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19 February 2012

I have been watching some Hitchens and anti-Hitchens responses on youtube and my rehabilitating my opinion of him (earlier seriously damaged by his pro-war stance)[More:]

first of all it's been a bit of a revelation to me lately that some TV has pretty intellectual content like Bill Moyers, Book TV, debates etc. Also, I've been looking at back at a lot of 60s stuff, so even when the content is 'less deep', it's an important way to pursue one's ideas in a mass medium so you can't ignore that venue if you want to engage in influencing people..

And as I get back into the whole public debate fray I've been wondering what sort of tonal approach I want to take and the whole Hitchens, Matt Taibbi etc. style alienates me a bit. Snark, anger and call-outs are such a standard internet tone that they're passe to me. I find a lot of inspiration in watching / listening to Malcolm X these days. He's always incredibly calm in moments where I'd be prone to being really angry and disengaging from the situation. But unlike him and his 60s compatriots I'm also quite given to consensus building instead of ideological inflexibility, and gravitate towards gaining power within the system instead of attacking it from the outside. Plus whatever way the political heap rearranges itself I'd like me and mine to not end up on the wrong side of a rifle.. Safety First. lol.

Another thing I'm gonna be working on while I try to get as educated and pursuasive as these people is also try to rack up more life experience cause Wisdom > Cleverness. At some point, some dude in a DC think tank talking to another dude in a Northeastern university about what's happening in e.g Korea just doesn't make sense. You have to at least spend some time talking to, you know, Koreans.
I've been wondering what sort of tonal approach I want to take and the whole Hitchens, Matt Taibbi etc. style alienates me a bit. Snark, anger and call-outs are such a standard internet tone that they're passe to me.


It seems as though a deteriorating level of discourse tends to drag everyone down with it. These days, to be heard, it seems that you have to engage in the low-level sniping and call-outs just to be part of the dialogue. It seems that most people in these debates are re-hashing variations on conventional wisdom of their chosen ideological stance, using fifth-hand information they've gleaned from the same canon of blog sites and newspapers.
posted by jayder 19 February | 21:29
yeah. Plus I've never been the guy with the witty one liner all the time. I can come up with really bombastic turns of phrase but not always on the spot. So for me, when I look at someone like Ezra Klein who just specializes in being wonky, is knee deep in data for years and years, and slowly starts gaining influence, it's been inspiring to me to observe them.

It also ties into what I was saying about pursuing wisdom, like I really think polemics, though beautiful to read when you agree with them, don't really get to the heart of anything.

I think my personal identity is going through a fluid moment these days so all these things are kinda up in the air for me. I don't really know what I'll end up believing, of being like, in the future. I guess one thing I can do that will always stay relevant regardless is to be well informed, well read and well experienced.
posted by Firas 19 February | 22:17
Soup cup hat cats || Someone make this cake

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