About the blogs.

Essentially, I came to blogging through American political humour blogs. I have previous experience with both LiveJournal and Bebo, but found them both a little inadequate (although given some of the content I will no doubt be unleashing on this site, LJ may well be more appropriate). However, sites like Sadly, No!, TBogg and The Rude Pundit convinced me that if you have something to say, the slightly more mature blogs are the best place to say it. After all, I'm not a teenager.

Now, the thing about these blogs and their ilk is: they are at a sort of low-level war with their rightwing counterparts. Actually, it's mostly the lefty blogs that do the attacking, as the rightwing columnists tend to focus more on the social issues they feel are crippling their country, while the left demolishes their arguments. Not that the left are free of attack in return of course. The point is that when they engage, both sides of the argument have a similar form of attack, referring to each other as 'wingbats' and 'moonnuts'. And of course, both see themselves as the voice of reason.
The crucial difference, that tipped me in favour of the leftwing blogs, even disregarding my already leftist leanings and the conclusions I drew myself, is that the liberal sites like Sadly No! cram their posts with links, quotes and facts that back up their arguments, while the lunatic fringe (and sadly not-so-fringe) Republican figures they set their sights on write articles that amount to editorials filled with little save opinion, and skewed opinion at that. The same goes for the rightwing trolls who deign to respond, particularly to SN! Check out Gary Ruppert, their favourite pet troll who's too stupid to learn, in this post. I'll admiit I don't know if the rightwing blogs have their equivalent with lefty trolls, because I don't read them as much anymore, because they make me feel angry. And it's not even my country. But from what I've seen all they usually have is a few comments from similarly rabid Republicans saying 'yeah exatcly u r so right!!' And that's another point in favour of the liberal side - healthy debate. The rightwing nuts object to the liberal pisstaking, and get doused in 100% proof Truth Vodka. Now if only (A) us brits had the same level of blogging and (B) the same rationality could be applied to the world beyond the 'blogosphere'.

So they've taught me a few things. About how, yes, things can often be interpreted in different ways, but very often there's a harsh and definite truth, even if it's obscured by ego and takes harsh judgement to see it. This applies to all scales of event, and it's possibly the personal scale that's most important, because if you can't move beyond at least some of the rationalisation you build up around yourself, you won't be able to apply the same principles to any bigger picture. (For all its flaws, Dead Air makes a good illustration of this sort of point).
About how if you feel you have something to say, you should say it to the world. Although on the other hand, a journal like this is the easy way to get something said, and consequently the less effective way. Especially since right now I think of this as a sort of pre-formatted computer diary than an actual platform, and I'm not sure I really want people I know to read it, or expect people I don't to find it.

Also, of course, I have no delusions of comparing myself to the aforementioned blogs anytime soon. Not in terms of my comprehension and level of insight, and certainly not on the USAnian politics front. I just like reading them, is all.

I win teh internets!

Oh yeah, and just to big myself up while I'm on the moral indignation thing, here's me (as 'AshPlant') contributing to a debate about punishment for paedophilia on one of my favourite sites: BMEzine, a fantastic repository of sexy tattoo and piercing pictures, amazing ideas and all the relevant information your heart could desire. I will freely admit I'm only posting this cause of comment 27.

Unfortunate timing

...aaand because of when I decided to start doing this, one of my first posts has to be about a rather unfortunate subject.

I know it's not literally a 'torture bill', but nevertheless...

I read a lot of American leftwing politics blogs, and consequently know rather more about USAnian politics than I do my own, simply because of the higher volume of high-quality blogging from there compared to from here. I will also admit that my knowledge is consequently somewhat second hand, but nevertheless it's reasonably easy to form your own opinions.

For example, everyone knows that the occupation, if not the invasion, of Iraq was and is a colossal, weapons-grade, high quality, gold medal of a disaster, and it's pretty much a non-moving target for those who wish to aim at the Bush administration (possibly not moving cause it's a dead horse). But reading the output from those on the ground (in America) also brings the knowledge that the Bush crew are screwing up in home affairs as well, such as pensions, immigration, etc, and it's hard not to characterise him as the worst president ever. The idea of giving him more power to decide what they can or cannot do to their randomly imprisoned captives is just shocking, especially when those pushing the legislation more or less admit they think the Geneva Conventions are outdated and inadequate.

So it's not a bright day for human rights, especially when you look at the linguistic squirming some of the advocates of the bill used. I can't find links to the exact quotes, but the bit that appalled me was something along the lines of "well, 'inhumane treatment' is so vague isn't it, what does that actually mean, you can't really say anything is or is not 'inhumane treatment', so we're creating a bill that allows us to define what it is based on what we want to get away with doing to people we don't like."

Ugh.

I read that and I thought: "Well, here's a pretty easy definition. 'Would you want it to happen to you', you soft, callously sadistic worm?"

I decided a blog was a Good Idea

Hmm. How to introduce myself. I've just reedited my very first, shiny new First Post several times to give the right impression. Even if it is a total conceit. Just so I don't need to worry about any first impressions, because I'm probably only making them to myself (I don't intend to tell anyone who actually knows me about this journal), here's a picture of me:



















In all my nearly-two-years-ago glory. I've gained tattooing on the left arm and somewhere between three and four ear piercings since then, and my hair's shorter. However, that's one of my favourite pictures of me. And now you know what I look like. Read the rest of my posts to discover how I think.

Oh yeah, and it's a Good Idea because it's better than Bebo or Myspace. In my humble opinion.