the chutry experiment

Wish my insomniatic blogging was due to something one could even pretend was productive... I ended up on Viral Videos and stayed up till 4 in the morning watching them. Pathetic.

By the way, you are always free to guest blog on my blog if you need to get some political opinion out fo the way.

The election isn't really the only reason I was up past 2 AM. I had been working on an article all day and had barely left the apartment, so probably needed to get some exercise. I think that one of the other reasons I haven't been blogging about politics is simply that I've been focused so much on work that it's hard to shift gears. Plus, so many other people have been blogging certain news stories (or at least paying attention to them) that I've wondered what it means for me to simply add to the noise that's already out there.

While I certainly understand being so busy doing other things to really get up and write about politics, I guess I've never been concerned with simply "adding to the noise." I'm sure it bores some people, but, for me it is important to make sure I have documented where I stand on certain things. A big part of blogging for me is the time capsule aspect as well. It is like a virtual transcript of how I've felt about things and can help hold me accountable while at the same time allowing me to view the evolution of my views.

Part of it, for me, is sheer frustration. The recent news that the US military failed to secure 380 tons of explosives is *so* negligent, so incompetent, that it's almost too easy a target....

I've certainly used my blog to track my political commitments, so maybe one of the reasons I'm not blogging about politics is "liberal outrage fatigue."

It is funny you should mention that. Just yesterday I had a friend of mine say "How do YOU know there weren't any WMD's? Were you there?" and I said "No, how do you know there were?" He replied, "I just tend to trust and believe they were there."

Something that would normally get my ire up and force me to spew off something like "How many independant or even adminstration backed reports have to come out saying that the sanctions of the 90's worked and Sadaam disarmed before you'll believe that the President was wrong?" Instead, all I could muster up was a "Well, ok."

I tried to find the link, but they've taken it down. In July The Onion had an article where they talked about this, and I had a quote in my blog that I thought was pretty funny from it.

""I can't even look at the back of my Volvo anymore," said one Syracuse, NY liberal who wished to remain anonymous. "My 'Lick Bush' and 'Four More Wars' bumper stickers just remind me of the angry feelings I can't sustain. I still have a MoveOn.org sign hanging up in my cubicle at work, but if someone starts to talk about Cheney, I can't take it. I'm like, 'Yes, we all hate Cheney. He's an evil puppet-master. Yes, Bush is dumb. This is obvious. How many times can we say it? Now, excuse me, will you let me through so I can microwave my burrito?'""

It is funny you should mention that. Just yesterday I had a friend of mine say "How do YOU know there weren't any WMD's? Were you there?" and I said "No, how do you know there were?" He replied, "I just tend to trust and believe they were there."

Something that would normally get my ire up and force me to spew off something like "How many independant or even adminstration backed reports have to come out saying that the sanctions of the 90's worked and Sadaam disarmed before you'll believe that the President was wrong?" Instead, all I could muster up was a "Well, ok."

I tried to find the link, but they've taken it down. In July The Onion had an article where they talked about this, and I had a quote in my blog that I thought was pretty funny from it.

""I can't even look at the back of my Volvo anymore," said one Syracuse, NY liberal who wished to remain anonymous. "My 'Lick Bush' and 'Four More Wars' bumper stickers just remind me of the angry feelings I can't sustain. I still have a MoveOn.org sign hanging up in my cubicle at work, but if someone starts to talk about Cheney, I can't take it. I'm like, 'Yes, we all hate Cheney. He's an evil puppet-master. Yes, Bush is dumb. This is obvious. How many times can we say it? Now, excuse me, will you let me through so I can microwave my burrito?'""

... and sorry about the double post...

No problem. Yeah, I was referring to that Onion article, and I've been thinking about blogging about the "two worlds" meme that has been floating around the blogosphere/mainstream media, but that entry may remain forever "planned."

It seems impossible to deny that there were no significant WMD, that the inspections were working, that Saddam was not behind 9/11 or even significantly allied with Al Qaeda. And yet....

If I can jump in here--I've been on overdrive posting about all these stories, and part of that, as you guys have said, is about putting down my own response, but I also know that I have a number of friends who read my blog but not many others. I used to email stories I thought were important to them, now I sometimes feel I need to cite a story because there are some particular people I want to make aware of it. Does anyone else do that?

ANd, yeah, I'm feeling liberal outrage fatigue too. I think we all are. I just keep telling myself, only a week or a little more left. I've noticed an awful lot of people putting up vague posts about "after the election, I plan to change things around here," which I take more than anything to be a sign that we're all tired of this kind of blogging but we feel we can't stop quite yet. I wonder what the blogosphere will look like next month...

One of the Washington Post categories this year in their blog awards is "Most Likely to Keep Blogging After the Election." I'd imagine that a few people will quit or blog with less frequency than in the past.

You've touched on one of the reasons that I haven't been blogging about politics as often: my audience. This is already implied in my prevoius comments about my class, I think, but maybe I'll take some time this week and publish a few more political entries.

Regarding liberal outrage fatigue, I've stopped watching cable news because I just can't take any more coverage of the Election. Similarly, I'm not obsessively posting at dKos anymore. Perhaps it's because I was heavily involved in the Dean campaign last summer... It's been a LONG election cycle for me.

Insomnia? What's that? ::bitter, hollow laugh::

Good luck getting some sleep. And yeah, fingers crossed for the election.

This is two nights in a row now. Back in the day, I could always fall asleep immediately. At least I won't have the election to worry about in a week or so ::meek, uncomfortable laugh::

And, yep, Jen, it's been a long freakin' road. I wasn't actively involved with the Dean campaign, but I've been focused on this election since his campaign picked up steam last year.

I've pretty much turned off the cable news that I virtually always watch once I get the highlights of the day. For me, I still write and think about these particular issues on a daily basis, so it isn't so much personal fatigue as much as it is fatigue at telling others about it.

I'm not saying this election will drag on and on like 2000, but I think it is very likely that it will take a few days after the 2nd to be totally done with it. So, the fatigue may have to last a bit longer than 9 more days.

"I'm not saying this election will drag on and on like 2000, but I think it is very likely that it will take a few days after the 2nd to be totally done with it. So, the fatigue may have to last a bit longer than 9 more days."

Hence the "meek, uncomfortable laugh" in the previous comment. I just hope we know by Thanksgiving.