![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Blog is started...
Dec. 24th, 2016 11:24 amhttp://longhairedweirdo.dreamwidth.org is up.
One warning: back when I was young and stupid - by which I mean, "in my 30s and still thinking that we had time" - I was hoping for a warm, friendly loving set of ideas to help knit things back together.
But we don't have time. And love, while powerful, isn't very fast. You can love your enemy, and still realize that the best end to a particular incident is a solid jab to the nose, to stop the fight, and then, you can try to figure out what's most loving.
(I was using a boxing metaphor in another discussion yesterday, and "jab" is, in fact, precisely the right term. A jab is a defensive sort of punch - fast, hard-enough, and often intended to stop a rush, or break up an attack.)
I do have some limits: While I'll speculate, I won't slander. While I'll poke at every weak spot, I'm not a dirty fighter. (Dan Vitter is known to have visited prostitutes. I don't mind pointing out the massive hypocrisy of his being in the party that claims "family values". But I won't mention *why* it's suggested he visited prostitutes. One's kinks are one's own business, and exploration of kink is a *fine* reason to visit pros, if you can't play with your spouse.)
And I am trying to maintain a friendly manner to many of the people. I'm not angry that people voted for Trump. I do think many of them made a mistake - a perfectly reasonable mistake. And sure, many of them have been told I'm an evil bastard because I voted for Hillary Clinton... but I'm not going to blame them for what they've been told, nor even for believing it. In a sick society, where truth isn't valued, people will believe things that are wrong.
Side note: Yes, Trump was widely supported by white supremecists. Those people are nasty, but I'm not angry that they voted for Trump - I'm angry that they're such evil people. There are a lot of ugly myths out there that I'm also angry about - but I'm not angry at people who've been given an ugly, hateful mythology from which to work; does that makes sense? Also: I'm not criticizing you - whoever you are - if you are angry at every single Trump voter. I'd like to here why, and I might well disagree. But I'm not talking about *you* here - I'm talking only about me, and how I'm choosing to write in a particular blog.
My goal is to hit real, living, meaningful issues. I don't want to talk about how a Trump SCOTUS pick might impact Roe v. Wade - but I will talk about the importance of birth control and abortion access. And I might point out how GOP picks tend to say "it's okay if a company rips you off whenever and however they like, so long as it's always just below the threshold of making it worthwhile to go into the mandated arbitration, where you couldn't prove they cheated you, so you lose anyway."
I'd love advice on:
Presentation: how can I kick up my posting a bit, include some graphics or other text-wall breakers? (Side note: I've seen some *horrible* animated gifs that are jerky and fast moving and so distracting I can't read the surrounding post. None of that! But a few simple animations won't scare me off, if they don't detract from text.
Writing style: are my jokes really old or too far out to be understood? Is one of the shots I took excessively cheap? Am I being too wordy or rambling too long? Am I being my overpedantic self, and getting too deep into explicit and careful meanings, repeatedly pointing out things that are technical, and of little use? How about redundancy, and repetition? Any of that? Is the passive voice being avoided?
Links: Any good links? I don't read a lot of blogs. I'm looking for generally honest, lefty blogs.
Setting up a not-totally-super-boring blog-like page. Links on the side board, both to important posts (rules for commenting, for example); user pics - me, or something where something else is dominant (see my catrider default!)?
When it comes to setting up the page, or helping "kick up" my presentation - in some cases, these are professional services, and I'm more than willing to pay for them. If you think you can help, let me know your rates and estimates on hours.)
One warning: back when I was young and stupid - by which I mean, "in my 30s and still thinking that we had time" - I was hoping for a warm, friendly loving set of ideas to help knit things back together.
But we don't have time. And love, while powerful, isn't very fast. You can love your enemy, and still realize that the best end to a particular incident is a solid jab to the nose, to stop the fight, and then, you can try to figure out what's most loving.
(I was using a boxing metaphor in another discussion yesterday, and "jab" is, in fact, precisely the right term. A jab is a defensive sort of punch - fast, hard-enough, and often intended to stop a rush, or break up an attack.)
I do have some limits: While I'll speculate, I won't slander. While I'll poke at every weak spot, I'm not a dirty fighter. (Dan Vitter is known to have visited prostitutes. I don't mind pointing out the massive hypocrisy of his being in the party that claims "family values". But I won't mention *why* it's suggested he visited prostitutes. One's kinks are one's own business, and exploration of kink is a *fine* reason to visit pros, if you can't play with your spouse.)
And I am trying to maintain a friendly manner to many of the people. I'm not angry that people voted for Trump. I do think many of them made a mistake - a perfectly reasonable mistake. And sure, many of them have been told I'm an evil bastard because I voted for Hillary Clinton... but I'm not going to blame them for what they've been told, nor even for believing it. In a sick society, where truth isn't valued, people will believe things that are wrong.
Side note: Yes, Trump was widely supported by white supremecists. Those people are nasty, but I'm not angry that they voted for Trump - I'm angry that they're such evil people. There are a lot of ugly myths out there that I'm also angry about - but I'm not angry at people who've been given an ugly, hateful mythology from which to work; does that makes sense? Also: I'm not criticizing you - whoever you are - if you are angry at every single Trump voter. I'd like to here why, and I might well disagree. But I'm not talking about *you* here - I'm talking only about me, and how I'm choosing to write in a particular blog.
My goal is to hit real, living, meaningful issues. I don't want to talk about how a Trump SCOTUS pick might impact Roe v. Wade - but I will talk about the importance of birth control and abortion access. And I might point out how GOP picks tend to say "it's okay if a company rips you off whenever and however they like, so long as it's always just below the threshold of making it worthwhile to go into the mandated arbitration, where you couldn't prove they cheated you, so you lose anyway."
I'd love advice on:
Presentation: how can I kick up my posting a bit, include some graphics or other text-wall breakers? (Side note: I've seen some *horrible* animated gifs that are jerky and fast moving and so distracting I can't read the surrounding post. None of that! But a few simple animations won't scare me off, if they don't detract from text.
Writing style: are my jokes really old or too far out to be understood? Is one of the shots I took excessively cheap? Am I being too wordy or rambling too long? Am I being my overpedantic self, and getting too deep into explicit and careful meanings, repeatedly pointing out things that are technical, and of little use? How about redundancy, and repetition? Any of that? Is the passive voice being avoided?
Links: Any good links? I don't read a lot of blogs. I'm looking for generally honest, lefty blogs.
Setting up a not-totally-super-boring blog-like page. Links on the side board, both to important posts (rules for commenting, for example); user pics - me, or something where something else is dominant (see my catrider default!)?
When it comes to setting up the page, or helping "kick up" my presentation - in some cases, these are professional services, and I'm more than willing to pay for them. If you think you can help, let me know your rates and estimates on hours.)
