One of our objectives here at CC is to rally conservative bloggers so that we are not individual voices crying out for attention, but a loud voice consisting of many. Another goal is for us to have an interactive site so that everyone can claim some ownership in what we are doing, so we have a new feature that we hope will meet those goals!
Every week, collectively, we will pick one comment that best represents our goals of defining, explaining, educating, and discussing conservatism. There have been some interesting and insightful comments, and many are worth noting! Once selected, the person who has the spotlighted comment will then be the guest writer of the week, if he so desires. The guest post will be published on the following Saturday. Contrary opinions are encouraged, and sometimes the guest writer may be someone who isn't conservative, but challenges our thoughts and principles. There won't really be a process, it will be completely arbitrary and subjective....At the moment, the person who sends me the best leftovers from Thanksgiving will probably win....lol
If you have questions, email one of us or catch us online in the chatbox.
Keep reading below this post....Don't ever stop at the top comment, as there may be more!
The New Yellow Star
3 years ago
Posts
19 comments:
I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that I have been reading this blog from top to bottom and all I see is your patting yourself on the back for a wonderful blog.
However I did not see ONE WORD about the most important subject and issue of the day/week, the TERRIBLE events going on in India. Including a hospital, a train station, restaurant and the most popular hotel in India. The massacre of Americans Brits and Jews goes to show who they were targeting. .
Or the fact that the bodies of five hostages inside including the American Rabbi, his wife and 2 of his children.
Or the fact that Obama, hasn’t had anything to say about this. ?
Don’t you folks think that this news is important enough to blog about? This is India’s I 9/11.
You have made a very good point there Mr. Stones.
Yeah Robert, how come?
This is most certainly the biggest topic of the day, week month, even the year!
And not a word from a blog that has 3 people running it?
Compliments for the hard work done on this site should be directed to Jenn (who puts a great deal of thought and effort), Sam (who is the renaissance man and this writing hardly taxes his ability) and T-P (serious topics yet pretty hip). Comments regarding content and other negative aspects should be directed to me, as I take responsibility for whatever else happens here.
If this were intended to be a news blog, then it would have not escaped note. If the authors here were incapable of any thought beyond regurgitating the news item of the day, then it would have been noted. If our intentions were to merely throw stones then there would possibly be mention of the event. However, defining something as the event of the year is a matter of subjective decision. I personally find it no more disturbing than any other news item regarding a terror attack.
Please note the stated intentions of this site. If you care to comment further, please feel free to email me.
Throwing Stones....we are not patting our backs in any way. We are a new blog that is trying to find our way and there is nothing wrong with being positive. From the very beginning we have stressed that it is not just about what the four of us write. We want it to be bigger than that. We want this to be a community blog. A blog not just about our ideas and feelings, but about all of yours too.
What we are TRYING to do is engage debate in conservative issues, that will help us to find answers on how to bring conservatism back to the GOP.
What happened in India was horrific and it breaks my heart. I've watched the news almost constantly, and I blogged about it on my own blog as well, but our goal here is not to just post news. You can find news anywhere.
If you feel passionate about this and want to do a post on how Obama is reacting or should I say not reacting, or how we should handle the terrorism, we completely welcome and encourage that. This blog is not just about the four of us. It is about all conservatives. Instead of criticizing us, did you ever stop to think about doing something positive and constructive like writing a guest post? I bet that did not even cross your mind. It's much easier to just tell us what we are doing wrong.
We are here to debate and discuss issues and policies, and how to accomplish our goals. I find it a little offensive that you would come here and tell us what to or not to post. I don't ever remember coming to your blog and doing that. It's your blog and you have the right to rave and rant as much as your heart desires. Because we choose not to do that does not make us uncaring or cold. It makes us focused on our goals. It certainly doesn't make us any less conservative. (not that you said that personally)
I don't expect you to agree with everything we say here, we are all very different and our styles of blogging are different as well. If you choose to be against us, then that is certainly your prerogative. I just ask you this simple question. To really make a difference, do you think we can accomplish that, if we are all at each others throats? I simply don't believe so.
I sincerely wish we could all come together, because honestly, apart we will accomplish NOTHING!
Walt's world......this applies to you as well, as you are criticizing us as well for not posting on the terrorism in India.
Criticizing your commenters will accomplish NOTHING as well.
People may disagree with your opinions, or they may be offended by what you suggest through your writing, to post a rant regarding their post is not a great way to deal with it. No matter how polite your rant may be.
it is easy to criticize others as people can simply say “that’s not true” or "that's no what we are here for" etc. and move on to other websites, leaving you with the burden of dealing with a disagreement that is probably visible to everyone else who comes to your site. Many bloggers usually feel the need to respond to all disagreeing comments, even if they have the habit of not responding to most of the comments their blog gets. You should think about what you want to accomplish through your response to a comment that disagrees with you. I feel that the 2 posters in question were not wrong in what they said. News is news and no matter what "You" are trying to accomplish news of this caliber should not be ignored. If you want to win over the people who criticize you, you have to respond in such a way that does not offend the people who are already criticizing you. Have a bit more understanding about what they are saying. They could be right you know! If you want to show that you realize you may have made a mistake, you have to respond in a way that acknowledges the other person being right while showing how you realized you could be wrong.
So if you just addressed the issue instead of blasting the commenter it would have made much more sense.
The advice "Don't shoot the messenger" Dale Carnegie once wrote, "We are creatures of emotion, not logic".
Thank you for your time.
Jennifer said... Instead of criticizing us, did you ever stop to think about doing something positive and constructive like writing a guest post? I bet that did not even cross your mind. It's much easier to just tell us what we are doing wrong.
No, First of all I don’t do what’s easier. I write what I want to and about how I feel and I don’t wish to write any “Guest Posts”
As for being positive and constructive? This is relative! To me what is going on in India at this time is MOST certainly positive. Maybe not to you, but it is to me and that is what is important. And this subject should be acceptable to you as well.
That said, my having to come here and explain anything that I wrote in any form drives me nuts.. I shouldn’t be don’t it and I’m not going to any further. If what I said does not meet with your approval then so be it.
You are welcome to write about anything you wish....on your blog. I am free to write about what I wish...on my blog. I don't make a habit of trolling the blogosphere complaning that people aren't writing about my subject de jure. If you had a serious point that the India event was too big too ignore and would have liked to see a post on it, then you could have emailed that point to one of us. Instead, you have chosen to post on this blog three times. All three times are negative, sniping, complaining comments. You make no attempt to discuss or debate.
Are you going to all one million blogs on the internet to see if they are discussing the India event? I am pretty sure that Martha Stewart isn't blogging about it. Are you going there to be critical as well?
Robert said..."I don't make a habit of trolling the blogosphere complaning that people aren't writing about my subject de jure"
Very nice attempt at being cute, but no cigar. Nope, not at all.
Ok, lets end this nonsense, before I let my emotions get the best of me.
And by the way the French spelling of "the day" is NOT "de jure"... It's "le jour"
Throwing Stones,
I am curious, ... to what do you attribute your blog-name? is that your real surname? A hint of your persona? or just an oblique reference to a biblical passage? ...
I understand (actually applaud) your right to critique at anything you want, and as this is an open forum you can do as you wish -hopefully by following the loose guidelines as posted by the host-. But there is also merit in the fact that the organizers of the blog don't want to do a blow-by-blow comment on current events. Theirs (well, mine too) is an endeavor to re-connect those dots common to all conservatives and to be enablers of the joys and goodness of conservatism, not to delve on news-opiniating and editorials. We prefer to educate ourselves on policy and path, not on news-reaction.
Yes the events in India are horrifying and sobering. But there are dozens of such events happening all over the world NOT being covered by CNN's legions. Referring to it as "India's 911" is OK as a headline of visual identifier but it does not increase / decrease its radar footprint in many people's minds. Let's remember that there are houses of blog-worship for the dying and needy where soul-cleansing can be better served.... THIS blog, however noble the intent of its mission, is certainly not one of them.
I appreciate your sentiments and welcome you back as often as your intelligence can contribute.
I just read your comment about Throwing Stones..And I must say that I resent your undermining the event in India. And saying
"dozens of such events happening all over the world NOT being covered by CNN"
173 people were MURDERED including 6- or 7 Americans. As well as 350 people being injured That to me is a MAJOR event and worth talking about over and over again.
Maybe to you it's trivial but it's not to me nor is it to the thousands of other blogger either.
I'm sorry if I wasted your time and space by doing so.
I am still flummoxed by the reaction to contrary opinions in the blogosphere.
No one undermined anything that happened in India. In fact, T-P said "...the events in India are horrifying and sobering." No one said it was trivial and we all believe it to be a significant event.
Please understand the purpose for the blog, and at this point we are enagaged in a purposeful and coordinated direction. In the future, there will be opportunities for addressing specific news items within context.
I was NOT referring to what Throwing Stones said, I was referring to what TRUTH-PAIN said... about Throwing Stones's comment.
I thought that Throwing Stones made a very good point.
And that his comment was justified.
For you to write off India as being nothing more than the person we get on the phone when we seek tech support is worse than naive - it is downright ignorant.
If that event was not worthy of commenting about, then what is????
T-P said "...the events in India are horrifying and sobering."
If Stones was in a staff meeting about content for this blog, then his point would be a good one. He isn't. Is the Martha Stewart blog being invaded and castigated for not writing about it? How about the tech blogs?
If you will notice, there has not been a piece written about any specific news item. It was worthy to being commented upon, and has been in thousands of blogs and news channels. It has been commented upon by three of us here as horrifying and terrible.
Myself,
I am going to address your comments, and (if you permit) indirectly clarify my retort to "Throwing Stones" with a little bit "emotion" so as to speak in the language of the moment.
You say: "...I resent your undermining the event in India..."
I say: You have every right to resent whatever you want, but my comments did not undermine India; at least not to my definition of "undermine". Believe me, if I wanted to undermine India the nuking would not be as subtle as the words I used. But I accept that "undermine" is a subjective term and if you feel that is what I did, then it is what it is. You resentment though, does nothing to re-calibrate my delivery. I ask, what purpose does resentment serve? You ever ask yourself that?
You said:"173 people were MURDERED including 6- or 7 Americans. As well as 350 people being injured That to me is a MAJOR event and worth talking about over and over again. Maybe to you it's trivial but it's not to me nor is it to the thousands of other blogger either. I'm sorry if I wasted your time and space by doing so"
I Say: Yes it is a Major event, so was 911, so was the killing of 200 Marines in Beirut, so was the killing of the Israeli athletes in Munich, and so is the (still going on) genocides in more than a dozen countries in the Continent of Africa. Some (Darfur) that the media has covered and many more that they don't. I don't get paralyzed by the emotions of the moment when something like this happens; otherwise I would not be able to function. But then again I've been described as a cold, calloused bastard who expressed sorrow and mourns in a much different way than maybe you do, do you agree on this? Nobody is saying you can’t talk or blog about this over and over again. Go ahead! Feel free to "waste" my time and space (your words not mine) to vent on any topic you wish. Nobody, repeat nobody is censuring you, editing you or flushing your comment down the virtual drain-pipe. We simply (and cordially) said to both you and TS that we simply chose to leave current-event blogging mostly to our individual Blogs and others much better at this sort of thing. This Blog is meant to be time-independent and event-independent (for the most part). It is a place that we hope can assist in building a consensus of definitions to the conservative movement. The Indian event is worth talking about to many hundreds of thousands of bloggers (you included I presume), but to us, it is another event that while horrific and sad in nature, does not compel us to take the eye of our mission bulls-eye. If that seem cold, hard-hearted or dis-compassionate, then maybe you need to understand that your definition of caring or "needing to be talked about" is unique to yourself and the emotions of YOUR moment, not ours, and much less mine.
Trivial to me? Not at all. Do you blog about everything you don't consider trivial? I sure don't. I pick my themes, battles and opinions, just like you do. But I take care in trying not to legislate or "guilt" anybody into blogging to things worthy of my care and concern. In my opinion, it is the height of arrogance to think that others care with the same aplomb and fathom to the things that tear my heart.
You say: “For you to write off India as being nothing more than the person we get on the phone when we seek tech support is worse than naive - it is downright ignorant.”
I say: Huh? Where in our little insignificant little Blog did you read that any of us wrote-off India? And where did you get the person on the phone bit? Nice touch, by-the-way, but I am pretty Tech-savvy so I’ve not yet heard or experienced the joys of a foreign national trying to help me re-boot my system. Sarcasm aside, maybe you should hone up on you argumentative skills, and possibly refrain from putting words in other people’s mouths,… or fingers. They will open you up to severe lashings at the virtual public square, and yes, I will be first in line.
But since we are on the subject of what people should be blogging about (using your words) and you wish to impale me with your indignation at my uncaring and trivialization of current events, allow me educate you on that which I "resent" (to use your word yet again):
* I resent the tens of thousands of single parent kids who grow up without a family fabric, due in large part to a political system that has politicized "help" and social programs to the point of giving just enough to breathe but no real options to move up from the circle of poverty. (Yet I don’t blog or talk about that over and over...)
* I resent a society that applauds at people strapping themselves to a tree to save it from a developer’s Ax, -a true and noble intent to save life in its purest form-, yet has no issues doing a Hoover maneuver inside a cervix and suck up a gobble of cells that some feel is just as much "life" as that tree some love to hug and save. (I REALLY don't blog or talk about that over and over... hell, I don't even trivialize it too much...)
* I resent there are there are hundreds of killings in the streets of our land every week, untold numbers of reported and unreported rapes, untold crimes against the helpless, yet we've (maybe you too?) become so desensitized to it that it no longer flashes in the radar screen of indignation. Only when a killing happens in India or in large groups (911) do we cry in empathy. (You see, Myself, the difference is that I care about every soul that dies, not just when they die in bunches)
* Lastly, I resent other people who tell me how I should feel, what I should blog about and what others should blog about. I resent the gumption that says caring and compassion are a standard definition to all. I resent people that live their days based on the feelings of their moment and not on the longer view of logic.
But enough about you, let's talk about me, shall we?
I will leave it to others of much softer pen and words to render soothing words to your emotional plight. Writing joy-to-the-world comments without the bite and satire of my own acerbic tongue is just contrary to my nature. Please be warned, when you comment in one of my postings you do so with freedom of words and with no barriers of "space and time". You will never waste either of those in my little garden. Just be ready to have fun in banter and / or have your feelings hurt. That is the only price to pay. It seems to me that based on your comments so far, your emotions may be too fragile and may need some buttressing. But having said that, stay awhile and have some popcorn while you're here. I do love a good chat.
Know this about me; I care, I love, I feel, I regret, I ache, I cry, I melt, I adore, I yell and I ponder everyday at the plight of my imperfect persona. But the beauty of me is that I don't get indignant, resentful or pugnacious in thinking my expressions of emotion should be the standard to which all humanity should live by.
Maybe, just maybe, you can understand that talking and commenting is wonderful and soul-freeing, but one should take care in imposing one's virtues and emotional compass to others. This is, after all, the land of the free and home of the brave.
Rodney King said it best, "...cant we all just get along?..."
AMEN to that T-P! For a while now, I have been literally biting my tongue and I am so glad that you said, what I have been thinking.
To imply that we are uncaring is both arrogant and rude and frankly I'm tired of it.
Not to mention completely unaware of the impact to my feelings....
T-P, Do you write for soap operas?
An American that cares,
Nah, I just got on a roll and forgot that most of us have the attention span of a gnat. My apologies to all for having to waddle through my wanna-be Opus.
At times, when we want to make a point with all angles and perspectives, we go overboard in prose.
I will keep it to under 15,000 words next time ;)
I appreciate all who have visited here, regardless of pro or con view.
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