Just a Flesh Wound

In case you ever wanted to know what it's like to do rewrites on a first-draft novel, imagine going to a party, getting more and more drunk, swirling around, passing out, waking up the next morning with the taste of vomit in your mouth, having little memory of what took place, and feeling that eye-crushing pain in your skull as the hangover takes hold.

Now, imagine it happening in reverse.

That's what rewriting can feel like.

A Slightly Political Aside

Writer and overall poli-blog analyst Peter Daou has an essay titled "The Broken Triangle," which depressingly illustrates the almost-futile efforts by lefty poli-bloggers these days in getting their opinions to resonate in the public square. I have nothing to say about Daou's piece, except it's readable and highly interesting. Take a spin through it if you have the time.

What strikes me, rather, is notion that we have the best technology to contact and inform people, and yet there's nothing being actually done. Yes, a lot of people post snarky commentary to their poli-blog (I used to be one) and maybe call their elected representatives, but that's about it. The people who do this have the courage of their convictions, albeit their convictions stink of weaksauce.

When I read all the complaints against Bush by American bloggers and their legions of commentors, I'm struck by the subtle laziness given to us by the Internet. Forty years ago, people marched in the streets for civil rights and to end the war in Vietnam. No cell phones, no MoveOn.org, no blogs to exchange information. Instead, people gathered in small groups that built over years to take their frustration to the streets. People seemed to be motivated more because they were together in something, a sort of shoe-leather bonding took place. I felt it when I was in protest marches for Gulf War I and II, even in smaller rallies numbering a couple hundred. There's a sense of community even when you march with like-minded strangers. On the Web, I click through a blog and go to a game site next. There's no emotional permanence, just interchangeable text. Furthermore, in the poli-blogs, I see commentors regularly gripe and talk about taking action on a future date, or waiting for the next election, or hoping someone gets indicted...as if Karl Rove getting served is going to make Americans finally go "Oh yeah, Bush...he's a lousy president." Hoping for some lightning strike from above to change things smacks of the passive, which I guess is what Daou is writing about, because there's nothing else you can do as a lefty poli-blog. You've said your piece. You've done your armchair analysis. You've made your snark with some Photoshop and cut-n-paste linguistics. Great. Way to make an effort. You're, like, totally up there with the union organizers who were attacked by police in the Flint Sit-Down Strike.

All of this takes place on the poli-blogs 24/7, filling up bandwidth and templates with words and pictures shot out into the ether. To me, the poli-blogs on the left and right are deadlocked. There's no more minds you can change. People on the poli-blogs are hyperpolarized now, set to believe in an ideological monolith (sadly, as a lefty) favors the righties. The lefties (to go back to Daou) are just reacting. There's no connection to a working class. There's no non-election-year hitting the streets to talk about what can be done to register new voters or make lives of the working poor better. There's nothing to branch the virtual to the street. There's just people seemingly content to do the Sim thing, sitting behind keyboards, donating money, and pretending they are being something...an active citizen, a proud patriot. I don't know. But it seems that unless you get up and do something (it's called a movement for a reason), you're just sitting on your ass.