posted by lucid
So the non-aligned political blogs seem to be in a state of flux. Personalities are shifting, disappearing, hanging it up.
I’m quite happy to recognize the end and make my absolution, but something troubles me:
We don’t make our own cloth.
We don’t make our own salt.
We don’t man the trucks that cart our shit to another jurisdiction.
I’m quite happy to let the light/sound wash over me, to pretend the moments of beauty in my life flush away the moments of horror in the life of another. I can be a selfish sonofabitch.
I can also play a James Brown funk riff on the guitar until you’re numb in the teeth.
But I can never turn away.
I cannot stand by while women are viewed as chattel, while latinos become a permanent underclass, while anyone who stands against the power of corporatism is simply deemed a terrorist.
I will not cooperate.
I will not comply.
I will not support those who seem to think that ‘if we can just get over this ridge, it’ll be ok’.
There is no ridge. There is no “OK”.
There is only humanity. And what that demands is equality, everywhere, at all times, without condition.
Is that clear enough?
So let’s continue to change the world.
8 responses so far ↓
Independence… « Marisacat // July 5, 2007 at 2:23 am
[...] has a rumination on the flux in the non-aligned blogs… I’m quite happy to let the light/sound wash over me, to pretend [...]
Sabrina Ballerina // July 6, 2007 at 9:55 am
Beautiful post, Lucid. I just wrote a comment but couldn’t get it to post. a ‘Bad url’ message came up. Will try again later.
ms_xeno // July 6, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I think there’s a line from an old James Baldwin essay, “Every goodbye ain’t gone.” Which, IIRC, means that good-bye doesn’t automatically mean goodbye forever.
I personally have my burnt-out phases where all I want to do is drink beer and goggle at my old cartoon tapes. I have even been known to tell myself that it’s going to last forever this time. But I lie.
James // July 6, 2007 at 11:29 pm
I go through my doldrums, but somehow I can’t make myself turn away either.
Sabrina Ballerina // July 7, 2007 at 12:41 am
Lol, ms xeno, how many times have some of these bloggers said GBCW only to return almost immediately under a different handle? So in cyberspace anyway, James Baldwin’s theory has proven to be correct.
Speaking of which, Luscious Vagina has decided that he doesn’t need to remain incognito anymore. He seems to think his reasons for going under-cover no longer exist. He’s back in the game - in time for election season, and, he says, he wanted his ‘low-uid back again’! Such empty lives they must lead when a Uid is so important.
I know what you mean about being burned out, I have felt that way lately. I think it’s trying to keep up with all of the crimes and scandals, which was easier when we started out with this administration. But the crimes seem to be limitless and worse, no one has the will to bring any of them to justice.
I’m not sure what prompted Lucid’s post, but a few weeks ago I came across a blog war that involved members of Pandagon, Jesus’ General, Sadly No and several other blogs. One thread on ‘Sadly No’ had over 700 comments and at least three bloggers, including Chris from Pandagon, I believe, said they were quitting.
I wasn’t familiar with many of those involved in the cross-blog-war but I did recognize some people. Maha was mentioned also, although I did not read her comments. Apparently, according to some, she was, once again, a little insensitive on the issue of women. But I can’t confirm that.
It all started sadly, with a nasty comment by a rightwinger about Steve Gilliard after his death and reposting of that comment by a female, liberal blogger on the payroll of ABC. Rather than go after the rightwinger, the ‘left’ bloggers all went after each other, apparently and war waged on for over a week, leaving several casualties in its wake, including the original female blogger who had a paying job, btw.
Dk and the more familiar blogs, seemed to miss the whole thing as far as I could tell. Just goes to show that there is life away from the BBB, lots of it!
Anyway, I’m too lazy to go find links right now, but people do get burned online, as well as burned out. And the ‘left’ seems determined to attack each other while giving a pass to the right.
*******
Very sad news - the teenager who was the victim of that horrible racially motivated attack after he supposedly tried to kiss a 12-yr-old girl, has killed himself. It is not really surprising as I cannot imagine living a normal life with the memories of that brutal, dehumanizing attack. The injuries were not just physical. Just reading a report from the trial transcript, was traumatizing.
Where does the hate come from? It is not understandable to me ….
As Lucid so eloquently said:
There is only humanity. And what that demands is equality, everywhere, at all times, without condition.
I don’t have a link to the story, but came across the report earlier while looking for something else …
lucidculture // July 7, 2007 at 5:31 am
I’m not hanging it up… just some thoughts on a drunken night.
I can’t turn away from that horrible story SB. I can’t run away from anyone in need.
It’s led me to financial ruin & emotional disaster.
It doesn’t matter.
It shouldn’t matter to anyone.
Sabrina Ballerina // July 7, 2007 at 9:50 pm
It shouldn’t matter, too true, but it does Lucid. If everyone felt as you do, the burden would be less on those who cannot turn away and there would be fewer horror stories like the one I mentioned above.
I’m not hanging it up either but when I see the selfishness in those who have proclaimed themselves ‘leaders’ of a ‘movement’ when really all most of them want is self promotion, wasting hours and hours of bandwidth and precious time talking about, well, themselves, I do wonder what good all the time spent online has accomplished.
Nothing has changed at all, the media has anointed the ‘netroots’, as representative of the ‘left’ leading people to believe, falsely, that they are participating in some great movement to change the disastrous course this country is on.
If an inventory were to be done of what has been accomplished by this ‘movement’, the conclusion would have to be that it has been an abysmal failure. Or, maybe not, depending on who they are working for!
All I see from them is the creation of personalities engaging in endless meta and petty rules, thousands and thousands of posts about nothing. It is a show, a distraction and a waste of time.
I had hopes that the Internet could have an impact, that it could by-pass the corporate media filter. But instead, it has been hi-jacked by apologists for the status quo and not a thing has changed, in fact it has only gotten worse.
Looking over the BBBs tonight, I see the same games being played. The ‘personalities’ once again, working hard to make Harry Reid look good. The money stopped flowing after the sham of a war vote. So, Reid is being re-packaged as someone who NOW, really, really wants to end the war, but, but ….. those nasty Republicans are standing in his way! Check DK, FP as the cashiers open the cash registers and present Harry Reid once again, as the man who will end the war. And then the incestuous linking from one to the other as former enforcer, btd of Talkleft continually promotes a site from which he was supposedly banned!
Meantime, no one talks about what they mean by ‘ending the war’! No one asks Harry Reid about the military bases and the biggest embassy ever in the world, or the oil bill Iraq’s government is being forced to pass, or the huge private army of contractors and mercenaries! No one! Certainly not the ‘blahgers’ (marisacat coined that word) who work for them!
I read a few good posts on TL, idealistic posts from people who do care, but they are now labeled by BTD as ‘impeachniks’! Always ridicule the idealists and slap them down! This is the job of the BBB and I fully expect all the ‘banned’ former enforcers to return to the fold before long, to keep the masses under control before the election. My guess is right after the primaries.
I went online right before 9/11. Before finding DK I did have hope as I saw thousands of people get involved, arrange demonstrations, correct media lies and spread the truth while putting their collective skills to work doing their own investigations of stolen elections, lies about 9/11 etc. Then along came the corporate blogs and squashed all that energy, labeling people ‘troll’ and smearing the efforts of real people as ’stupid, conspiracy theorists’ etc. I now fully believe they were hired to stop any movement, not to start one.
Sorry for the long post, I will try to contribute something worthwhile tomorrow -
On a brighter note, we had fireworks here tonight at the beach. I did not go down as I saw fireworks on the 4th, but from the house we could seen them and I do love the thunderous sound - watching the sky light up from the front lawn, and listening to the thunderous booms echoing around the island, I imagined what it must be like in a war zone and thought how lucky we are, really.
ms_xeno // July 8, 2007 at 7:29 pm
SB, R Mildred has lots of details on the post-Gilliard blow-up you refer to above:
June 7th Entry.
Myself, I’m happy to be on the outside looking in. Never gave a rat’s ass about Gilliard’s writings, and plan on keeping it that way.
And, yeah, I remember the case with that kid. You wonder how many more are like that, but go unremarked upon in the media. >:
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