The Proctoscope… or The View From Here

Ranting About Manifestos and Blogs

(Incidentally, I offered the “Proctoscope” title to buhdy, but for some strange reason, he turned me down. What was he thinking?)

At any rate, here’s my dumbass take on the Manifesto thing. Why should you care about what I say? You shouldn’t. I’ll be the first person to tell you, unequivocally, to never take my advice on anything because I’m as full of shit as a Christmas turkey and don’t know what in the f*** I’m talking about. I’m not well-educated and have only a few worthless initials after my name.  If that’s not a huge problem for you though, then in my best “Price is Right” voice, I say “C’mon down!”…. Below the fold, that is.

Before I prattle on, an observation: We are obviously bloggers, happily  blogging away here along the Intertubes, which is all well and good. I sometimes think though that it’s easy to take blogging a little more seriously than it may sometimes deserve. I believe we might’ve discussed this a bit in another DD diary that eventually degenerated into a trainwreck as various and sundry self-annointed literary greats stopped by to do a bit of projectile-insulting, attain dominace, piss on fire hydrants and what have you – only to then disappear into the ethernet for various reasons. (D’oh! It happened again!)

I seem to recall that I made a point that blogging can be both over and underestimated. I think we bloggers tend to do the former, while most everyone else does the latter. I suppose that’s to be expected.

If arguing is your thing, though, blogs are the best invention ever! And if arguing would solve our problem(s), we’d all be in tall cotton, wouldn’t we?

It’s easy to pop in, read something written by some asshole (you just know they are!) then kick back in the comfort of your abode to compose a well thought-out and quite reasonable verbally-digitized evisceration of said asshole’s virtual genitalia for all the world to see on the Internet.

They almost always return fire, ad nauseum, ad infinitum, etc., etc.

But I digress… The point I want to make is that, yes… Like most things in life, blogs can be used for the good, bad or indifferent. Blogs alone won’t solve the problem though. A blog should be a tool, (Like Dubya! No, wait…)  Like a hammer, a pen, a paintbrush or a camera. I think it would be a mistake to rely on one’s blog or collection of blogs to save the world. On the other hand – this new, “electronic soapbox” is an incredible phenomenon with, I’d wager, plenty of still-unrealized potential.

We need to identify though, What role can the blogosphere play in order to effect the most change? When we ask ourselves that question, we shouldn’t just stop at blogging but also ask What role can technology play in order to effect change? Things don’t have to start and stop with Soapblox. There’s collaboration and mass-mailing software and of course, just the rest of the Intertubes with new ideas and sites popping up like weeds every day. In this dumbass’s humble opinion, blogging’s forte’ will be in organization and education. If we keep using it like the set of WWF, all bets are off.

Now it’s time for some really disjointed, random thoughts, mostly for my benefit!

I believe buhdy is getting excellent feedback on this Manifesto or “Mission Statement” if you will. That’s important because we must identify what it is we want and ideally be able to state it relatively succinctly. Separating the wheat from the chaffe will be difficult – not to mention arriving at a consensus. Here’s where it’d be nice to see a little restraint in the community, perhaps dare I say even (gasp!) compromise if necessary. I’d like to think most progressives will agree with the issues that are sifted out from all of the suggestions but it’s probably safe to say that some will disagree and that time, money and resources will dictate which issues are prioritized. But by whom?

Leadership Will Be a Sticky Wicket

And we’ll need leadership. I’m personally very comfortable with buhdy – I have no idea WHY – but for some strange reason, I do. Maybe it’s his dark eyes, which are like deep pools, his muscular physique and tousled hair…

(You do have all that shit, right, buhdy?)

Hell, buhdy may or may not even want the gig for all I know – but somebody needs to take it because without someone to say where the buck stops, it won’t.

Since DD is buhdy’s baby, and if I’m not mistaken this idea of actually doing something was largely his, (I told ya’ he’s crazy) I think he’s the logical candidate. But eventually that will need to be sorted out and stated, I think. Somebody’s gotta drive the bus.

Identifying Obstacles

I really do believe we have as opponents a group of very wealthy and powerful people who are, obviously, right-wing Extremists and they are trying to re-draw the blueprints for this country, if not the entire world. Our rights are disappearing in the process. It’s eerily Orwellian: “War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, Ignorance Is Strength!” Everything’s already been turned upside-down so it’ll be a daunting task to not only right the capsized ship, but then start the engines and point it in the right direction – away from the rocks.

Since the media is complicit in this massive re-engineering project by the Extremists, well that’s a big problem that even the Founding Fathers never foresaw; They assumed there’d always be a media around that gives a shit and does its job keeping assholes and future assholes in check. Hell, MSM is  helping the quacks right now, over at Faux News, while the “Idiocracy” crowd obediently watches, enthralled by the morons and bimbos, pretty colors and talk of war.

We’ve lost so much, so fast. Even the people we voted for to represent us (Our side!) seem to do everything but that one simple thing – represent us. Lying is so commonplace now among elected officials that we’re surprised when someone tells us the truth.

Meanwhile, about one in three Americans just don’t give a rat’s ass.

It may be THIS, actual Rat’s Ass!”

Sorry… Anyway, about a third of our citizens don’t stay informed. They don’t even vote. Many of these are particularly susceptible to bullshit though and occasionally drag their asses away from the drag-rice (that’s how ya pronounce it!) and may occasionally even vote if they’re pissed enough about something.

Speaking of the other two-thirds, sadly, too many Americans have become not only political Extremists but religious Extremists as well.

So, to state the self-evident, we are up against an organized, wealthy and powerful group of people who have learned how to prey (and pray) on the one-third of Americans who find it painful thinking for themselves. Despite recent incredible fuck-ups, the past few elections have been largely “squeakers”. In my home state of Virginia, Jim Webb barely won. I don’t think we should rest on our laurels as Democrats (or opponents of republicans) because the other guys won’t. And their “Manifesto” has already been stated and implemented, at least, in part.

Time for another “So….”

It’s the fourth quarter and we’re down by 9 points – that means a touchdown and a field goal will be needed to win the game and time’s running out on the clock. What a moronic metaphor… but you get the idea: This will be hard to do.

This is where I think blogs may help. Three words: Organize, Organize, Organize. Once a clear manifesto or mission statement is identified we’ll finally have “actionable intelligence” and could organize groups that are tasked with specific – mostly political – projects and goals.

Again, blogs can and should be used to tie like-minded groups together and hopefully, start patting each other on the back a bit more than sinking ice-picks into them. I understand there are many who shudder when they hear the word “unity” (I’ve been known to do that myself); we like to think of ourselves as individualists. But the more unity we show, the more seriously we’ll be taken. The less we show, we’ll run the risk of being seen as a pack of insignificant whiners and rightfully ignored by the Extremists because all we’ll accomplish is tearing each other down. And for the most part, “each other” is on “our” side so that makes no sense.

Blogs can help do one other thing well – and hell, I’ll say them three times too: Educate, Educate, Educate. I learn something new every day. That’s good, especially since I’m a dumbass. Again though, we need to try to educate beyond blogging (and me!). The Extremists did a very clever thing by courting Organized Religion in this country. Perhaps it would be a good idea for us to court Organized Education.

Because if we want to truly be “grassroots” we can’t just do it here in a blog, sitting in our underwear, cursing the asshole of the hour. We need to encourage local participation in hearings and public affairs and public schools. I know it’s shocking, but in a large majority of this country, the people attending city council meetings aren’t bloggers. We could help change that.

And lastly, running for Office is probably the best thing that any of us who are qualified to do so, could possibly do.

Besides if we don’t do it, some asshole will.