tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647685282789008730.post6938213167643990228..comments2024-03-02T02:56:21.007+00:00Comments on ......SHOT BY BOTH SIDES: Juxtaposed with UKerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02377996092374137641noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647685282789008730.post-62523120393601354422008-08-09T23:00:00.000+01:002008-08-09T23:00:00.000+01:00P.S. I am now slightly worried that it looked as i...P.S. I am now slightly worried that it looked as if I was genuinely apologising for not understanding what the BB was on about. I wasn't, and I did. Sort of. OK, not really. But I didn't try very hard.Kerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377996092374137641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647685282789008730.post-87885357513846093382008-08-09T21:50:00.000+01:002008-08-09T21:50:00.000+01:00I thought this paragraph was particularly percepti...I thought this paragraph was particularly perceptive: <BR/><BR/>'Liberalism consists of three facets; indivisible rights and liberties, forms of democratic governance and a liberal political economy. One of the intriguing aspects of much recent writing about the 'liberal left' is that it strongly reasserts liberal rights and the defence of existing democracies, however flawed. It has less to say on political economy and the sharp inequalities that are NOT the 'root causes' of terrorism, but ARE of hunger, misery, environmental collapse and human despair. It is a telling omission.' It's very true of the commentariat and, it has to be said, many left-leaning voters too - and v. frustrating at times.<BR/><BR/>On a lighter note, I was on the phone to my friend O'Shea when your post came through (and yes, his first name is Rick and to make things even better he used to be in the army - Corporal Rick O'Shea - you couldn't make it up). Anyway, I digress. His mind has turned to more intellectual pursuits in later life, and when I quoted a small section to him, he said 'Sartre, that definitely sounds like Sartre'. I had to tell him no, it was someone called Fat Man on a Keyboard.Kerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377996092374137641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647685282789008730.post-58675454129949815382008-08-09T21:15:00.000+01:002008-08-09T21:15:00.000+01:00More to the point: what's the point of John Rentou...More to the point: what's the point of John Rentoul? My cat could say it better than him.<BR/><BR/>On a serious note, I'm not sure all blogs just reflect mainstream media in the way mainstream journalists like to flatter themselves that they do. There's much more out there.<BR/><BR/>Blogs like <A HREF="http://www.hurryupharry.org/" REL="nofollow">Harry's Place</A> and the <A HREF="http://www.drinksoakedtrotsforwar.com/" REL="nofollow">Drink Soaked Trots</A>, for instance, seem to have a fairly original take on things from a left wing perspective that you don't find in the mainstream media.<BR/><BR/>But the reason why people might bother to blog is probably best summed up by <A HREF="http://fatmanonakeyboard.blogspot.com/2008/03/fall-out.html" REL="nofollow">Fatman on a Keyboard</A> (who at his best, when he's got the time and is on form, is probably the best left wing blogger in the country) in a review of Andrew Anthony's <A HREF="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fallout-Guilty-Liberal-Lost-Innocence/dp/0224080776/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206275382&sr=8-1" REL="nofollow">The Fall-Out</A>:<BR/><BR/>- There are plenty of blogs that reflect the orthodox left lunacy and ones that use seductively more 'reasonable' language to reach similar conclusions. However, there are two other broad categories of sites that can be found. Firstly, there are those that are firmly anti-totalitarian but have little or no critique of domestic politics. They have made their peace with the establishment and the legacy of Thatcherism. However dramatic their declarations of human rights, they are Tom Paines abroad but Edmund Burkes at home. Whilst the finely tuned English ear is quick to pick up the contented cadences of the privilege of class.<BR/><BR/>As for the other, it is a, sometimes fractious, cacophony. There are humanist Marxists, left libertarians, social democrats, Old Labour diehards, those who would combine Marx with Mill, querulous liberals, and others who place human emancipation at the centre of an ecological understanding of the diversity of the natural world. It is where I feel most at home and where the more interesting, and idiosyncratic, writing is taking place.<BR/><BR/>What will emerge is unclear, but socialism, in the broadest sense of the term as an emancipatory, egalitarian social movement, is alive, well and thinking. Come and join in." -Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647685282789008730.post-41708556272808974952008-08-09T20:26:00.000+01:002008-08-09T20:26:00.000+01:00You two just carrying on talking among yourselves,...You two just carrying on talking among yourselves, don't mind me.<BR/><BR/>On Tom's site he has this quote from John Rentoul:<BR/>“What is the point of this blogging business if someone else is just going to say what I want to say but say it better?” Which is kind of the point I was making before we (or rather, you) got sidetracked.Kerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377996092374137641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647685282789008730.post-25302787113401088632008-08-09T20:24:00.000+01:002008-08-09T20:24:00.000+01:00Surely inertia applies equally to a body whether i...Surely inertia applies equally to a body whether in motion or at rest?<BR/><BR/>So the fact that Kerry was able to stop blogging immediately without inertia suggests it was not inertia stopping her starting again?<BR/><BR/>I am, however, prepared to concede that her inability to start blogging again does resemble, in some senses, an inertia-like state.<BR/><BR/>However, dare I be so bold as to suggest that the laws of physics may not be able to wholly explain Kerry's lack of blogging?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647685282789008730.post-35531538070447812592008-08-09T18:11:00.000+01:002008-08-09T18:11:00.000+01:00Nope, still don't get it.Reminds me of John Peel a...Nope, still don't get it.<BR/><BR/>Reminds me of John Peel announcing the line-up of a particular band doing a Peel session many, many years ago, and saying 'I say Emulator as if I had the slightest idea what one is, but please don't bother writing in and trying to explain as I'll only get one of my "heads" and still won't understand'. For some reason that has always stayed with me. <BR/><BR/>Bear in mind you are communicating with someone who has been without a motor for the past two months because of a failure to grasp the concept - 'car needs oil'. (And no, I'm still none the wiser as to why it does).Kerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377996092374137641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647685282789008730.post-46733664278230073652008-08-09T18:01:00.000+01:002008-08-09T18:01:00.000+01:00Kerry referred to'My blogging inertia over the las...Kerry referred to<BR/>'My blogging inertia over the last few days'<BR/><BR/>not simply blogging inertia<BR/><BR/>if inertia is the resistance an object has to change in its state of motion...<BR/><BR/>the object here is 'my blogging over the last few days' ...which had come to a stop so the inertia applies to the stopped blogging state which was it seemed resistant to change in its state of motion so no posts appeared. if the inertia applied to Kerry's blogging when blog posts appeared then you would indeed be correct. <BR/><BR/>But don't worry your pretty little head about it Kerry, someone's just waving their maleness around, gets us blokes a bad name unless he was being very 'clever' and being ironic ;)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11322447724517501518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647685282789008730.post-2530530810098819672008-08-09T17:17:00.000+01:002008-08-09T17:17:00.000+01:00Sorry, that's gone way over my head.Sorry, that's gone way over my head.Kerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377996092374137641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647685282789008730.post-90640703659960989702008-08-09T17:07:00.000+01:002008-08-09T17:07:00.000+01:00A male bore writes ...Tut, tut, typical woman, doe...A male bore writes ...<BR/><BR/>Tut, tut, typical woman, doesn't understand simple science.<BR/><BR/>Clearly you can't have had 'blogging inertia' since intertia is the resistance an object has to a change in its state of motion.<BR/><BR/>Since when you stopped blogging your blog effectively stopped, there was no inertia involved.<BR/><BR/>Presumably blogging inertia would involve blog posts still appearing after you had stopped blogging?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647685282789008730.post-35452050896090417822008-08-09T16:39:00.000+01:002008-08-09T16:39:00.000+01:00...who was it that said 'when a man gets up to spe......who was it that said 'when a man gets up to speak people listen, when a woman speaks if people like what they see then they listen'<BR/><BR/>Even that isn't true if there is no face/body to accompany the words on the internet. The mere fact of being female seems enough for some!<BR/><BR/>I think the instant reaction nature of the internet/blogosphere allows people to spout off without thinking.The fast pace of the news agenda means by the time one has read a full article/book/idea/issue and given it some thought for those inclined to get acquainted in depth, the next days news is already here to be commented on.<BR/><BR/>However, you have done a good job here of picking up on the irrational nature of a particular comment and as you say others like it. Serious and thoughtful bloggers can only try to redress the balance by challenging such a current of commenting so that when others come to the 'debate' there is hopefully some balance.Mrs Blogshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08064487019930708289noreply@blogger.com