Today I'm going to begin my blog by begging readers not to be offended by the stridency and the absolutist nature of the opinions I post here. What I have noticed about this medium after only three days of writing it, is that the person you read here is different from the person you would see if you met me in person. In person I would never wish to associate any individual with any ideological category in absolute terms. I think that people are more complex than that. To the degree that you identify with any category I may refer to, please interpret my criticism and my praise as directed at only that part of you which is that. Generalizations are useful, unavoidable things, but they are also dangerous, and I am acutely aware of the two edged nature of the tool. As I am addressing a general public audience with this blog, I am making liberal use of these generalizations. This is because people taken as individuals are rational and composed, but when gathered into a plurality, the nature in which one deals with them must become more compassionate and intuitive.
Mob rules govern the behavior of people in a crowd, whether that crowd is physical, or far more figurative, like an ideological bloc. I beg readers not to be offended by my vitriol, it is not, I repeat, directed at any individual, but at the tendencies of entire groups of people. I do hold in complete distain the ideologies I’ve lambasted, but the individuals I know who might fit into those categories would never hear me speak so scornfully to them. I certainly do not hesitate to apprise them of my opinion, that much of me is true both on and off the internet, but I do try and remain respectful in telling them I think they are wrong. On this blog, I feel no such restraint. I basically feel that this is the function of independent journalism, which is exactly what blogging is, even more than freelance journalism, since a blogger doesn’t need to sell his story to an editor, he just writes it and it either gets read or it doesn’t get read. As a result, the blogger is completely free to speak his mind without restraint, and that is what I do. In public, in person, I moderate myself, not because I want to look good, but because I genuinely value respecting every individual on a basic, minimum level.
Mob rules govern the behavior of people in a crowd, whether that crowd is physical, or far more figurative, like an ideological bloc. I beg readers not to be offended by my vitriol, it is not, I repeat, directed at any individual, but at the tendencies of entire groups of people. I do hold in complete distain the ideologies I’ve lambasted, but the individuals I know who might fit into those categories would never hear me speak so scornfully to them. I certainly do not hesitate to apprise them of my opinion, that much of me is true both on and off the internet, but I do try and remain respectful in telling them I think they are wrong. On this blog, I feel no such restraint. I basically feel that this is the function of independent journalism, which is exactly what blogging is, even more than freelance journalism, since a blogger doesn’t need to sell his story to an editor, he just writes it and it either gets read or it doesn’t get read. As a result, the blogger is completely free to speak his mind without restraint, and that is what I do. In public, in person, I moderate myself, not because I want to look good, but because I genuinely value respecting every individual on a basic, minimum level.
There you go, I just want readers to know, particularly those of my friends who might have accepted my invitation to check out the site, that there is a difference between me here, and me as we interact in everyday life. You’re all aware that I don’t hesitate to say so when I disagree about something, but I do try and fight fair, and to remain respectful.
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