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"The stream of Time, irresistible, ever moving, carries off and bears away all things that come to birth and plunges them into utter darkness, both deeds of no account and deeds which are mighty and worthy of commemoration. . .Nevertheless, the science of History is a great bulwark against the stream of Time; in a way it checks this irresistible flood, it holds in a tight grasp whatever it can seize floating on the surface and will not allow it to slip away into the depths of Oblivion. "
- Anna Comnena (1083-1153), The Alexiad
"I have taken all knowledge to be my province."
- Francis Bacon, 1592
Sunday, August 14, 2005
The Winds of Movement
Longtime readers will know that Winds of Change was one of the most linked-to blogs here, and definately one of my favorites.
Joe Katzman is the exact opposite of the type of thing I was talking about below. He's always promoted civil discussion focusing on matters of real import, policy over pure partisanship. Well, he's moving to America, and we're lucky to get him, but apparently he will be wrapping up his tenure at Winds.
If there was ever any other Blog I felt a part of, it was probably Winds of Change - one of the few I semi-regularly contributed comments to. Joe Katzman has a knack for focusing on the truly important rather than just the ephemera-of-the-day (a truism about the whole gang there - birds of a feather flock together, and in this case of fine feather indeed). Joe will continue to do great work here, and in a few months (if everything INS related works out), will be doing it in California, with his bride.
Hoody-Hoo! Congradulations on everything!
(And, of course, lest readers get confused, Winds of Change will continue to go strong).
(Clarified in the comments, Joe says he's not even completely leaving Winds. So we just get good news - though Gawd knows that Canada could use more guys like him, so could we, so we'll take him in and be thankful for the blessing).
First, a mia culpa. I've been saying all along, going back to when this blog was on blogspot, "that dude is dead" in reference to Osama bin Laden. Well, upon further review, that dude isn't dead.
What does it change? In my opinion, not much. Osama's importance as a charismatic figure rallying the enemy shouldn't be dismissed. But it shouldn't be overestimated, either. The terrorist/Islamofacist movement is larger than any one man.
Beyond that, I haven't much more to say on this that someone else didn't already write better than I'm able at this particular time, in this particular situation. Just as I haven't on the political campaign, events in it (like the manufactured October Surprise), or the good but lower than expected GDP growth rate of 3.7% (which is relatively good, actually; considerably better than that of European countries that are often held up by a certain part of the ideological divide, implicitly when not explicitly, as a model for us to aspire to and emulate), the ongoing situation in Iraq and the larger war, and scores of other things that I might otherwise have something significant to say.
But I'm really still finding myself incapable of focusing enough attention on all this, absorbing the information that makes it possible, taking the time, including the mental processing time that happens in the background, "off-screen", to write what I think would be good posts. This process was more important than even I thought. Why? Well, in the past, posts were very often written "on the fly", extemporaneously in a stream-of-consciousness reaction to something that I had just read. So that made it seem like it was being born, like Athena out of Zeus' head, fully grown, without time needed for an idea or means of expressing it to mature. But, just as I was wrong about Osama being dead, that isn't really true, either.
This is regrettable to me on two levels. No, lets be entirely candid. It makes me sad. I made the right choice going into the Army, but as with the point I was planning on making, and hope to still get around to making, on the costs of invading Iraq, that doesn't mean there aren't trade-offs. The world is full of trade-offs, not perfect situations where you can "do it all" and "get it all" - something that too many people are deluded into believing (they tend to vote Democrat).
The first level upon which this is a regrettable realization to me is "The continuing crisis". Every generation has a rendezvous with destiny. It's become a cliche, dragged out almost every election, that the stakes this time are higher than ever. Well, they are - perhaps the stakes are continually ratcheting up. But I agree with Mathew Manweller that this is the most significant election of our times, a pivot point - the point at which a fulcrum is being put down, upon which a lever that will move the world will lay.
That is because of the twin wars, the war abroad and the Internal Cold War (aka Pan-Western Culture War (also enter "Pan Western Culture War" into my search engine for more explaination of this) at home, which affects the other. Referring to it without further discussion is a good way to come off as one of those "wild-eyed, crazed extremists", as culture warriors get characterized, but I have good reasons for positing such a war, just as Arthur Schlesinger Jr., no Buchananite, had reason to write the alarmist Disuniting of America years back. Seems like yesterday to me, but it's been, what, more than a decade since the book first came out. I want to do all I can to make a contribution to the ideological battle that is, in my opinion, so critical in winning both these fights.
The second reason, the personal one, is that I feel I'm in danger of losing some part of my essential nature. Yah, I'm one of those intellectuals, dealers in second hand ideas (Hayek) and wordsmyths (Nozik). I'm intellectually lonelier than I've ever felt, and that's saying something because this was and is one of the more "isolationist" blogs, not having a high degree of interconnectivity with the blogosphere as a whole beyond a few other blogs, because I have difficulty making such contacts. But the lack of such that I had is deeply felt, and I am concerned about intellectual stagnation.
But I'm not sure if I'll be able to go forward with this blog, because I'm not sure how to make the kind of posts I'd like to. Ones that are timely and insightful, that contribute something to what is, in my opinion, the most dynamic example of civic discourse at its best (at citizen level rather than institutionalized "professional" level) there is. The idea of being another blog saying the same sorts of things one can read on countless other blogs, except a day or two later, and not provocative in the best sense of the word - thought-provoking - well, I just don't think I'm writing anything worth reading anymore. I mean, if I were the one reading this blog at the moment, I'm not sure I would devote time to coming here, because I can get the same (and more) elsewhere.
So I'm going to have to think about what to do with this site. Unlike Steven Den Beste, I haven't lost the desire to blog. It hasn't become a chore to me, overburdened by nitpicking, something I dread rather than look forward to. I want to keep blogging but right now I'm not finding it easy to continue with this site.
Yes, there are lots of Milbloggers out there, including people who blog under the difficult conditions of deployment. Everyone's situation is different. Perhaps at some point my situation will reach such a state where I'll be able to do the kind of blogging I'd like (which has less to do with volume of posts than quality of posts). Perhaps I'll settle in, sooner or later, and find a routine that will allow me to make effective use of my time in such a way that I'm able to do just that. This is, indeed, exactly what I've been hoping will happen. But it hasn't happened yet.
Anyhow, I'm not closing the site. But it aint what it used to be, not to me at least. We'll see what it becomes, and hopefully it will get better rather than continue to slide into irrelevant mediocrity.
Aside: I was asked the other day by my First Sergeant what my hobbies were, so the Commander could mention them at the "Hail & Farewell" the unit gave last night for all the folks who were leaving and all of us recent arrivals. It didn't even enter my mind to mention writing, writing a blog, as one of them; not until later. That's how mentally detached I've become from this.
So, in some ways I don't mind tooting my own horn. When it comes to hawking blog posts and what I think of as keen insights, I'm all over that.
But I'm kind of self-concious about noting personal things. It really didn't even occur to me to post that it's my birthday today until just now. In commemoration I'm opening comments. Feel free to comment on anything that may interest, confuse, or irritate you with respect to anything I've posted about, or even stuff that I haven't.
Welcome to the debut of my new bloghome (I suppose this makes Porphyrogenitus.net a debutante). It was time to leave blogspot behind. It was a great run, but the usual reasons that cause people to abandon blogger finally wore me down.
Special thanks to Sekimori, Stacy Tab, and most especially Robyn Pollman, who performed sterling service designing this site under rather trying circumstances. Anything that looks particularly good here is probably her influence.
I haven't had anyone else code my pages since someone, a kindly young lady named Rach, taught me the basics of html. I know it showed - but there's something about coding your own pages (cold-coding, none of that Frontpage type stuff. It's a bit of hauteur I picked up at Shadowland, where you were expected to write your own pages, whatever it took). But boy! You can see the major difference between an amateur (myself) tinkering around and a real pro (Robyn). For one thing, my coding skills are fairly limited. For another thing, I tend to see something and say "oh, that's a kewl idea" and toss everything I can manage that I like in, but the total result can be a real mess rather than classy looking.
It was also a fairly significant investment for me. I'm not saying they overcharged. Far from it! It was worth every penny and I highly recommend. But I still haven't received my check from VRWCHQ. So I installed a tip jar. I don't really expect anyone to give (I'll be grateful if you do). It's sort of an inside joke for KoDT fans. I will be happy if I break even (unlike blogspot, Hosting Matters isn't free).
Welcome and thanks to my readers, too; regular ones, sporadic ones, or new ones. Welcome also to anyone who's been kind enough to link to me (please update your links). I'm truly grateful to anyone who's been kind enough to blogroll me, especially since I don't have a blogroll myself. Which is sort of a discourtesy to all the people who's blogs I like. In fact, I'll probably rectify that over the coming weekend.
Speaking of discourtesy, folks who've read my old blog will note some changes here. I rid myself of the title "ranting screeds". When I first started blogging, I was familiar with some blogs but must admit I hadn't been around the bloggosphere much. I was ignorant to the fact that so many established bloggers already used some variation of one or both of those (in fact, shocking as it may be to some, though I had heard of James Lileks blog, I had never actually followed a link to it at that point). So I've used the move to shead myself of what might be considered distinctive of others who had right of first usage.
Porphyrogenitus is me, though. At least as far as a net identity goes. Certainly suitable to a pedant who's inclinations and interests run to the historical (especially that of the Midieaval Roman Empire) and geopolitics.
Now since those of you who were kind enough to drop by to christen my new blog have read this far, let me take this opportunity to say what I've only said to a few of you. There are so many superb blogs out there, and one of them might be yours. If I've never sent a mail saying how much I like you're blog, it very well might have been a lapse on my part. I also don't get around the 'sphere as much as I'd like (unfortunately there's work and stuff, even if it might not seem like it. I post fairly frequently, but I'm one of those people who will post when there's a break in work. By the by, if you've seen incoherent ramblings among my posts, it's often because of hasty writing brought on by limited time. A bad habit; I probably should just wait until I have more time to collect my thoughts and assemble them in a lucid manner). I'm sure we've all also had the experience where we follow a link to a blog we've never read before, read a post, and think "this dude (or dudessa) is good. I should read this more often", fail to save the link ("I'll remember it, it's looks pretty memorable") and then never find our way back again (until perhaps we see a link to that blog again somewhere). I've done that more often than I want to remember. Folks are now free to say "hey, Porphy, that's a good reason to maintain a blogroll".
Yah, you're right.
Comments are turned on for this post. I won't normally have comments turned on. Not as a slap to my readers - it's entirely because I know me. I'm better off, for myself, leaving them off. If anyone wants to give me feedback, I encourage you all to mail me. But, for me at least, having comments on for all my posts would be too much like monitoring a mailing list or message board. Kudos to all the folks who have active commenting forums - and I know they add something (quite a bit) to the site for many readers. I'll probably turn comments on for selected posts (like this one), but the default will be "off". But if yah ever feel the desire to send me something, tell me something, or point out a spelling error, malapropism, or factual mistake and the like, that's what the e-mail is for.
Take a look around, you might find the quote at the bottom of the page of interest, for example.
But enough rambling on my part. Thanks for dropping by, please visit again.
