Every now and again, this peaceful backwater of the great Blogosphere
Ocean is momentarily roiled by an angry, abusive post, often directed not at me
but at the small group of people who comment regularly. I don’t enjoy such eruptions, but more than
being troubled by them I am mystified by them.
Google, in its beneficence, tells me how many page views
this blog gets each day, as well as a good deal else that I find of interest. A page view cannot be assumed to be a reading,
of course. This blog might simply be a
waystation on a surfing mission. Be that
as it may, the number has for a long time settled between 1000 and 1500 a day. If Brian Leiter links to this blog on his
blog, the number spikes to 2000 or more and then falls away again rather
quickly. Lately, what with everyone
staying home, the number has risen to between 1500 and 2000. Anecdotal evidence from comments and personal
emails suggests that the readership is scattered across the globe, but the
overwhelming preponderance is in the United States [Chile makes a showing in Google’s
table of geographical distribution, but I suspect that is simply multiple page
views by S. Wallerstein.]
Now, this is all very satisfying to a retired professor
whose classes tended to run to 20 or so each, but it cannot even be called peanuts in the world of online bloviating. Major league news sites get millions of page views
a day. I am not a big frog in a
small pond. I am a spring peeper in a
puddle.
Why on earth do the authors of these abusive screeds care so
deeply about what is said here? We are,
after all, just a handful of folks, predominantly but not exclusively on the
left, chatting with one another. As
Callicles said scornfully of Socrates in the Gorgias, “whispering in a corner with a few lads” [and lasses, but
not in ancient Greece].
Back in ’88, shortly after Susie and I married and built a
house in the tiny town of Pelham just to the east of Amherst, we got ourselves
elected as Jesse Jackson delegates to the Massachusetts Democratic Party
convention. We accomplished this
impressive feat by loading up our car with two like-minded neighbors and
defeating our opponents at the town party canvas 4 to 3.
My response to the abusive anonymati is simple: Pick on someone our own size.
12 comments:
spring peeper in a puddle?
That's probably me.
I not only check the blog several times a day to see if there's a new post, but at times I comment without checking to receive follow-up comments by email because I'm so obsessive that I drop whatever I'm doing to reply and I don't want to be interrupted. However, being obsessive, I end up checking back every hour to see if someone has commented on my comments.
Of course that's a tribute not only to my obsessive-compulsive personality, but also to the intellectual quality of your posts and that of my fellow commenters.
Glad you said that about those “abusive screeds,” RPW. Unlike sw, I don’t come here to engage in intellectual competition, though I can see that some enjoy that sort of thing. I come here because I imagine I am part—a very occasional part—of a conversation, where some of the pleasure comes from beginning to recognise the various characters who participate. I know none of you. I doubt I’ve ever met any of you—though I once was introduced to S. Beer (we didn’t quite take to each other, but we were polite). But the regulars among you, including our very occasionally irascible host, have become friendly virtual acquaintances whom I do enjoy encountering on a regular basis.
And now, if I may be forgiven an interjection in response to an off-blog comment david p. directed to sw earlier today (13 April, 1:53-1:59 pm), the story in the NYT about the allegation didn’t make much impression on me. I was much more struck by the way Biden, in his 13 April NYT op-ed, defined how he would go about safely reopening America. Among other things: “If I were president, I would convene top experts from the private sector, industry by industry, to come up with new ideas on how to operate more safely.” And later, “I’d ask the experts to figure out what delivery workers, waiters, clerks and so many other professionals need to be safe.” Maybe I’m reading him in too biassed a fashion, but I want to start yelling, “What about the workers?” Have they no insights and recommendations to propose? Yet again I’m led to conclude he, Biden, just doesn’t get what caused so many people to support Sanders (and, unfortunately, Trump). Awful choice for November.
I didn't say that I only commented to engage in intellectual competition. I was responding to an anonymous commenter who saw the whole conversation in the blog as a war for domination or status. That being the case, I admitted that intellectual competition plays a role in my motivation, but obviously, the subject interests me, I learn from the other commenters, and I have a lifelong commitment to radical politics too.
Motives tend to be complicated. At least mine are.
Ahh, one longs for the halcyon days of 2007, when our worthy Prof. first intrepidly sacrificed at the alter of the blogosphere, trusting naively to the benevolence of an anticipated Commentariat. Little did he apprehend what turmoil was to follow. That said, he still bandies back and forth with the best of them.
I check back every few hours or so just to see what the rest of you might have said. A lot more so now than before. I don't know if that shows up on your radar or whatever google calls it. But I guess it shows how much I appreciate the place. Thanks.
But I also enjoy the little tests that enable me to comment- today it was finding fire hydrants in the picture arangement. I usually pass them so they make me feel good.
I'm sorry I mis-stated it, s wallerstein. I certainly didn't mean to accuse you of abusive screeds. In fact, I'm usually very comfortable with what you say and the way you say it. r
R McD,
Thank you...
I've haven't seen these abusive comments but I guess I only read what you write.
But this shows that you actually read our comments which keeps me hopeful.
Also if you were curious about who is reading, I for one am not American but Australian Japanese, thus I'm here for the philosophy when it pops up lol!
Hope you have a nice day.
Nat P.
Off blog, sorry, but referring to the election to the state supreme court,
A Bright Light Seems To Be Shining Out of Wisconsin tonight
Indeed it is a bright light.
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