an argument concerning the American invasion of Iraq. The claim is false but I suspect the language is so frequently intemperate in such debates that concern for truth is secondary. Indeed this claim would not even be seen as 'uncivil' just the norm.
A couple of pleasant things happened to me this week. My paper was accepted for the Econometric Society meetings in Alice Springs in July so I get to visit a new place. I will take a week's holiday after the conference. I also got a teaching award for a subject on Environmental Economics and Strategy taught in 2005. This strokes my variant of the notorious academic ego.
Did you have anything positive happen to you during the last week? Feel free to post on it (or life's miseries if you wish) here. If you know about Alice Springs I'd be interested in your views on things to do, places to see there.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
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6 comments:
harry
we had countless posts on iraq in the lead up to the war. since then what more is there to say? regardless of the merits of the war, we created a mess and have an obligation not to just pull out and leave things in a lurch
jason
Harry,
There is no left and no right these days. The world is divided into two broad groups
1) Faith based lunatics.
2) Reality based commentators.
The reality-based commentators have their own subcategories.
a) ex-Stalinists looking for that warm fuzzy feeling (Liberal party hacks).
b) Former Trotskyites, who still think that there was some truth to the cause (Labor party-union hacks).
c) Former Trotskyites, who think that Lavrenty Beria was right and should be emulated, and who studied at Macquarie University.
d) True believers.
I suspect that you are bemoaning the small showing of category 2c among Australian commentators.
Jason, I agree with your policy view. But a lot has happened since the 'lead up to the war'. I think the propaganda war, at least in the blogs strongly favours 'cut and run' and leftist ex post vision.
Rabee, I've got to think about this taxonomy. Would be interested in writing my biography? I am not as interesting as Beria but I am reality-based.
On the largeish email lists I have belonged to, "me too" posts have been discouraged. This is a hangover from early times when bandwidth was an issue.
Further, readers who are looking be informed will not necessarily post even though they will value the site.
Regards
Perhaps there just aren't enough interested readers in the leafy suburbs of Australia?
Perhaps the majority of thinking people don't think it is worth the time to respond to your predictable, careless, conservative views?
Perhaps this site is just boring?
Haven't you got better things to do too? Is the family getting the attention they need?
Perhaps a few hours at your local welfare agency or community shelter might be a more useful way to spend your time?
Thanks for your kind remarks anonymous. I'll think about them. Yep, I've thought about them.
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