Democrat and Independent Thinker..."The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." -Nietzsche

Commenting on many things, including..."A government more dangerous to our liberty, than is the enemy it claims to protect us from." - Keith Olbermann

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

I got yer Google right here, Atrios

Ok, maybe I'll just post a little about the blogroll amnesty bullshit. Just because of certain comments like this made by Duncan Black about this post over at My Left Wing. Which, by the way, he didn't link to directly since My Left Wing is probably all but anathma to him and his little coterie of no-life-but-Atriot-comment-thread lifers, but via the cross post at ePluribus Media and then whined about when called on it, by saying he just doesn't have enough hours in the day to follow blogger ettiquette... or would that be ethics?

He seems to have enough hours in the day to make short, pithy comments about just about every tiny little news item that serves his agenda, just not enough time to make nice to his fellow bloggers. Granted, it would have required a little effort to find it, he would have had to go through the Independent Bloggers Alliance, where he might have caught a rash or something, and he might have had to leave out a "Wanker", being so busy and all.

I am a microscopic speck in blogtopia. Some days it bothers me that I only have a teeny weeny group of readers, most days (as in 99 out of 100) I couldn't care less. Some days, I love it because I can put up all kinds of crap about myself and know no one will see it or care but me. I link to Jon Swift and I've finally gotten around to adding Skippy but they don't even know, so they don't link back to me and I guess I could join the Alliance and might one do all of those things one of these days when I feel like getting around to it. So, needless to say, I don't have a dog in this fight, other than my feeling of what the hell is right and what the hell is wrong. And I don't mean "right" as opposed to "left". Plus, while I consider myself very much a left of center liberal, I have very carefully weighed and carefully considered views that don't fit in that mold and would probably give Maryscott O'Connor apoplectic anaphylaxis.

However, I can guaran-damn-tee you that if I did have the kind of following that Atrios does, I would be sure that my blogroll was populated by more than WHITE MEN, with more than a few token women bloggers, ALL of whom already have a huge (and well deserved) following, and two, count 'em, two (as far as I can tell having gone through his entire blogroll) token African American's. Both men, by the way. Not that I hold that against Oliver Willis and Steve Gilliard (hang in there, Steve, I haven't always agreed with you but I want you healthy and back!)

ESPECIALLY if I held myself up to be a leading liberal voice!

But, geezuslouisas!! There's a big, big world out there, populated by voices that aren't the voices of the BIG WHITE MAN, the popular feminists, and ain't gonna stir the pot too far from the mainstream black guys. No offense intended, especially since I haven't read that much of Willis, just a quick first impression.

I'm a freakin' middle aged southern white woman and I've found some scintillating minority voices, who don't try to echo the big white man blogger world, and I'm not scared, put-off, freaked out, or threatened by it. I LOVE IT!! And my viewpoints, while I think I try to be open, liberal, embracing and all that I am and can be, are surely not always those with which these bloggers might agree. But, I link to them because I love what they have to say and how they say it. Hell, sometimes after reading them, I don't even agree with myself! Or I change my mind, whether I post about it or not. Because they broaden my mind and my viewpoints and help me see all sides and learn new things and gain new perspectives. And, quite a few I've found only because they have cared enough about me to link to me!

Now, Eschaton is Duncan Black's blog and he has every right to do whatever he wishes with it. Still, do I sympathize with Skippy and My Left Wing and Jon Swiftand all of the other bloggers who got wiped on the Atrios "Blogroll Amnesty Day"? Hellza, yeah, I do!

In his comment linked to above, (yes, I graciously linked as I graciously left him and Kos-but-no-link-here on my blogroll, um, while still "having my say", I can't help it, I'm southern) Black claims that he wiped his blogroll so he could link to more blogs.

Uh. You gotta limit there, Atrios? You get charged by the pound or sumthin'? Maybe try Blogger Beta or something if your blog has set up it's own rules of limitations? Ummmm.... open the pod door, Hal.

I mean. Come on! That is sheer and simple bullshit. I thought Atrios was the all great and powerful cut to the quick bullshit pointer-outter of the Intertubes Universe! Maybe he might want to turn his keen eye to himself before he writes such unself examined, unself knowing Bushspeak.

That's got to be teh Eschaton WMD if I've ever heard shit. And I've heard a lot of shit.

So, I just gotta ask. What are you afraid of, Duncan Black? Afraid you're going to link to someone who's not going to echo you and your white male dominated echo chamber? Afraid you're going to link to someone who might get you called out by the MSM you so outwardly loathe and so inwardly seek to emulate? Opting for MSM cred instead of (blog) street cred? (Had to add that "blog" in there because I was just hollaring thinking about a former Bryn-Mawr economist Philadelphia Yankee white boy having street cred! Oh lordylordylawsy! That would make my granny hoot.)

Oh, well. Out of the kindness of my heart for you, poor Yankee white boy, I'll give you a few links that I've discovered. It's just a few, granted, since I don't hunt them out but get blessed with finding them, but it's a hell of lot better than you've got, so I recommend you check them out and see if you can find some room on your gilded lily blogroll.

The Primary Contradiction
IntelligentalIndigena (angry indian)
African American Opinion
African American Political Pundit
Skeptical Brotha
Jack and Jill Politics
Francis Holland
Angry Black Bitch
Spirit21

There now. That should get you started. Or it would, if you ever saw this. But, hey, maybe you'll Google yourself again. Hee. That cracks me up. I would never think about Googling myself. But, then, I am not the Great Atrios.

Sorry. Seriously, you do good work - so much so I'll probably keep checking Eschaton first so I can find links that might interest me without a bunch of opinionated blather about them. It's so sparse it's like a surprise-a-link page. I mean, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO? More power to you if you can earn $5000 a month on that shit.

You just could do a little better. You might not have set out to get where you are today on purpose, but you got there by one other blog linking to you. Then another. Then another. And, back in the day, way back before I and 99% of your other readers turned our bloodshot eyes your way, you were all just little bitty blogs by some guy on the internet.

Turn your back on all those who actually give a damn, and who actually try to earn a little money for their efforts, and who are hurt by your abandonment if you like. But, despite your self-proclaimed indifference to religion, you might try reading The Divine Comedy for it's allegorical content alone. For in it, the ninth level of hell is reserved for traitors.

(Kos is probably split between the fourth and ninth levels. Split, as in literally. If there is, was, or will be a hell, literally.)

UPDATE: I was trying to get some sleep in my weird, post-apocalyptic (wacky illness) world, but I couldn't knowing that I might have left off The Unapologetic Mexican who has been on my blogroll for quite some time and is not only unapologetic, but unforgettable, so I had to get up just to add him.

I'm sorry I don't have any Japanese or Micronesian or even Polynesian, but I probably wouldn't understand the language anyway. And, speaking of language, I speak southern and "white boy" is not racist when spoken by a white southerner, just to clarify because of some half-wit commenter. It is, in this particular case, condescending and patronizing, thank you, and intentionally so though perhaps not terribly nice of me. And, more often than not, it's a term that can be tinged with not a little exasperated affection, even if the white boy is a Yankee and a full-grown man. Hell, I have 80 year old freakin' uncles who are white boys. Down here, if you have a problem with being called a white boy, or a good ole boy, or just a boy when you happen to be white, then you're just plain thought to have a problem with doubting your own masculinity, as long as it's not preceded with damned and stupid. That's when only utter disgust and shame takes over. As in, those damned, stupid white boys at Duke didn't have a lick of sense and oughta be horsewhipped whether actually guilty or not because they oughta known better and they disgraced themselves, their families, their university and the south with that ignorant, uncalled for behavior. (Forgive my colloquism, but sometimes I just feel like it.)

None of the above applies to male blacks. Then it's fighting words, or worse, and rightly so just the same here as anywhere else.

15 comments:

Jon Swift said...

Sorry, but I was unaware you had linked to me until I found this post. But I have linked to you now. If you drop skippy a line, I'm sure he'll link to you, too. Anyway, I appreciate your blogrolling me and I look forward to reading more of your posts now that I have discovered you.

BlueKat said...

Why, thank you kindly, Dr. Swift. I check your blog daily for your most recent superlative satiric take and am always tickled pink when you've crafted one anew. Keep up the good work. And thank you very much for noticing my wee window on the world. I'll drop a word in Skippy's big floppy ear while I'm comprehensibly communicative.

Human said...

Almost had me. Until your racist comments like "white boy". Ever use the term "black boy"? How is it being white is somehow less valuable?

Or being a man?

Are you sure your covered here? Do you have a blog by a Japanese American linked? Or a Micronesian?
Don't forget them Native Americans.
Or Pakistani?

By your way of thinking if you don't have them linked, that must mean something.

You're a hypocretin and no better than Atrios. But I don't blame you. I'm sure it's "Whiteys" fault.

BlueKat said...

Oh, puh-leeeze! I'm a white woman, yet racist, because I called a young man half my age a white boy??? Listen, Junior, I call my 33 year old nephew "boy" and he doesn't take mind a bit. In the south, we have a "good ole boy" network running half of our politics. We refer to just about any white man as a boy for any reason or no reason at all. I wouldn't ever use it in referring to a black male over the age of 10 because historically (history being a subject you apparently are wholly ignorant of) the term has been a racist insult. I've never heard of anyone being called a racist for calling a fellow caucasion of the male sex boy. In this particular case, was I being condescending? Hell, yes, and I meant to be. Racist? I think not, cretin.

I think you are the racist here, being overly sensitive to the "put-upon" white male patriarchy of whom you are obviously a charter member.

As stated clearly, if you can comprehend the english language, I offered some examples to be evaluated. If I'd had knowledge of an intelligent, scintillating Polynesian blog, I would have offered it, but alas I have not yet found one. Excluding any blogs of which I am not aware means nothing. But, those I did include are easily located by exploring blogrolls of other, more inclusionary blogs, which was the entire fucking point of the post.

You don't like me or my comments? Get the fuck off my blog and take your inanity with you.

BlueKat said...

Oh, and by the way, asswipe, I did include a Native American, and an excellent one of which I am proud being of considerable native american descent myself. Who spawned you? The SS?

BlueKat said...

Just one more thing, the next time you want to attack me, try using intelligible, correct english. Nothing exposes ignorance like ignorance.

Renee in Ohio said...

Hi, bluekat. Thanks for linking to the Independent Blogger Alliance. Want to do the blogroll link exchange, thing?

BlueKat said...

Sure I do, Renee. I love your work. I'll add you this evening and check back with you in case you don't get this... this insomniac has to get some sleep!

Human said...

Wow. The truths hurts huh? Made you include a Mexican so you think you got yourself covered there. Seems to me you understand my English just fine.

I stomp harmful stereotypes any where I find them. Don't think your special. Everybody has their prejudices. Maybe someday you'll overcome them. I'm sure you'll find a whole new avenue of possibilities will open for you.

Good Luck.

BlueKat said...

The Unapologetic Mexican has been on my blogroll for a long time and we have corresponded and linked to one another. Ask him if you don't believe me. It was my intention to include him from the beginning. You, however, did not mention Mexican in your comment, so how dare you try to accuse me of including him to appease a moron like you? I'll be happy to try to overcome my prejudices against my own race if you can please explain to me how in hell I can be prejudiced against myself, my family, and my ancestors? You wouldn't know a truth if it flew into your mouth like the maggots who already reside there. The only prejudices I harbor are reserved for ignorant self-rightous simpletons who know themselves not at all and others less. I eat kids like you for breakfast, lunch and dinner and regurgitate you as the vomit you are. Go back to grammer school where you'll learn all about contractions and apostrophes if you're even remotely capable of comprehension above the second grade level.

Unknown said...

hi bluekat, you bet i'll put you on my blogroll!

Anonymous said...

bluekat,

Thanks for the plug. I appreciate it immensely.

BlueKat said...

Skeptical Brotha...so glad to hear from you. You deserve to be known worldwide, IMHO. You should link to Skippy and Jon and Renee (if you don't already, and they'll link back) and cross post some of your excellent stuff over at the Independent Bloggers Alliance. You have an excellent voice I want you HEARD!

Whig... thanks so much. I really like your blog too and added it to my blogroll. I think Polar Bears should remain white and alive, but if I had to pick, I'd pick a pale periwinkle blue. My favorite color, can't you tell?

upyernoz said...

You gotta limit there, Atrios? You get charged by the pound or sumthin'?

as is usually the case in these kinds of rants, you are ignoring atrios' own explanation. as he's said several times now he tends not to edit his blogroll once it gets to be a certain length. the whole point of wiping his blogroll and starting again from scratch. a lot of his links on the old blogroll were defunct sites. so he decided to do an experiment, wipe the whole thing and then only add sites when he thought "hey, i wonder where _____ site is."

and honestly for the life of my i cannot understand why there is anything wrong with that. it's duncan's blog. why can't he do whatever he wanted with his blogroll?

and as for your claim that atrios "whined about [not linking to my left wing] when he was called on it": does it matter at all to you that the blogger that "called him on it" later updated her post and acknowledged that duncan had a good excuse? in fact, you linked to the very post with the update. as maryscott herself writes: "To be fair to Atrios, in this instance, he has a good excuse not to link to the site[.]"

and finally i'm curious how you determined the race and gender of all the bloggers in the eschaton blogroll. a lot of those sites are run by different people. does one white person make the whole site white? pam spalding posts on pandagon, does that make the site "black"? there's also the issue that a lot of the people on his blogroll are anonymous. how can you tell who is who?

BlueKat said...

Alas, one of teh devoted coterie of Atriots comments. I'll answer, not that it will make any difference to any who think their hero can do no wrong nor have other than the most noble intentions.

"You gotta limit there, Atrios? You get charged by the pound or sumthin'?"

as is usually the case in these kinds of rants, you are ignoring atrios' own explanation. as he's said several times now he tends not to edit his blogroll once it gets to be a certain length. the whole point of wiping his blogroll and starting again from scratch. a lot of his links on the old blogroll were defunct sites. so he decided to do an experiment, wipe the whole thing and then only add sites when he thought "hey, i wonder where _____ site is."


Again, I call "Bullshit!". It takes only a short while to check your blogroll links every once in a while, and delete the defunct ones. Big deal. My questions as to his reasonings still stand.

and honestly for the life of my i cannot understand why there is anything wrong with that. it's duncan's blog. why can't he do whatever he wanted with his blogroll?

As I clearly stated in my post, "Now, Eschaton is Duncan Black's blog and he has every right to do whatever he wishes with it." I have my own blog, also, and I can do anything I want with it, too. And, if I want to sympathize with those bloggers who were hurt financially by his actions by having their rankings affected, or hurt in actuality that their support of Atrios through the years was summarily dismissed, I have the right to do so.

and as for your claim that atrios "whined about [not linking to my left wing] when he was called on it": does it matter at all to you that the blogger that "called him on it" later updated her post and acknowledged that duncan had a good excuse? in fact, you linked to the very post with the update. as maryscott herself writes: "To be fair to Atrios, in this instance, he has a good excuse not to link to the site[.]"

Oh my. Quite disingenious is this. Why, dear Upyernoz, did you not include the entire quote? Let me: "To be fair to Atrios, in this instance, he has a good excuse not to link to the site, since the piece basically trashes him (you'll NOTICE, however, that here I am, LINKING TO HIM, even though I think he's behaved the total fucking douchebag throughout this entire sad affair -- AND he's NOT been the model of reciprocity when it comes to that).


But this case is not an exception -- this is what he and the rest of the BBB do every fucking time. Last year, he linked not to MLW, but to the WaPo, when he finally did get around to acknowledging the fucking article even existed. You dig? Markos links not to skippy, but to the guy who linked to skippy. It's bullshit. It's a fucking circle jerk, and the links are the hand lotion."

Attempting a little propagandizing on behalf of the object of your devotion, are we?


and finally i'm curious how you determined the race and gender of all the bloggers in the eschaton blogroll. a lot of those sites are run by different people. does one white person make the whole site white? pam spalding posts on pandagon, does that make the site "black"? there's also the issue that a lot of the people on his blogroll are anonymous. how can you tell who is who?

Again, your reading comprehension is quite low. As I clearly stated, "and two, count 'em, two (as far as I can tell having gone through his entire blogroll) token African American's." I suggested some blogs by DISTINCT VOICES of various minorities. Because some large group blogs have one or even a few minority voices does not make them minority blogs, although those that do are, at least, making an effort to be more diverse.

But, thank you for visiting and I appreciate your comments. I just don't agree with you.