May 2, 2011 6:38 AM

Time to do the hard work and lay off the easy targets

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

  • Anna Quindlen

Over the past few weeks and months, I’ve been re-examining myself, my writing, and my blog. I’ve slowly made some changes, but I find myself dissatisfied, as if something is still lacking. In the almost 10 years I’ve been foisting WWJD, and The People’s Republic of Seabrook before it, upon the world, I’ve spent a lot of time skewering those I’ve judged to be silly, ignorant, and worthy of contempt. In many cases, the scorn and ridicule has been richly deserved. In far too many, though, that scorn and ridicule has reflected back on me in ways that I’m finally recognizing as nothing if not unflattering. I’ve talked about tolerance…while being intolerant. I’ve talked about acceptance…which excluding those who ideology and philosophy differs from my own. I’ve talked about taking things down a notch…all which doing nothing of the sort. Something about talking the talk, but not walking the walk….

I like to think of my blog as a constantly evolving reflection of my own inner conflict (and, occasionally, turmoil). It’s imperfect, flawed, and never quite what I think it should be. In short, it’s me…and while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s still not what I want it to be.

On Saturday, I wrote about how I was declaring WWJD a Donald Trump-free zone. That was a step in the right direction, but nothing particularly unusual. In the past, I’ve sworn off the likes of Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and Sarah Palin, among others. It’s not as if the blogosphere is worse off for a declaration like that; there’s no real shortage of column inches being wasted on those so demonstrably unworthy of such attention. My stepping away from the silliness is neither laudable nor particularly noteworthy. It might seem a step in the right direction, but I still find myself unsatisfied. What it comes down to, I think, is that after almost 10 years, I’m tired of the Sturm und Drang. I’m tired of fussing over idiots, losers, liars, and demagogues (as I risk becoming one myself)…and so I’m going to stop. My commitment to Progressive ideals remains undiminished, but this is no longer the venue that feels appropriate for advancing those ideals. I’m not going to stop writing about issues that I think are important, but I am going to stop writing about the personalities that make American politics the three-ring circus it’s become.

Being human is an accomplishment like playing an instrument. It takes practice. The keys must be mastered. The old score must be committed to memory. It is a skill we can forget. A little noise can make us forget the notes. The best of us is historical; the best of us is fragile. Being human is a second nature which history taught us, and which terror and deprivation can batter us into forgetting.

  • Michael Ignatieff

I’m still working out what exactly this all means, and I imagine I will be for awhile, but I will no longer be ruminating over the likes of Michele Bachman, Newt Gingrich, or any of the other circus clowns that inhabit the Far Right. It no longer serves a useful purpose…and I’m not certain that it ever really did. Even more true is the fact that none of this fulminating is doing me any good. It’s time to find another outlet and turn this one into something healthier.

I’m not going to turn WWJD into a gardening blog, but I want do something more reasonable, positive, meaningful…and fun. It’s time to do the hard work and lay off the easy targets; I’ve gotten lazy and it’s showed. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to keep doing this, but I’d like for whatever the remaining time might be to be reflective of something unique and interesting. Stay tuned….

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on May 2, 2011 6:38 AM.

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