The Blog Circuit
Nathan of Fides, Spes, Caritas is leaving blogsphere because his blog has turned him into an angry, reactionary, type person. Blogs can do that to you, it is very true and very easy for that to happen. On the other hand, you can avoid that from happening.
I've blogged on and off since 2002 and there are times that I've faded out and then returned, for various reasons. But what I find is that your blog circuit affects your desire to blog. It's been said ad naussiam that St blogs is not a sweet little place, it is shark infested waters, and you have to navigate it very carefully, otherwise you spend your whole day fuming or depressed about things you read on these blogs. I used to read a quite a few Catholic conservative blogs earlier in my blogging days. It was sickening for me because there were very few if any progressives or moderates out there and conservative blogs have a tendency to exarcebate my clinical reflux problems. I stopped reading them because it is true that they tend to define you as an anti-______.
I took a break from blogging in late 2003 and in 2004 because I was moderating Catholics for Kerry, doing the Catholics for Kerry blog, moderating on the official Kerry website blog and forum, and doing online and on ground activism for Kerry. At the time I posted a lot on Daily Kos and other liberal sites and I had little desire to read Catholic blogs or even post on my blog. In fact, I only decided to return to personal blogging because I was able to find Catholic moderates and Catholic/Christian liberals.
My blog rounds now include liberal political blogs, philosophy blogs and moderate or progressive Catholic blogs. There are 2 or 3 conservatives I read just to see what's going on that side of the pond, (HMS, Welborn and Bettinelli), I do stop at Disputations, but I don't have much of a history with him to know where to place him on the spectrum (so maybe 4 conservatives). But this had done wonders for my blood pressure, psychological health, acid reflux, and even my cholesterol is doing much better because I don't read conservative blogs.
Come 2006, God willing I live, I may avoid Catholic blogs altogether again because Virginia resident and PA senator, St Santorum will be in the political liberal cross hairs and we will spare no righteous effort to get him out of a blue state. Being the flame throwing partisan that I am, I'll probably take a whack at Republicans and pro-life in every post in that politically charged atmosphere. But believe it or not there are many pro-life Republicans who I actually do not wish to offend (and believe me, being offensive to my political opponents is a virtue) who visit this blog . . . or maybe I'll just post an apology on the top of the page to those who I wish not to offend but insist that I must do the will of my Father. (I've been told I have a Messiah complex.) After Santorum is defeated, I will repent of all my misdeeds and it'll be love, love, love until, 2008, God willing I live, and we can take more whacks at pro-life and Republicans. Okay, I'm not even sure why I got on this topic.
Oh yeah, I was writing about Nathan leaving blogspere, sort of. Besides the political blogs I visit, my blog rounds are more about slices of life, thoughts, musings, etc and less about vitriol or anger at the latest Episcopal attrocity. Most Christian/Catholic blogs I read these days are not about taking a position, they tend to invite you into their thoughts or experiences, and there's none of that test of orthodoxy thing in every post as you find in many blogs on the dark side.
So, anyway, may the force be with you.
posted by Ono at 2:14 PM
2 Comments:
Good news for your 2006--Robert Casey Junior has declared he will run, and that has caused the field basically to freeze. Barbara Hafer announced her candidacy and withdrew all within a week. Of course this is everyone's assumption, but Casey's campaign will take the abortion question off the table (Casey hasn't confirmed or denied his position, or has he held a public office where it would be a question). Provided Santorum survives a Toomey challenge in the primary(Specter barely beat him in the primary last year), he will totally meet his match with Casey. So you can enthusiastically support a Democrat, if you choose, that will not offend the pro-Life Republicans. At least the pro-Life part.
Actually the NRLC folks and others are just lining up to take him on, Casey, that is. As long as Casey is runing on a the Democratic ticket and will vote for Harry Reid and Dem policies, he's on the dark side, even though Santorum went for Specter who's on the dark side too, Santorum is still a saint. There is no pro-life logic to it, it is simply partisan politics in my book.
I think the Republican Party will not not cede the pro-life issue but present it as the "personally opposed" but _____. Harry Reid is a similar type, he is acknowledged as pro-life but that has not spared the wrath of the NRLC. Why? Because he is a Democrat.
The other thing is that the Democratic base is not happy about PA and RI in which the DSCC is recruiting "pro-life" candidates and is seeking to kill a primary process. It is not a given that the pro-life guy in RI will sail through, but Casey is all but unstoppable. However, Casey is and will be very aware that the Democratic party is pro-choice and he is on a short string. If anything, abstain, but don't betray party platform. This being the case, the Republicans know then that they can push the pro-life issue during that campaign because Casey will have to be care not to infuriate the base.
A quick note is that the funny thing is that there is a very fine line between pro-life and pro-choice and 90% pro-life doesn't cut it. The truth is that there may be little if much difference between John Kerry and Casey in substance. It all comes down to perception and partisan hackery.
Anyway, it is all building up and it is going to be quite exciting.
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