I don't know but I have been told that a change in the comments moderation policy has led a lot of people to stop commenting at some place we used to know. I got a couple of emails from people bitching about it and all I can say is suck it up buttercup. The control freaks had always wanted to control the comment section and the so called devotion to free speech was always bullshit.
I am sorry that we don't get as many comments here as we used to back in the day. I think we get sampled but we don't put up enough controversial content. There is a lot less rancor and hate. Which is a good thing. A very good thing.
All in all its for the best.
Thanks to Chip and Sixty for carrying the ball. I don't think a lot of the lurkers comment but I think they appreciate all you do. I know I do.
This is what happens when a bunch of grown men lap up being scolded and lessoned and tempted and teased for years. When the dam breaks, it's Johnstown all over again. What pent-up rage. Just admit you were willing participants and it was not all Althouse's fault, and move the fuck on.
Amazing Grace, it took a day, I once was blind, but today I see.
The story of a man and a stand-up kayak and a dog named Zeus... and the way you say "Hey, Zeus" and it sounds like a Spanish "Jesus" and the light breaks through the clouds and we are all blessed.
I checked in at the Big House Blog and There I was one more time. 'Fronted' because yesterday, one of us misinterpreted an Althouse vlog reference of the movie quote from Network (1976) - "I'm as Mad As Hell and I'm Not Going To Take it Anymore". The commenter thought that Althouse was saying she, herself, was mad at her commenters. When the reference was really about something else entirely.
I'm commenting up front to say I don't believe Althouse is Mad at her Commenters. You guys and I are her commenters, btw, that's how we started. I posted a Who Am I post and it barely broke 20 comments. Message received, not so loud but clear enough, I'm under no illusions.
Commenter Freeman Hunt asks a question in the James Bond Open Thread that feels somehow appropriate here, in some tangential lighthearted context that I know Althouse could stich together with the appropriate strings that get Betamax all excited.
"Is the Internet not the best venue for unemotional people to give hugs? I submit that it is."
And then she follows up...
"Or maybe my thinking is that immediate internal states are something you have but external states, immediate or otherwise, are something you choose."
And more...
"Emotions are wonderful."
"And no, I'm not talking about oneself versus the environment. I'm talking about how you feel inside versus what you express outside. Internally, people have immediate reactions to things. That's tough to choose at the moment of an event, but the pattern can be affected over time. Long term internal states are mostly chosen, I think. External states, apart from true reflexes, can be almost entirely chosen, in my opinion. (Then those go to affecting the pattern of internal states and so on.)"
After someone says she might be stoic, Freeman Responds...
"But I'm no pantheist. And I don't think that all emotions, even negative emotions, are bad.
"President Barack Obama issued a long-awaited response Sunday afternoon to the acquittal of George Zimmerman Saturday evening, reminding Americans to temper "passions," and that "we are a nation of laws and the jury has spoken."
He added that Americans should "honor" the life of Trayvon Martin by committing to "stem the tide of gun violence," and "ask ourselves if we are doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion in our communities."
President Obama leaves no opportunity behind. I supposed once he immersed himself, at the beginning, in the days (or was it weeks?) following the shooting, he has no other choice now but to continue to score political points. Obama is unrelenting and unrestrained.
"So how does he change that face? One way is to drop the packed-on poundage, which bloated and puffed up his face. He can grow his hair and beard, wear glasses, adopt an alias, and relocate to some part of the country where people don't expect to see him. But by packing on over 100 pounds before the trial, he created a face that he now has the power to radically modify. That weight, because it was rapidly gained, should be relatively easy to drop. And, remember, there was evidence at trial that Zimmerman had previously worked hard at weight loss and his success was impressive."
Am I blogging off the fat ... how can I put this?
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Fat
ADDED : Pollo has sent me an e-mail alerting me to an apparent problem with blogger.
"Lem, there seems to be a problem with comments disappearing, particularly in longer threads. Please address it or fix it. It's not fair to people who take the time to compose thoughts addressing specific questions."
I don't know how to fix that. What I could suggest is to perhaps move the conversation to a newer post. I don't have concrete rules about commenting, except to ask that anonymous commenters please self identify so as to make it easer for other commenters to respond. Thanks Pollo, Freman Hunt and Icepick for contributing your suggestions.
"As Henry said in his email to me, sharing that first link, above, it was perfectly easy to set up a Blogger blog. It might take one minute, and then you're off. Don't sit there in that old broken-down bus wondering when it will start up again. Climb out, stick out your thumb, and Google will whiz by presently and give you a ride."
Please go and read it and maybe you will say for yourself, in other words, something similar. Here or wherever your final destination might be. Like they say on the plane after it lands. Final destination sounds ominous but sometimes there is no subtle way of saying the obvious. I've said my piece on the comments here (not as eloquently as I could have perhaps) but I harbor no rancor. If I ever do, and I do because I'm human, it doesn't last more than a few days. But, in the end, w/o much fanfare.... I need to go to work soon and I need to finish this.
Althouse focuses on a comment from a [heavy duty] mechanic who suspects sabotage.
If you want to read about it, I suggest you go and read it, and then come here and comment until your heart is content.
While I was trying to get worked up about it, enough to summon the blog dogs, the song 'Oh Canada', the Canadian National Anthem, popped into my head.
O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
I believe the first time I heard the song, it was a television performance at an Olympic Ceremony.
I also remember hearing it before a baseball game against the Sox. And I conclusively remember comparing it, in my mind, to our US national anthem and thinking our song was better. Now, looking at the words, I see a simple magnificence of faith and trust that I believe is very beautiful.
Its possible that Althouse is creating a condition by which she can later say ... 'look what you said about me, you are not welcome at my kingdom ... go some other place you right winger, where there will only be weeping, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Ritmo, Inga and Garage and all the liberals in the kingdom of Althouse, but you yourselves thrown out.'
Maybe, the lack of Althouse air is doing something to me. I'm not myself. Maybe I'm delirious, gregarious and maybe even nefarious. I need to get a hold of myself. I thought I heard the whispering voice of Field of Dreams... but that movie is like from a time when there was no internet, so people needed to hear a whispering voice from the sky.
What I would do right now for a string of Betamax monologue. You know how many times I walk right past them w/o even giving them a quick look?
He was the last commenter before the doors where shut, padlocked, barricaded, dog warned.
I couldn't be bothered reading Betamax, I was too good for that.
Now look at me. One moment I'm defiant and despondent the next and back to defiance reliance on a mix metaphor ... the red sox are playing in half an hour, hurry up and finish this shit already.
Hey, That's exactly what I've been meaning to say really ... We haven't got a long time professor. Don't take too long.
At Trooper York's open comment section (imagine that) the consensus seemed to be that there were just too many conservatives crowding out the Althouse Blog.
Too many conservative crashers coming in via the venerated Glenn Reynolds Instapundit.
If this is true, then my suggestion is we need to coordinate some kind of effort to get Instapundit to open up the comments section. He travels under the PJTV umbrella and I believe they have an open comment section to subscribers I used to have a subscription at the beginning of that enterprise, but I found myself at Althouse so much, I let it elapse. It only used to be $5.00.
I could be wrong about the consensus. But the suggestion still good and valid IMHO.
"Ah! What we could do if we faced a sudden stark threat, as our ancestors did in evolutionary times! We inherited the capacities they needed then, but we've got so little use for them these days. We go to action movies and ride roller coasters or paraglide to activate the antiquated bodily systems. It's not that we're nostalgic for danger, but built into our depths, there's a need for something that — we in no conscious sense — desire."
Says Althouse at a new post this morning.
And we've found an unconscious way to feed that need with... competitive games.
Sports are a problem... the breed the Aaron Hernandez... women and kids looking up to these monsters.
Ban something already!... What, over the top?
I'm exaggerating I'm sure but ... oh well, this is just for me and my Neanderthal.
And yet, as a metaphor with regards to her dynamiting, road side bombing her blog, it is totally useful. Its useful because I'm here on the other side, w/o a direct connection, which she had built and tended to for years and decided to cut off with a seemingly careless haste.
"... I'm sorry I can't invite you in to talk about whatever you want. Enjoy your evening."
Says Althouse last night at her No Café Café, which I want, but cant directly comment to.
"I'm sorry, too, Dmitri... I'm very sorry... *All right*, you're sorrier than I am, but I am as sorry as well... I am as sorry as you are, Dmitri! Don't say that you're more sorry than I am, because I'm capable of being just as sorry as you are... So we're both sorry, all right?... All right."
I'm not going to speculate as to why I believe she turned off the comments, because, one, it's not going to change anything and two, I probably contributed to the decision. So, if anything I should be apologizing for contributing to the ruination of a good thing.
ESPN went to a different commenter format themselves but I chose not to follow them because the only choice available to comment will be via Facebook, and I'm not a Facebook enthusiast. Facebook is not for me.
So, hopefully I'll continue to comment, even if at least for a while, it will just be for myself.
Correction* - It was Althouse that suggested commenters blog at their own blog.
