This is a meta-diary. Fair warning.
Agendas. Everyone has at least one. Merriam-Webster gives us the following definition:
Main Entry: agen•da
Pronunciation: &-‘jen-d&
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, neuter plural of agendum, gerundive of agere
1 : a list or outline of things to be considered or done (agendas of faculty meetings)
2 : an underlying often ideological plan or program (a political agenda)
Let’s discuss our agenda(s), shall we?
Agendas are sneaky little, often underlying, motivators. Note that agendas are NOT always the same thing as goals. It is far easier to be honest about your goal(s) than it is to be honest about your agenda(s).
It has been asked here – Why Do You Blog? Being as honest as I can with myself, I would offer my own agenda (not necessarily goal) list for blogging as something like this:
1) To provide an outlet for my political (mostly) and lifestyle (secondary) ideas / ideals.
2) To have fun with likeminded people.
3) To influence others to my way of thinking.
4) To hone my writing skills.
5) To be read.
6) To give back to the blogging community that has taught me a great deal.
7) To assist with building a community that has real influence in the so-called ‘real’ world.
8) To provide an outlet to flirt with hot blogging babes.
I wrote this list with as much honesty as I could muster, and it’s ranked in order of importance with said honesty in mind. Note that #3, #5 and #8 (especially) are not particularly honorable motives. Actually, #6 is pretty good. And #7 should be way higher on the list given our discussions lately, yet truthfully it’s not. In looking at the list, I would say it’s not too bad and pretty much matches up with why I am enjoying myself so much here.
So what’s the point? I think that if you can be honest with yourself about your personal agenda(s), you can learn a great deal about where you stand vis-à-vis the important relationships in your life. Especially if you have a good understanding as to the other side’s agenda.
Many of us here got our start at Teh Big Orange. I would suggest that most of us who started there are writing here now because our personal agenda bumped up against the agendas of ‘the powers that be’ at DK or elsewhere. Their main agenda isn’t that hard to figure out. Their #1 goal is to elect Democrats. The agenda / primary tactic behind that goal appears to be to build an audience that provides enough horsepower to help achieve the goal. There’s not much more to it, really. Individuals, and individual goals and agendas, can (and should in their minds) be sacrificed if they bump up too hard against the main agenda. Varied opinions are great as they most often drive traffic, but traffic appears to be the trump card. If a controversial topic or individual threatens overall traffic or site ‘credibility’, the topic or individual will be discouraged.
For me, I really enjoyed myself over on Orange for a long time. But eventually, I realized I wasn’t getting too much traction on my personal agendas #3, #5 and #7 (small fish in a huge pond) above. I was cool with that, and then #2 started becoming harder and harder to find. I wasn’t so cool with that. So I started searching, and I found my new home here. Hopefully, this one will last. As I’ve said before, I have a good feeling about it.
The democrats of course have their own agenda(s). And they too don’t match mine very well right now.
But regardless, my reason (agenda even) for writing this is to ask you to think about your agenda list and to see if it lines up with the important relationships in your life. Not necessarily blogging relationships, but for the purposes of this essay, I suppose that’s what I’m getting at. This essay was written with agenda items #1, #2, #5, #6 and #7 above firmly in mind.
Hopefully this all made sense. Cheers.
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I wrote this one off the cuff and while exhausted. Blogging while exhausted is usually not a good idea. Hopefully, I haven’t written anything above that will come back to Bite Me in the Ass one day.
So what’s your agenda?
I think we tend sometimes not to know our own agendas until we are confronted with them in discourse or argument.
And of course we very often are accused of having agendas that we honestly don’t have.
My agendas? That’s a tough one — cause it changes all the time.
Definitely seeking discourse with like minded folks.
The companionship of knowing I’m not the only one who thinks I’m living in a crazy country.
Fairness and justice as I ALONE CAN DECLARE! (a bit of a superhero complex, I admit).
I’m sure there’s more, but that’s what I can recall at the moment.
a lot lately, as I’ve been invited to be a paid blogger somewhere, but will have to use my real name to do it. It has forced me to evaluate what I really want to accomplish with my participation in on-line venues for politics.
I too am a tranplant from Dkos, where I’ve been regularly active for quite some time.
For the first couple of years there I was an avid reader, but my participation level tended to focus on the have fun with like minded people aspect (#2 on your list)more than anything else.
As I spread my voice into wider areas of the good ol “shark tank” and out of the “kiddie pool” it wasn’t long before I found out that my particular strengths and interests (reflected in #3,5,7) weren’t getting much traction either, and it was a lot harder to find fun.
So here’s my agenda list for blogging at this site:
1) To participate in the creative processes with a group of people who are likewise interested in experimenting with blogging as a tool to change the status quo in politics, to re-empower the people, to take our country back.
2) To express my thoughts and interests through writing under a pseudonym amongst individuals for whom I hold respect and trust. My agenda for continuing to use a pseudonym has to do with the fact that I’m a sole proprietor of a business in an area that could threaten my livlihood should my political thoughts become widely known to my client base.
3) To have fun with likeminded people, who also have twisted senses of humor! 🙂
4) To support the blogging community at large by participating in a few that seem to fit, to keep the ball rolling as we all find a way to be more effective in reaching our goals.
5) To improve my writing and communication skills; to become a more effective writer.
This was a really good exercise, Stranger. Thanks for starting it. I look forward to reading what others here have to say.
Except I’m not trying to improve my writing. Gave up on that a long time ago. I just get worse. 🙂
1. To have a feeling that I’m doing something to change the political, and social climate for the better. I don’t know if anything we do really helps, but its what I can do.
2. To share my angst with the way the world is now. This way, we know we aren’t alone.
3. To lift my spirits when things are really bad, and to try and lift others spirits when they are down.
4. To keep up with current events, and learn new things.
I believe a big reason may folks blog is simply for the purpose of knowing that they are not alone – that there are other like minded people out there who share the same attitudes and experiences.
In our bizzare world of government sponsored, corporate media groupthink, blogging is an intellectual lifeline that restores our faith in our own understanding of reality.
#8
#8
#8
save the world
#8
no mention of lukewarm blogger hags.
Okay.
In the absence of warmer social skills, I thought I’d hone my skills at essays and repartee.
Seriously though…whatever my intent, which is a somewhat similar mix to what you describe, the huge payoff has been to write for a constantly varying audience, get feedback, and realize what an idiot I sound like when I re-read my stuff three days later. This cannot be bought with gold.
I somehow love that word. My agenda in coming from grassroots party participation to the net was twofold which evolved because of the net so agendas do shift and are fluid or else become dogma. Me then:
1. came to get information/news as what I was getting did not compute, and pissed me right off.
2. wanted to see what made the Democratic party so fucking corrupt and useless, a who are these people that give their votes and money and time to this machine and why can’t they see what my brain sees.
I discovered and learned that they were me, they are a big tent. Maybe not my ideal but a vast amount of people who think and act and love the ideals that make this country worth fighting for. I learned that what I perceived as my enemy was the human condition that holds us all in helpless fractures. I learned for better or worse what coalitions are what the Realities of politics are and should not be. That perfect unions don’t exist but that if people themselves with out fear band together they can do politics right.
At this point I don’t think this can be accomplished via the established Democratic party or viewed as a matter of politics but must rise above into the vast concepts that made me a Deaniac, people power. Taking my party back, my country back, this is my agenda still and always. While by myself this is impossible with others I can at least tip the balance.
I pretty much agree with what others have said, but in particular I hope to be able to connect with people who want to talk about big issues, raise small quibbles, complain and praise, read books, go for walks on the beach, organize closets, ride bikes, piss other people off with creativity and flair, puzzle out the complexities of networks and interactivities, call out the politicians for their dumb mistakes and dastardly deeds, and raise some awe for the monks and soldiers and teachers and children and everyday miracles of the universe, while remaining open to religious questions and faith and all sorts of foolishness, dancing cartoons, singing, etc. and who are not afraid to take the bus.
Oh, what is my agenda? I’m bored and lonely and I’m looking for friends. I also need to stay anonymous because of my job, mainly because I don’t want random blog posts and comments mixed in with work-related online material through the magic of ggogle.
It was certainly #1 that brought me to American blogs. I want Blair in an ICC dock you see. I object to my country being involved in something which has killed so many to satisfy the vanity and bizarre psychosexual fantasy that is the relationship between him and your president. I object to the cynical undermining of a centuries old parliamentary process to provide a coat to cloak their disgusting and oily fumblings. I WILL see Blair answer for his part in this and the deliberate breach of the UN Charter.
It struck me that since most Americans are equally pissed off with their leadership (and opposition too it seems) that it would be good to show some solidarity with those who also demanded that examples be made and an outrage could not be repeated. “When this is done over there,” I thought, ” It will be done here as well.” So I made my way through C&L, Huffpo, to the other place. I offered pats on the back, little words of encouragement and tried on occasion to inject a little humour into otherwise gloomy proceedings. That was the only point on the agenda which brought me to the American blogs.
Then I saw a post which invited people to come here. So I came and saw lots of names that had been kind enough to rec my comments. Politics, humour, humanity, music, hope were all here. I was greeted with kindness and have spent the time from then until now drinking in goodness and growing. So, while my core agenda remains as it ever were, it is now surrounded by satellites – some dim, some which flicker and some which burn the eyes so bright are they.
you came to the correct place..
and in what way are any of your agendas inappropriate….
the daughters of the mother are fine….
I believe another aspect is our cares/concerns…..
these may shape our agendas….goals aspirations……
my cares and concerns relate to the viability of life as I know it…..
my agenda…..not sure…..
simply trying to come to right view…
right speech…
right action…
liberation….
for myself and for life…..
I know that there is no more time….
my agenda….
I am a grain of sand on a beach…..
my agendas are empty….
the world where i had a lot of social contact. Now it’s mostly through work and occasional, very rare get-togethers with friends. I’ve somehow misplaced most of my family – they either died or our lives run perpendicular and our interests are errant.
So, what is my agenda?
Okay, I just made that sound like the internet is my garbage dump. I’ll stop now.
Author
I should have known.
I wrote this as a bit of a throw away piece to get some stuff down in writing that had been rattling around the old noggin for a while.
What happens?
The folks here run with it and post some wonderful thoughts, ideas, aspirations and otherwise inspiring stuff.
I’m really glad I post here.
Besos.