On The Nature of Blogging...And the Axis of Evil
For those requiring "facts only" and no philosophical thought or analysis, may I offer a correction--nay, completion--of sorts:
The Axis of Evil includes North Korea, which has Buddhists and others, but is NOT an Islamic State.
However, as I've heard several Southerners say/agree to, "Innyone who prays to Muhammad and is darker than an American but lighter than a black person is what W really meant by 'Axis of Evil'.."
It's no secret that Islam and Muslims, for that matter, inspire many different feelings and reactions in people who, for the most part, have NOT lived with Islam as the state (or even just wildly popular) religion.
The South is NOT home to significant pockets of Muslims, although there are relatively large communities here. (You know, it's Americentric of me to even call it "The South," as though it's the only South there is on the globe. Hah. I've become my own worst enemy!)
The point is that no matter HOW much you explain things to these people (meaning the Southerners who have little experience with Islam, save for a co-worker or three--if that), they will just never get it.
Just as I and other people raised in strict and conservative families (and people who went to Catholic school, for that matter) will never be able to think nothing of dating three guys at once, tossing back vodka martinis with the speed of summer lightning, or doing recreational drugs.
They might DO these things, but they'll always remember the opinions (or delivery..) of Tante Viola or Aunt Agnes or Sister Gugenheimer-Fitzwilliam and shudder.
I'm not even going to address the problems with this line of thought--or the amusing "Innyone" comment above--right now (10 a.m. = time for bed) BUT I just want to reiterate that the AntiSocialite (as you may have guessed) is NOT an encyclopaedia.
We (meaning moi) aren't here to spoon feed our dear readers the same factoids that any- and everyone is throwing out these days; for facts, hit CNN or Fox or a news organisation.
Furthermore, while many blogs contain facts, one should never take something written in a blog (if the information isn't found anywhere else) as the Ultimate Source of Truth.
Blogging--while effective in bringing news and opinions and analyses to the masses--is an excellent case of discontinuous history.
That is, I may cover the same event as three other people, but my FOCUS may be totally different than theirs is. I may CHOOSE to follow what Perp 1 did on the evening in question, and ignore the other 2 perps outright. My next-door-neighbour's blog might focus on an overview of the night in question. And HIS next-door-neighbour's blog might only discuss the wild goose chase that the cops undertook before nabbing the thugs.
Which of us is the most correct, then?
None of the above! (Accuracy of facts notwithstanding.)
And that's the great thing about blogging; while some people who don't ever read the news may find a totally news-based blog to keep them in the loop, there is another crowd of readers who HAVE heard about things and merely wish to read differing opinions, whether these opinions run contrary to their own--or to the popular media.
All in all, the most important thing to remember is that people sometimes choose to refrain from mentioning a certain fact--meaning they deliberately gloss over something--because they're making a point that has nothing to do with it, or that takes away from the point of the article. Or blog.
The Axis of Evil includes North Korea, which has Buddhists and others, but is NOT an Islamic State.
However, as I've heard several Southerners say/agree to, "Innyone who prays to Muhammad and is darker than an American but lighter than a black person is what W really meant by 'Axis of Evil'.."
It's no secret that Islam and Muslims, for that matter, inspire many different feelings and reactions in people who, for the most part, have NOT lived with Islam as the state (or even just wildly popular) religion.
The South is NOT home to significant pockets of Muslims, although there are relatively large communities here. (You know, it's Americentric of me to even call it "The South," as though it's the only South there is on the globe. Hah. I've become my own worst enemy!)
The point is that no matter HOW much you explain things to these people (meaning the Southerners who have little experience with Islam, save for a co-worker or three--if that), they will just never get it.
Just as I and other people raised in strict and conservative families (and people who went to Catholic school, for that matter) will never be able to think nothing of dating three guys at once, tossing back vodka martinis with the speed of summer lightning, or doing recreational drugs.
They might DO these things, but they'll always remember the opinions (or delivery..) of Tante Viola or Aunt Agnes or Sister Gugenheimer-Fitzwilliam and shudder.
I'm not even going to address the problems with this line of thought--or the amusing "Innyone" comment above--right now (10 a.m. = time for bed) BUT I just want to reiterate that the AntiSocialite (as you may have guessed) is NOT an encyclopaedia.
We (meaning moi) aren't here to spoon feed our dear readers the same factoids that any- and everyone is throwing out these days; for facts, hit CNN or Fox or a news organisation.
Furthermore, while many blogs contain facts, one should never take something written in a blog (if the information isn't found anywhere else) as the Ultimate Source of Truth.
Blogging--while effective in bringing news and opinions and analyses to the masses--is an excellent case of discontinuous history.
That is, I may cover the same event as three other people, but my FOCUS may be totally different than theirs is. I may CHOOSE to follow what Perp 1 did on the evening in question, and ignore the other 2 perps outright. My next-door-neighbour's blog might focus on an overview of the night in question. And HIS next-door-neighbour's blog might only discuss the wild goose chase that the cops undertook before nabbing the thugs.
Which of us is the most correct, then?
None of the above! (Accuracy of facts notwithstanding.)
And that's the great thing about blogging; while some people who don't ever read the news may find a totally news-based blog to keep them in the loop, there is another crowd of readers who HAVE heard about things and merely wish to read differing opinions, whether these opinions run contrary to their own--or to the popular media.
All in all, the most important thing to remember is that people sometimes choose to refrain from mentioning a certain fact--meaning they deliberately gloss over something--because they're making a point that has nothing to do with it, or that takes away from the point of the article. Or blog.
Comments
Your articles are generally well written and thoughtful. Instead of digging your heels in when someone calls you out in error, you'd do well to acknowledge it. I practise what I preach, in case you're wondering.