On discourse
I have myself a blog-reading rotation, now, and I think my current favorite is Talking Points Memo by Josh Marshall. He takes a much more news-oriented approach than other blogs I read, which means it’s heavy on information and light on snark. I also like it because the posts tend to be quick, paragraph-length entries, with links to other parts of the TPM media empire if you want more info.
Over the weekend, he wrote an unusually long post about our country’s current experiment in training terrorists. In the middle of it was a paragraph that put into words a conflict that’s been in the back of my head for some time:
We’re so far deep into this mess that sometimes I believe we’re past the point of argument. You look at the evidence and you either see it or you don’t. Or perhaps more agnostically, you look at the evidence and one of two completely contradictory narratives makes sense. Whichever is right, the assumptions brought to the issue are so divergent as almost to defy argument or debate.
I occasionally lament that I don’t have a large enough forum to get important ideas out to people who really should be grasping them, but behind that is the quiet, diffuse despair Marshall is describing. For someone who prides himself on seeing other people’s points of view, and being able to construct a discussion that shows them mine, it’s disheartening to suspect that no amount of debate would change the minds that really need changing.
June 5th, 2007 17:52
I get pangs of that every so often as well, the fear that things I’m saying aren’t making a difference. At the same time, though, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with helping people who do agree with you to organize and clarify their own thoughts and perspectives by reading your insights into situations. Despite what appears to be nearly complete insurmountability of changing another person’s mind, it’s hard to give up hope that it can be accomplished. I like to think that there’s a way to do it, and that we’ll find it if we just keep trying. Perhaps part of that is getting people to realize there are things and situations in the world that are irreducibly complex or unfair, but that there are ways to deal with them to minimize the negative effects and outcomes.
You’re welcome to contribute my site if you want. I’ve been getting pretty decent traffic of late, increasingly active readership (e.g. readers who actually comment on posts), and my Technorati ranking has been steadily improving over the last month or so. It certainly wouldn’t reduce the number of people who hear what you have to say.
I’ve been trying to get more writers and guest contributors, and I’ve always enjoyed your site and your writing. If nothing else, you could even just mirror posts from here over there. If you’re interested, get in touch. I’m hoping you will.