META-BLOGGING

Today's post will be a blog about blogs, or, as they say these days, a meta-blog.

[Historical footnote. The prefix "meta-" has come to have the meaning of higher or better or transcendent. So most folks think that metaphysics is somehow about things that are higher than, or transcend, the physical -- such as extrasensory perception, or out of body experiences. The prefix has also come to have the meaning of "second order." Metaethics is not theories about what is good and bad and what we ought to do, but rather is theories about theories about what is good and bad and what we ought to do. The term "metaphysics" came into modern usage, of course, via the essays by Aristotle known as The Metaphysics, and since those essays deal with the nature of Being and other "first things", as Aristotle called certain fundamental questions, the term acquired its modern meaning. But in fact, the essays known as The Metaphysics are simply the texts that, in an edition reintroduced into Western Europe from the Islamic world, came after the book known as The Physics. Now, in Greek, "that come after the Physics" is "ta meta ta physica," so the essays,to which Aristotle gave no name, became known as The Metaphysics.]

Anyway, back to metablogging. One of the things I do as a committed blogger is to surf the web and check out other blogs. Indeed, although I read the NY TIMES every day [mostly for the obituaries, the op ed essays, and the puzzles], I get most of my news from a small group of blogs. So, as a public service to my readers, who all probably have better things to do with their time, here is a guide to the blogs I routinely check.

I. The Huffington Post, accessible at http://www.huffingtonpost.com . Started by Arianna Huffington, conservative turned liberal, this is far and away the flashiest of the blogs, with vast amounts of material, big, brightly colored visuals, and a determinedly left bias. The Huffington Post is a strange cross between a rad-lib rant and a trashy gossip sheet. Here you can find the very latest information about the health care struggle or the torture debate, and also the dirt, with photos, of Tiger's multiple mistresses. It is worth checking out her bio on http://www.wikipedia.com.

2. Talking Points Memo, a blog started by Josh Marshall and now staffed by a growing array of politicos, bloggers, and technonerds. You can find it at http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com Like Huffington, Marshall is firmly on the left. Unlike Huffington, he actually does investigative reporting, and is more and a more a source for breaking stories, cited by the mainstream media. TPM is heavy on Washington politics, but mostly omits the trashy gossip that Huffington seems to thrive on. During the exposure of Sarah Palin's clay feet, Marshall broke some key stories. TPM also regularly includes extended comments from its readers, as well as guest pieces.

3. The Daily Dish, Andrew Sullivan's blog, which is available at http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/ Sullivan is an interesting character -- an extremely intelligent and well-educated English gay HIV positive writer who takes conservatism very seriously [Michael Oakeshott, that sort of thing] and grew so disenchanted with George W. Bush that he supported Obama for the presidency. The Daily Dish is a much more personal blog than the Huffington Post or TPM, and although Sullivan has a number of people on his staff, the voice is always distinctively his. There are four subjects about which Sullivan cares deeply, and they absorb the lion's share of his blog. They are: the current state of conservative theory and practice, Gay Rights, the popular upheaval in Iran, and anything scandalous concerning Sarah Palin. On the debates currently roiling the conservative intellectual and political world, Sullivan is a very valuable guide for those of us who do not ordinarily consort with right-leaning types. On Gay Rights he is solid, but not particularly innovative. But, of course, I may be more plugged in to that world than most straights because of the prominent role played in it by my son, Tobias. On the events in Iran he is marvelous, posting pictures and tweets and email messages and texting from protesters in the streets virtually as they are happening. Sullivan is playing a genuinely important role in that on-going struggle, and he puts the mainstream media to shame, both by his commitment and by the speed and skill with which he brings events virtually in real time to as large audience. But it is on the matter of Sarah Palin that Sullivan is the most fun. he was fast off the blocks with loud doubts about the story of Trig's birth, questioning whether the baby really is Palin's, and he has stayed with the larger story, giving readers a front row sweat to every suit, countersuit, rumor, and speculation about the divine Sarah.

4. On a much more serious note, Juan Cole's Informed Comment is the place to go for scholarly commentary on Middle Eastern affairs by a leading scholar in the field. His blog is at http://www.juancole.com Cole is fluent in Arabic and some other regional languages, and really knows the politics of Iraq and Iran in the way that many of us know the politics of the United States. No one in his right mind would try to stay current on American politics by reading someone who does not know English and does not have an intuitive grasp of the nuances of Democratic and Republican Party politics. By the same token, it is insane to look for guidance on Middle Eastern affairs to some self-styled "terrorism expert" who cannot read, write, and speak the languages of the region. Cole's blog is bare bones, not much more technologically sophisticated than this blog, but he is well worth a visit.

Finally, I will mention The Daily Kos, at http://www.dailykos.com and FiveThirtyEight, at http://www.fivethirtyeight.com. The Daily Kos is the site started and headed up by Markos Moulitsas, a young political activist. Kos, as he is known, is totally focused on getting Democrats elected to public office at every level from dog catcher to president. He keeps track of primary challenges, election contests, fund-raising and the like in virtually every Congressional District in America, functioning as a sort of modern-day political reporter for the hometown newspaper. he has been tremendously successful in raising money nationally for scores of candidates who never make the national news and hence could not otherwise reach potential supporters outside their region. [I gave $100 once to a list of nineteen promising Democratic challengers trying to win Republican House seats, and received a raft of letters from the candidates thanking me for my $5.26 contribution.] The site regularly runs two features, one of which I really enjoy, the other of which has not captured my loyalty. The first is an "Abbreviated Pundit Round-up," which gives mostly tongue in cheek and totally biased summaries of the day's op ed columns. The other is an "Open Thread and Diary rescue," which gives a second life and a large audience to blog posts from ordinary folks that would otherwise not be noticed. The principal lesson of these rescued diaries is that there are simply thousands and thousands of intelligent, knowledgeable people saying substantive things about every conceivable topic under the sun. My lack of interest is, no doubt, a consequence of the fact that, so far as I know, this blog has not been "rescued." Sigh.

Finally, there is Fivethirtyeight.com, the creation of the ultimate technonerd, Nate Silver. {In a charming reversal of the flow of influence, Silver's success as a blogger has led to his appearances on the Rachel Maddow Show and other such MSM sites. Silver is a skilled statistician, whose special contributions to the blogosphere are sophisticated analyses of the masses of data spewed out by polling firms and the like about elections. [The title of the blog,l of course refers to the number of members of the House and Senate combined]. During the recent presidential election, multiple visits to the site each day were an absolute necessity. In off years, Silver has a bit of trouble coming up with data to massage, but he is always fun to read, especially if you are an election junkie, as I am.

And there you have it -- my contribution to Metablogging. The surf is up!

PROPORTIONALITY

I am often struck by the disproportion between the significance of the major issues of public importance about which I pontificate knowingly in this blog, and the insignificance of the personal matters about which I anguish privately. Right now, three things are weighing on my mind: the fate of the health care reform bill, the war in Afghanistan, and the health of my cat, Murray, whom we took yesterday to the emergency room of the North Carolina State University Veterinary School with a life-threatening diebetic attack that has mushroomed into something much worse. I am not crazy. I acknowledge that by any measure to which I could give rational assent, either of the first two issues is to the third as a galaxy is to a dust mote. And yet, in the emotional balance of my life, the third far outweighs either or both of the first two. If Murray pulls through, we will need to care for him for the rest of what I hope will be a long life, giving him twice a day subcutaneous insulin shots and watching carefully to be sure that he does not become hypoglycemic from too much insulin. Murray has been sick for several days, and yesterday, even though it was a Sunday, I called the emergency service of our vet and took him in to be seen. The vet offered the opinion that if I had not chosen to take him in, he might not have lasted through the night! When she said that, I experienced not relief but what can only be called a retroactive shock that left me wrung through.

Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham is calling the House bill Dead on Arrival, Joe Lieberman is renewing his threat to filibuster the bill in the Senate, and new reports suggest Obama is leaning toward the disastrous decision to send 38,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. I know that if I have any self-respect as a blogger, it is those matters about which I should be writing. But the truth is that the uncertainty about Murray's fate completely eclipses health care and Afghanistan in my mind. I suppose one explanation for this distorted sense of priorities is that while there is absolutely nothing I can do that will make a discernible difference to either the health care bill or Afghanistan, what I do will make all the difference to Murray's future.

Murray, by the way, is name after the dog on the old Paul Rieser/Helen Hunt television comedy, "Mad About You."

THIS IS NOT A BLOG

I do not think I have what it takes to blog. For one thing, I am about fifty years too old. I do not feel an irresistible urge, as soon as my plane has landed and is taxiing to the gate, to whip out a cell phone, call a friend, and say “I have just landed and we are taxiing to the gate.” I take as much pleasure as the next person in the discomfiture of my enemies, and when, like most old guys, I get up in the middle of the night, I am not above surfing the web a bit to see what unspeakable things some Republican notable has done lately. But true blogging, it seems to me, requires a de-centered sense of self, a conception of oneself as existing as much on line as in the interior of one’s own thoughts. My default activity, when nothing else is happening, is to daydream, quietly and privately. It is not to post a message on FaceBook.

And yet. For my entire adult life, I have been setting forth my thoughts, my opinions, my insights, to students, to readers, and to my small circle of friends. It occurs to me, therefore, that I ought to use this blog, conveniently hosted by Google, to continue this lifelong practice. It is a certainty that my readership will never be wide, though I think I can be pretty certain that it will be intelligent and thoughtful. Accordingly, I am going to try to make this blog an extension of the unending interior conversation that constitutes the substance of my mental life.

By all means, let me know when something I say strokes a responsive chord.

Glendower, Iran, And The Pointlessness Of It All

Like countless other left-wing news junkies, I spend endless hours surfing the web, checking in with The Huffington Post, TalkingPointsMemo, the Daily Kos, FiveThirty-Eight.com, and – for a bearable taste of the other wing -- Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish. By dint of this obsessive activity, I congratulate myself on being an active participant in the public discourse and a totally clued up public intellectual.

Every so often, Susie and I go on a vacation that disconnects me for days on end from the blogosphere. A case in point is a spectacular Botswana safari we went on several years ago, during which time I was, for ten days and more, completely out of touch. Whenever I return from one of these descents into the black hole of newslessness, I discover to my surprise that the world has got on quite nicely without me, and did not even notice that I was gone.

A case in point is the recent election in Iran. Like many others, I have been following the results avidly, checking in not only with my usual round of websites but also with the most valuable and reliable of all sites for Middle Eastern news, Juan Cole’s Informed Opinion. The range of reaction to the events in Tehran from pundits and bloggers is quite extraordinary. Some view the announced outcome as a defeat for Obama. Others are certain that the election has been stolen. [This is Cole’s take, and as always, his opinion seems to me to carry a great deal of weight.] Thomas Friedman has even taken the uproar surrounding the election and its outcome as evidence that his appalling advocacy of the Iraq war has acquired some sort of delayed justification, thereby rescuing him from the ignominy that has been his fate among intelligent observers for five years now.

But the simple truth is that I do not have a clue about anything that happens in Iran. I do not speak, read, or write Farsi or Arabic. My only visit to the entire region of the Middle East was an extremely unpleasant three-day tourist stop in Israel. Presented with an unlabelled map of the Middle East, I might be able to identify most of the countries correctly, though I wouldn’t want to bet a plane ticket on it.

What is more, nothing I do or say or think can have the slightest measurable effect on what happens in Iran [indeed, that may even be true of Obama, although he undoubtedly has a better shot at making a difference than I.] Were I to stop caring about the Middle East, no one would notice. My relationship to events there is rather like Shirley MacLaine’s relationship to her former incarnations – entirely imaginary. I am reminded of Hotspur’s great comeback in Henry IV, Part I, when Glendower brags that he can “call spirits from the vasty deep.” “Why, so can I” replies Hotspur, “and so can any man, but do they come when you do call to them?”

So, let us go on surfing and obsessing, and even blogging, but let us not imagine that what we do or say makes any sort of difference at all!