Shots Across The Bow

Cathy's BlogFest Anti-Massacree Movement

Cathy has a couple of posts dealing with the split in the local blogosphere. Now this may seem strange coming on the heels of the last post, but I agree with her almost entirely.

Here's the thing. I blog about politics a lot, because it interests me and because I think it is a vitally important part of our world today. We are at a crossroads in America, and disaster looms all around us, but it isn't the fault of just one side of the argument. Both political parties have come to favor gaining power over representing the people. Voters are seen as a step to power, not the source of it. We don't have to look any further than the recent immigration battle to see that. Supporters of the reform package from both sides of the aisle are outraged that Beltway outsiders, i.e. bloggers and talk radio, were able to derail the legislation. They are furious that the people opposed them and won. They forget that it's all about the people, not the politicians.

And make no mistake, the politicians will strike back. McCain-Feingold was a bipartisan bill. Power overrides ideology.

So if both sides are rotten,then why do I attack liberals so ardently? The answer is that I don't; I attack liberal ideology. There is a difference. I attack the ideology, not the person holding it.

Modern liberalism is a deeply flawed ideology that holds as its core value the belief that the world owes us a living. Simply because we breathe, we have a right to a job, education, money, health care, etc. This is a fallacy that can only be supported by a wealthy society. The problem is that a society built on entitlement will never be a wealthy society. See Russia for an example.

But that's a debate for another time. The point is that politics is only one small part of me. I spend a few hours a week on this blog,and reading news and so on. The rest of the time,I'm doing other things. I'm a dad, a grandpa, a friend, a woodworker, a singer, a son, a brother, a knitter; I'm so many things other than a conservative leaning libertarian. Yes,my philosophy does form the bedrock of my character, but I don't spend the majority of my time expounding on it.

Except here,of course.

And I assume most other folks are the same way. That's why I started doing the BlogFests the first time around; to meet all the other folks who were doing this cool new thing on the internet. They went well at first, but I noticed that attendance from the left side of the blogosphere dropped off, and then they started having their own, exclusive get-togethers.

So I stopped holding the Blogger's Bashes for a couple of years. I would get together from time to time with other bloggers I'd made friends with, but didn't organize any major bashes.

A few months ago, with the encouragement of some of the newer bloggers who hadn't been around for the original Bashes, I decided to start it up again. And again,attendance at the first couple of BlogFests was excellent. We got a lot of new faces from both sides of the ideological divide,and it looked like things were going to be good.

Unfortunately, the past repeated itself, and the progressive wing attendance declined. As nearly as I can tell, in both instances,the decline was self inflicted. Nobody drove them off; they just stopped coming. Granted, for the last BlogFest, I couldn't post it over at KnoxViews, but I'm pretty sure Doug mirrored the post over there for me, and still, nobody came but Doug and Tommy. For some reason, it appears to me that many progressives are not comfortable around anybody that doesn't share their worldview.

When I schedule the next BlogFest, July 21, upstairs at Barleys in the Old City, starting at 6PM, I hope to see everybody there, regardless of what they blog about. Unfortunately, I don't expect to see everybody there.

And that disappoints me.

I'm strong enough in my beliefs that I can sit down and eat dinner with a man who thinks I'm cracked in the head and not worry about it. We'll talk about football, baseball, movies, or any of hundreds of topics and have a great time. Or if he is as secure in his beliefs as I am, we can talk politics, and try to see things from another perspective. I'm not threatened when someone challenges my core beliefs for two reasons. One, I challenge myself relentlessly, so I'm used to it. Two, a successful challenger means I learned something,and that's not scary; that's fun.

As a concrete example, if cafkia shows up at the next BlogFest,on July 21 at Barleys in the Old City starting at 6PM, even though I linked his comment and challenged it, I'm certain we can sit down over a beer and a coke and talk about our different perspectives and enjoy the experience. We could also talk about our Navy careers or any of dozens of topics.

Unfortunately,not everybody is as comfortable with having their beliefs challenged,so I generally refrain from political discussion in public until I get to know somebody. (By the way, that's why I write here. This is my outlet. This is where I state my beliefs and principles,and explore their ramifications by relating them to world events. If you are a progressive,and you read Shots Across the Bow, you will have your core principles challenged frequently. I'm not going to apologize for that because it is the very nature of this site. On the other hand,I'm not going to kick somebody off the site for challenging my principles. I actually encourage it.) In public, I choose to relate to other facets of people's characters; I look for the commonalities.

Kids,parenting,music,art,crafts, hobbies; these are all things that are just as much a part of our lives as politics. I agree with Cathy (Remember Cathy? This is a post about Cathy.) that we are all so much more than our politics. I also agree that it is good to remember that behind the pixels is a living, breathing, human being that you probably would like in the real world. I disagree, however, that our blogs should reflect this. Each one of us has our own reasons for blogging; and that mens each one of our blogs is going to be different. Whatever we write about, we're by definition passionate about it. And that means that toes will get stepped on. I do make the effort to minimize the damage by aiming my comments not at a person or their character, but at their actions,or the principles underlying their actions. It is a subtle but important distinction because to the careful reader, it minimizes the chances of my remarks being taken as a personal attack.

Of course, some folks don't care to make that distinction and take it personally anyway, but there's nothing I can do about that.

Anyway, the point of this long and rambling post is to point out that no matter how strongly I disagree with your particular view of the world, I will respond to you based on your actions and on how you treat the people around you.

Cathy,that's the best I can do. I hope you'll still come to the next BlogFest,July 21, upstairs at Barleys in the Old City, starting at 6PM.

Posted by Rich at July 6, 2007 3:52 PM | TrackBack