Saturday, January 06, 2007
About this blog...
I want to reopen this blog. I would like to use this blog as a learning tool. Perhaps a way to gain knowledge that I either lack because of blinders, or environment. I try to focus on topics which effect me and my family, but other things crop up; mostly from discussions at work, talk radio (more on that later) or from surfing the 'net.
I was once a die hard Republican (well before the term RHINO was coined) and became a disgruntled ex-repub because of all the disappointments I encountered after they gained a majority in Congress. I decided to just be an Independent, because I did find many views of mine to be left of center, but many still remained to the right. The honesty of it is that neither political party has gained my trust and I am disgusted by both. I'm not sure if I want to get closer to the center (like Gov Swartzenegger) but since I am starting to get old, it's much harder to change some of my most heated convictions.
Political activism is not something I am willing to pursue, unless I had money to spend; you don't cavort across the country and knock on your Congressman's door if you are lower middle class (another topic for another post) unless you live for activism. I live for my family.
Don't give up hope, however. If you can (with reasonable argument) persuade me to your point of view, I will give you the benefit of my attention and check it out for myself. Unfortunately, for me, sugar works better than vinegar. This is a paradigm that must be overcome for me. Let's take some media sources for examples of what I am trying to convey.
Talk Radio - Sure most of it is run by right wing loons who most the time get callers that go "uhuh - uhuh" and nothing is debated. If a dissenter comes on they either get told how it is or run off the air. Some however have rather convincing arguments, whether conservative, moderate or traditionalist, and treat callers with utmost care, but rarely go off the deep end. This gets my attention. What I can't stand (and is all I get whenever I flip to Air America) is conniving weasel talk that seems like some continuous running joke. It turns my attention switch to anger and just negates any sort of reasonable argument that they may have given. The same thing happened recently on another blog I have under another profile. These people make like anyone who does not follow their agenda to the tee is just stupid. I am not stupid.
News media - Newspapers and TV are intrinsically biased. They are out to sell you something, so they go for the issues that grab your emotions so they can keep your attention. I believe alot of people that are happy in their life and don't have too many worries don't bother with watching the news. Rich people probably do to keep up with trends that help them stay where they are at. But there are those that, no matter their status, they are emotionally driven and will care for every issue they come in contact with. I am not one of those. I care about issues that effect my family, but am overall fairly happy. But I watch and read the news to get knowledge, and so I reopened this blog.
Blogs - Somebody probably re engineered the old phrase to read like this, "Blogs are like assholes, everyone has one and they all stink", which is not entirely true, but should be taken as a warning. There are RHINO blogs which I dislike and there are secular-progressive (we apparently aren't supposed to use "liberal" anymore) which I dislike. But there are also those kinds which have a reasonable amount of intelligence to them. I hope this will be one of them.
To summarize: I will use this blog to gain knowledge and possibly define my political viewpoint. I am open to discussion that is worthwhile, if dissenting it must instruct with care; patronizing vitriol will only harden my views against yours.
The media in any form is suspect and it all must really fit your version of reality to be of any use.
P.S. If you have visited here before you may find things rather askew. I re-did this blog and deleted all of the previous posts to recycle it. See I am moving to the left already! Just kidding...
I was once a die hard Republican (well before the term RHINO was coined) and became a disgruntled ex-repub because of all the disappointments I encountered after they gained a majority in Congress. I decided to just be an Independent, because I did find many views of mine to be left of center, but many still remained to the right. The honesty of it is that neither political party has gained my trust and I am disgusted by both. I'm not sure if I want to get closer to the center (like Gov Swartzenegger) but since I am starting to get old, it's much harder to change some of my most heated convictions.
Political activism is not something I am willing to pursue, unless I had money to spend; you don't cavort across the country and knock on your Congressman's door if you are lower middle class (another topic for another post) unless you live for activism. I live for my family.
Don't give up hope, however. If you can (with reasonable argument) persuade me to your point of view, I will give you the benefit of my attention and check it out for myself. Unfortunately, for me, sugar works better than vinegar. This is a paradigm that must be overcome for me. Let's take some media sources for examples of what I am trying to convey.
Talk Radio - Sure most of it is run by right wing loons who most the time get callers that go "uhuh - uhuh" and nothing is debated. If a dissenter comes on they either get told how it is or run off the air. Some however have rather convincing arguments, whether conservative, moderate or traditionalist, and treat callers with utmost care, but rarely go off the deep end. This gets my attention. What I can't stand (and is all I get whenever I flip to Air America) is conniving weasel talk that seems like some continuous running joke. It turns my attention switch to anger and just negates any sort of reasonable argument that they may have given. The same thing happened recently on another blog I have under another profile. These people make like anyone who does not follow their agenda to the tee is just stupid. I am not stupid.
News media - Newspapers and TV are intrinsically biased. They are out to sell you something, so they go for the issues that grab your emotions so they can keep your attention. I believe alot of people that are happy in their life and don't have too many worries don't bother with watching the news. Rich people probably do to keep up with trends that help them stay where they are at. But there are those that, no matter their status, they are emotionally driven and will care for every issue they come in contact with. I am not one of those. I care about issues that effect my family, but am overall fairly happy. But I watch and read the news to get knowledge, and so I reopened this blog.
Blogs - Somebody probably re engineered the old phrase to read like this, "Blogs are like assholes, everyone has one and they all stink", which is not entirely true, but should be taken as a warning. There are RHINO blogs which I dislike and there are secular-progressive (we apparently aren't supposed to use "liberal" anymore) which I dislike. But there are also those kinds which have a reasonable amount of intelligence to them. I hope this will be one of them.
To summarize: I will use this blog to gain knowledge and possibly define my political viewpoint. I am open to discussion that is worthwhile, if dissenting it must instruct with care; patronizing vitriol will only harden my views against yours.
The media in any form is suspect and it all must really fit your version of reality to be of any use.
P.S. If you have visited here before you may find things rather askew. I re-did this blog and deleted all of the previous posts to recycle it. See I am moving to the left already! Just kidding...
# posted by Hena Gaijin @ 8:34 PM 
