The other posters at Dakota Women have recently felt the need to distance themselves from my posts about the primary. I don't feel that any of them were unreasonable, but it's possible I could be wrong. With that in mind, I'm going to stop posting here and take a long break from the local blog world.
Something about this primary season is really ugly and scary to me. I'm proud of my involvement in Hillary Clinton's campaign, because I think she's far and away the best candidate for president. However, I think those of us who are partisans on either side get caught in this weird echo chamber, and more than a few of us (I include myself in this, and, frankly, I include Todd Epp) are getting a little crazy.
This is something I've been considering for a long time. I haven't lived in South Dakota since August of 2007 and I don't know that I'll probably ever live there again - or, at least, I won't live there in the near future. So I also think it's best to turn this over to women who are actually in South Dakota and are able to offer a better perspective than I can regarding what's going on with women in the state.
I'm really not attempting to throw myself a pity party, so I'll stop here, but I did think that I owed people an explanation.
I now leave it to the rest of you to argue with Ken Blanchard.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
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7 comments:
I'll just say that, if this has anything to do with me commenting at Todd's that "Dakota Women" weren't taking him to task, you were, that's simply a clarification - I don't want to be lumped in with it, but I've been proud to be part of a group blog with you. I have a lot of respect for you, and yes, I disagree with much (not all) of what you've posted about the primaries, but that doesn't mean that I think you shouldn't blog about it here. In fact, I think it's a strength that we do disagree about various issues; I'm not crazy about reading group bloggers that are all in lockstep with each other.
I hope you come back.
I guess I feel like what I need to do is positive work for my candidate for the next 10 days.
I feel that I'm putting a muzzle on myself because I'm getting too personally involved in the blog back-and-forth regarding the primary. I can't be responsible for the crazy stuff other people say, but I can be responsible for myself and how I respond to everything. After that, I have thesis work to do - and writing women's history is inherently political, right? So who needs to blog.
I don't plan on dropping out of touch with anyone and I'm sure I'll still comment. I just don't want to give myself the platform to talk, especially when I feel more overheated and I'm taking things more personally than I should be.
I don't have to tell you, Anna, that I am very sorry to see you go. With all due respect to your comrades at DW, you were the reason I read that blog.
Hillary Clinton's comments about assassination are indefensible. Clinton has made these remarks before only this time she got called on them. It is not me who is overheated, it Hillary Clinton and her insatiable ambition that apparently stops at nothing that is overheated.
Anna, good luck in your non-blogging life. I hope you come back.
Epp
SD Watch http://www.southdakotawatch.net
Hang in, Anna, there's some lucidity left in the world. Even Sirota has come round to see the folly of supporting astroturf candidates and campaigns ala HT. Next challenge: Keep the DNC from morphing into Hildebrand Tewes.
"The firm is one of a new breed of companies that attempts to bring to uprising politics the ease of the microwave TV dinners. Don't feel like making dinner? Throw a Hot Pocket into the microwave. Don't feel like doing the hard work of local organizing to build a sustaining, durable movement that lasts beyond the issue du jour? Put together a pile of money to hire a firm like Hildebrand Tewes and you can have your 'instant uprising' - one that provides about as much nutrition to your cause as microwave junk food does for your body."
http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-democrats-wont-stop-war-by-david.html
For the most part, the distancing I did was really in reaction to people who view Dakota Women as an individual as opposed to a collection of individuals. There are few enough female bloggers around here -- I'd rather they didn't assume there was one monolithic point of view around here.
That said, I think you've picked up on how I feel about this and you captured it pretty well in this post. The very fact that you're aware of these things just proves that you AREN'T one of the crazies. Obviously, not everyone is quite so self-aware (I bet you can guess who I mean).
I guess you can take a break if you want to, but I hope you come back soon. There are a lot of Manny Steele-mocking posts yet to write and I simply can't pick up all the slack:P
The media through which we express ourselves develop cultures which impose their peculiar traits on our communicative efforts. Blogs are characterized by a egocentric meanness and crude belligerence which detracts severely from their value as communicative devices.
Hillary Clinton has been the victim of some irrational malevolence. As far as her references to assassinations, they were unfortunate, but were clearly attempts to recall the lengths of previous campaigns by historical referents. As someone who has been an Obama supporter since the late Sen. Paul Simon called attention to his unusual talents, I am disheartened by the malign contrivances being heaped upon Hillary Clinton. They do not bode well for our political future.
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