Blogger at the crossroads

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” — Marcus Aurelius

Not exactly the Katechismus, but also not directly at odds with it either.

I sit here contemplating words, and finding myself at a crossroads.

And me without my guitar...

The temptation is to cover The Only Game In Town — November 3, 2020. I don’t see how my thoughts on the matter (which haven’t changed since last November) . . . matter.

I can’t vote. My promotion of the team I’d prefer to win (Biden — it should go without saying, but these days it seems to be the obvious that needs saying most) would be tepid at best and unhelpful at worst. Commentary on The Game — which the bulk of American citizens understand to be, to differing degrees, gamed — seems moot.

But what the hell. FWIW, then, here are my thoughts. Polls seem to indicate a Biden landslide. I have my doubts — anecdotally speaking, enthusiasm for Biden is alarmingly soft. The Other Guy, however . . . well, you know how that goes. If the election results are close, it will be a very, very ugly scene. If Biden wins by a landslide, it will be less ugly — but still very ugly.

We have a populace steeping in a compost tea of conspiracies. We have one guy who is adept at stirring that tea, and another whose message is getting little-to-no public traction.

One guy has been following The Authoritarian Playbook since Day 1. We know the next steps.

If you want to know where I’m taking my cues:

• Sarah Kendzior
• Michael Moore
• Bob Lefsetz

And I went ahead and gambled the stamp on a year’s worth of Andrew Sullivan.

The second temptation is to slide into nostalgia. Again — not helpful. There’s already no shortage of it on this blog. And I’m not sure I have the energy for producing more. That may change.

Questions, concerns, suggestions — leave a comment, woncha?

The “Used Bookstore” In My Home — this week’s photo:

Other, better words:

• RIP Chadwick Boseman — remarkable actor, beautiful man.
• RIP David Graeber — Against Economics at NYBR.
• The single most thought-provoking piece I’ve read this week: “To go on retelling The Great Gatsby is to think about worldly happiness: how to get it, how to hold on to it, who controls it, whether it’s all it’s cracked up to be. And what could be more American than happiness?” Jackson Arn wonders whether F. Scott Fitzgerald’s American classic is capable of generating a new, sustainable American patriotism — over at The Point. 
• “Who is our society’s most potent moral figure? Once it was Jesus Christ. Now it is Adolf Hitler.” — having raised this spectre in exactly this way Alec Ryrie takes a crack at exploring the consequences at LARB.
• Finally: bear attacks are on the rise — here’s how to properly use bear-spray.

Slow Internet: an idea whose time has come?

Jinkers — I posted this a year ago. Now we’re a half-year into a global pandemic. I’d say we’ve pretty much run the clock on achieving full-stack socioergonomics.

"Just a little pinprick..."

We all have some mental health concerns at this point, don’t we? Mine revolve around the anxieties and stresses that come with being the parent of an adult child whose mental health challenges were only recently diagnosed. Collective pandemic response contributes some stressors in our case, but surprisingly few.

Part of my (touch wood) relative balance in these matters is due to my reflexively reclusive nature. I am reluctant to join even the most manageable of small groups. I only participate if the exit doors are clearly marked, and the paths to them unobstructed. When the Powers That Be urged citizens stay home and avoid contact with others for the sake of our country it was one of the highest affirmations I’ve received in my life. That’s been my go-to mode for over 20 years. I’ll expect my Order of Canada shortly.

My extrovert friends, OTOH — whom I love and who I love to (occasionally) hang with — not so much. I send the odd nudge, make the occasional phone call. But if I really want to find out where they’re at, I visit their Twitter feeds.

They are falling to pieces.

And if my eyes are any judge I’d say that corresponds with over 90% of Twitter users right across the board — introvert, extrovert, it doesn’t matter.

Twitter provides social contact, but of a very particular kind. It initially engages your most painstakingly developed intellectual capacities — the ability to express yourself cogently via limited means. When Twitter first showed up the fun was in the challenge, and fabulous new forms were collectively created — think of The Twitter Essay.

That’s all by the wayside now. Twitter is just another harvester of Voodoo dolls, repeatedly triggering our most primal response — fight or flight — and driving users back to the swamp, where everything is a threat.

Here our fight-or-flight feedback loop is now jacked-in with others of similar persuasion, while people with whom we once disagreed are jacked-in with others of their particular fight-or-flight feedback loop. It all strikes me as kinda (Chapel) perilous.

Exiting the feedback loop and closing the door behind you is a good idea. But beyond that?

“Run the clock.” I’m thinking time is the key element here. “Slow Food” was a thing some years ago, and we seem to be rediscovering its virtues of late. Fast Food, obviously bad — obviously appealing as well, but OBVIOUSLY BAD. Give consideration to what you put together, what you put into your mouth, your body — obviously GOOD, right?

So what might Slow Internet look like?

Buffering: it's a good thing.

Elsewhere: Erik Davis adds to last week's thoughts re: conspiracies/conspiracy theories with a footnote devoted to RAW. Cory Doctorow has his own take on conspiracies/conspiracy theories that are worth reading: How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism.

“What struck me was how alone the four [Big Tech] CEOs were — no friends or allies anywhere in politics or society. They've creeped everyone out with their opaque form of influence. Even Big Tobacco had friends.” Checking in on Jaron Lanier.

'Casting about

MSM have swallowed the QAnon lure rather deeply, mustering about as much self-reflective care in these matters as they’ve managed while covering the 45th POTUS. As is increasingly the norm, a person hoping for a contextual deep-dive hasta go indie.

• In this episode of Team Human Douglas Rushkoff’s intro essay lands on fresh insight. With its improv-comedy tactic of replying “Yes, and...” to every conspiracy set forth, beleaguered homo sapiens often find the QAnon network the most affirmational environs to be had on the web. Ruskoff follows this with a giddy interview with Monkee Mike Nesmith, the guy in the hat prone to breaking the fourth wall and entreating the viewer with quizzical, beseeching looks.
• Erik Davis is asked about the occult origins of The Cosmic Right, over at #ACFM. I am a fan of Davis, both his writing and to a lesser degree his podcasting. In this one-hour interview he is spectacularly on-point. Listeners who grok a good conspiracy theory and/or the letters of Saint Paul the Apostle will find much to enjoy here.
• Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh serves up laughs and lucidity at World’s Best Dad podcast.
• Typed words: at LARB Dorion Sagan (progeny of Carl) sorts out Laniakea: The Next Step in Gaia Theory.

"Yo, Nesmith: THIS is how you break the Fourth Wall!"

The week that was

A modest proposal: since most used bookstores are closed, why not just browse your own bookshelves?

The "used bookstore" just over my left shoulder.

Another: Now is a great time to get out the old iPod.

Two deaths.

• Dale Hawerchuk, at 57. More than any other Jet — including Golden Jet Bobby Hull — Hawerchuk kept Winnipeg sports fans watching his team. Hawerchuk had the unenviable task of playing against legacy teams that utterly owned the newly expanded NHL, including the Edmonton Oilers at their legendary hay-day, and the Detroit Red Wings at their most recent. And of course there is no “I” in “Team” but Hawerchuk’s understated on-ice performance kept Winnipeg hopes alive, because more than any other player he racked up the points, while playing against titans.
• Ron “Rontrose” Heathman — founding guitarist for the Supersuckers, who played on many of my favourite 'Suckers albums, including this one. There is a fund-raiser for his daughter Ruby, here.

“Humor is just shorthand for hope, a gamble we’ll live long enough to hear the punchline, whether in the face of hardship or the pathologic indifference to suffering that sows the seeds for war in the first place. And in a war of ideology, humor correlates to the most important thing of all: resistance.” At the LA Times Jillian Horton says “M*A*S*H showed me how to get through this war on the corona virus.”

Monday internet gold-rush

There are days when the internet is self-evidently the second-worst thing our species has cooked up for itself. Then there are days like today.

• Surprise! H.P. Lovecraft’s racist contempt included the Irish! Yet another piece that remarks (perhaps, as with Matt Ruff’s adapted-for-TV novel, a touch too lightly?) on the irony of Lovecraft’s still-rising star at this particular cultural moment, given that the single most self-evident feature of the man and his fiction is his racism.
• “Extremity of transgression, in these cases, may actually be interpreted as a sign of conformity.” Over at LARB John Tottenham surveys Heroin Heroism: The Rock 'n' Roll Survivor Narrative.
• Also at LARB another hit of René Girard. Hm: “A generation devoid of Freuds or Nietzsches or Marxes of its own might turn out to be something we will one day regret.” I dunno. GenX was always going to have some trouble with that.
• “Among the literature of China under Mao and since, one of the most perceptive and disturbing accounts I have read is Kang Zhengguo’s Confessions: An Innocent Life In Communist China” — Stephen Jones is blown away. And now so am I.

Miscellany

Some of the past week’s pauses for thought:

• The Hugos are almost habitually a stage where The Olds vs. The Youngs duke it out over genre and social relevance, and this year’s was only the most recent such Donnybrook. Horror writer Tim Waggoner has been a member of the SFWA for over 30 years and recounts some earlier variants of this turf war. He also proffers sage advice.
• Speaking of SF, when it comes to television the content creators tend to have a singularly myopic (understatement) view on religion. Jessica Price’s Twitter thread breaks it down and clears the Wiggle Room for some intriguing potential — read the whole thing, over here. (Update: it took me a few tries to get the link right, but I think I’ve got it. Start with, “Okay so I want to preface this...” then scroll down and hit ‘Show this thread.’)
• Artist Bill Stout was interviewed by John Arcudi for The Comics Journal back in '02. They covered a lot of ground, because, frankly, Stout’s been everywhere — Underground Comix to bootleg album covers to legacy comics to movie design to prestige format coffee-table books to . . . well, you get the idea. Stout has been posting the entire interview — with annotations — in instalments at his blog. Today we’re at number 22, but start at the beginning. I haven’t missed a single one.
• Jack Kerouac’s literary star has cooled somewhat since the turn-of-the-mil. But for them what’s still innurressed, the inspiration for On The Road — a 16,000 word letter from Neal Cassady — is about to receive its first general publication.

I’ve also picked up this novel, and have been filling it with insightful marginalia, including: “wow!” “Perfect!” “oh NO!!” Still a little more than half to go, mind you, so things MIGHT change. I read a Meg Wolitzer novel which began just as promisingly, only for her to pull a stunt two-thirds of the way through that I have a very difficult time forgiving story-tellers of any stripe. Stay tuned . . . 

“New Blogger” vs. “Legacy Blogger”

"Good news"? Or another death-knell?

My friend Mary Scriver is struggling with the changes Google Blogger hath wrought. We've had some back-and-forth on the matter. Google is making some terrible errors, I think. This is my latest email to her, commiserating with her plight.

Hi Mary - 

This is one of those times when I wish I could mask-up, hop in the car and come over. There are tweaks to "New Blogger" that might work for you, but they do take some searching for. 

In the main, however, I am also deeply unhappy with the direction Google is taking with this new template. Google engineer Avery Pennarun nails it on the head with this comment: "Smart people have a problem, especially (although not only) when you put them in large groups. That problem is an ability to convincingly rationalize nearly everything." 

In this case the engineers reworking Google's Blogspot have convinced themselves, not unreasonably, that easier accessibility via "smart" phone is a necessity for the great majority of internet users and thus a necessity for Blogspot bloggers as well. This is not unintelligent thinking. But it does not do a rigorous enough job of analyzing what Google Blogspot does best RIGHT NOW, and thus what they need to retain and reinforce to remain a viable platform in a roiling market of internet users. 

Blogger/Blogspot is, as most blogging platforms, a predominantly word-based platform. People compose and post more text to Blogspot than they do anything else. Thus it does not compete directly with Instagram or Twitter or Facebook or really any of the other social media. Pictures and videos and soundfiles can all be posted on Blogspot, but mostly the people using Blogger are writers. Were I a member of Blogspot's think-tank I would highlight that and keep that the focus of Blogger. Other means of communication -- videos, pictures, soundfiles -- should be encouraged, particularly via properties that Google has acquired. Hey, make it a priority to provide ease of access to YouTube, YouTube Music, Google Photo, etc. Data-mining these media interdependencies ought to yield rich results. But always always always assure that composing and posting words is the highest priority -- because that is the current user's highest priority, and it won't change with a radically reimagined user template. 

Returning to the field of phone use, I'd say ease of phone display is a must. Ease of composing and posting via phone, not so much. Most phone users have accounts with YouTube and Google Photo etc. Make sure the cross-platform use here is super-easy. But keep the focus of word composition where it is properly done -- on the home or office computer/laptop. "Legacy Blogger" very much outperforms "New Blogger" on that front. 

Anyway, I have "Left Feedback" with Google and received nary an AI-generated peep of acknowledgment. I notice the hard deadline for those of us who prefer Legacy Blogger keeps getting kicked down the road. Initially it was July, no? Now it is the end of September (correction: September 1). Hopefully this signifies some reconsideration occurring among the fine engineers in charge of Google Blogger. 

Best, WP/dpr