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I've made a couple of changes to my "links" section of the blog. Gone is Clusterfuck Nation, Jim Kunstler's blog that formerly focused on peak oil issues and the concerns he raised in his book, which came out last year, The Long Emergency.
Kunstler's thoughts about architecture, suburban sprawl and the end of our easy motoring lifestyle that will accompany the loss of cheap oil were always provocative and worth some time sifting through. Unfortunately, JK of late has abandoned what he knows best and has taken to writing some dreadful essays about the situation in the Middle East. Without going into unnecessary detail, I've reached the end of the line with CFN and Kunstler's pro-Zionist views of geopolitics.
Kunstler's blog generates a tremendous amount of dialogue and debate in the comments section. I've added a new blogger who regularly tried to add some cogency to the increasingly myopic discussions taking place over at CFN. Check out Weaseldog's Lair when you have an opportunity.
I've been a fan of Living on Less for quite some time. Asfo_del, has been one of my favorite reads in the blogosphere from the start. I always learn new things and appreciate her very personal writing on a variety of topics. Recently, she posted something from a blogger named Joe Bageant that knocked my socks off. I've been reading through some of his back posts and am appreciating his unique take on class in the U.S. I also have learned that he has a book coming out with a very provocative title. If it is similar to what I've read recently on his blog, it should be a worthwhile read.
If your blog reading has grown stale, then check out Living on Less, as well as my newest links. I hope they inspire and inform you and expand your understanding of the complex place and time that we find ourselves in.
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6 comments:
Those are some good links Jim.
We need to keep drawing attention to the turds on the table.
And thank you for dropping by my site. I've added a link to yours there.
Jim, digging both the Weaseldog and Bageant. Its good to see you do your bit to spread diverse opinion. But (and you know there's always a but with me) is it better to leave Kunstler up there on the links and let people engage with him and decide for themselves, or remove him and in effect act as an ideological censor like all our enemies on the right? I'm conflicted, and I'm not sure what I would do: I'd be interested to hear your reasons for removing those you disagree with.
I can address the question on removing JHK.
I'm only going to have so many links on my blog. I'd rather put links in that are meaningful in the context of my blogging. My blogging is in no small part, about the stuff I want to talk about after all.
Further, if I continue to link him, I'll be tempted to click that link myself, and I'd rather not get back into that mess. I believe that my time spent there was counterproductive.
Plenty of people will still find their way to JHK's blog without my help. He's a minor celebrity and has a bit more marketing visibility than most of the rest of us. His new public identity as a racist zionist, will likely just get him more readers that identify with his ideology.
I wish to remain focused on surviving as well as possible through the downslope after peak oil. I'll blog on issues that I feel are related. JHK is no longer relevant, now that he's moved past post-peak topics to the sickening sideshow of ME racism.
The events in the ME are relevant to Peak Oil, but I feel it's important to look to the long term and try to understand how these events are going to unfold, and what this means to us locally. Getting caught up in the events in the way JHK has, blinds us to path. He's being distracted for political gain as are many others, by the men behind the curtain.
I have a limited number of links that I like to keep up. Some have been with me for a long time (like yours), because you provide a unique approach to blogging. The same goes for many others in my list of links. CFN and JK are more what I call "celebrity" bloggers, since they already have an audience that would be there regardless of whether they blog or not. I'm less patient with those types of links.
Once Kunstler left off with writing about peak oil and subjects associated with sprawl and easy motoring and began commenting on subjects he's obviously clueless about, I decided to pull the link. Oh, and his pro-Zionist, anti-women comments didn't exactly endear him with me. Also, the increase in troll-bait posting comments might have been the last straw.
One can argue about the reality of community in cyberspace. What I find disturbing is how the anonymity of the blogosphere is proportional to the level of bile and venom that gets spewed at sites like Kunstler's. Disagreement is great--civility, however must have a place, otherwise, none of this makes any sense for me.
While Kunstler has always struck me as someone who thinks he's a cut above the rest, Bageant is just a crusty ole' geezer, willing to hold court at your local watering hole, with anyone who will listen.
Jim, thank you for your kind words. I've been out of town for most of last week. I need to get down to reading a lot more of Joe Bageant's writing myself.
I shouldn't have bothered, but I peeked at JHK's current entry.
He's pretty happy about the death and destruction going on in the Middle East.
Essentially his argument is that if you happen to live in the same country as some people that JHK doesn't like, then you deserve to die.
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