Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Self Critique

For the 100th entry to this blog, I've decided to do a little self critique on the efforts put forth to date. It's not by any means an exhaustive critique, nor is it intended to be one. But it serves well enough, I think, to illustrate where I think this blog can make some vast improvements...

First, I got off to a bit of a slow start. Having never operated a personal blog, all of my previous blogging efforts had been restricted to what little I'd done over at the AFB. In my first post here at Webster's, A New AF-Blogoventure, I explain to some extent what the idea behind having personal blogs entailed, and why the idea came to me to begin with. The truth is that I had, just prior to Webster's coming online, broken out of my shell and had begun to discover the Traditionalist Conservative blogging hemisphere.

That discovery, coupled with the fact that I usually have a lot to say on a variety of subjects that the AFB doesn't necessarily lend itself to, convinced me that a personal blog would be a good outlet for expressing those ideas and opinions more frequently, and for getting to know some of the other traditionalists who were already out there, and who had already become pretty well established as far as the blogosphere goes. Indeed, I had been living in such a bubble that I was not even aware of the traditionalist blogging movement. So much so that VFR had even escaped my radar.

The content of this blog is nowhere near where I'd like it to be as yet. So far it is not well defined, nor has it lived up to its billing as explicated in the blog description section. It is still the primary mission of this blog, as was announced from the beginning, to propagate and advance the ideas of Balanced Government which developed over at the AFB. It is, in short, to advance the concepts of returning to a national-federal structure of government overall, as the founders originally designed the framework of this government.

The process begins with the presupposition that something has gone seriously awry; that that something is reducible to a singular primary cause from which all other posthumous causes are really effects of either the primary first cause, or effects of some other secondary cause, which itself is an effect of some other cause. In other words, it recognizes the cause-effect relationship, and seeks to explain the conditions under which we now live thereby.

As I've said one way or the other so many times, what is evident on the surface is just that, surface scum. Examining this surface material should give us some insight into what lies beneath. And what lies beneath the surface is vastly more important than what is on the surface. The surface material only has value as it relates to and instructs us on the true nature of the underlying material.

But the key to it all is that we have to realize and own that the surface material itself is merely indicative of what is at the core. As long as we're treating the symptom and not the disease, we will ever continue to take more steps backwards than forward steps. It is my firm conviction indeed, that hopelessness is a well placed emotion whenever our whole approach to a given problem involves the process of attempting to limit the effects by dealing only with the effects and not the cause.

I hereby make the following commitment. From this day forward I will make a conscious effort to get to the heart of the matter on anything, any subject for which I choose to discuss on this blog. Recognizing my own limitations, I already know full well that I shall fail in this endeavor on numerous future occasions. But I hope that with my off-blog extra-curriculars, conversations and consultations with other traditionalist thinkers, the incorporation of more study and reflection, and etc., I will meet the requirements of this commitment to a fuller extent than has thus far been shown. In the meantime, I hope you'll bear with me as I continue to dust off my brain so that I can see things a little more clearly, and seeing them more clearly, thereby being equipped to express them more clearly. That is my commitment; that is the task before me. It is the very reason that I'm currently re-visiting so many volumes of material concurrently, and as we speak.

I appreciate everyone's patience, and I hope to make this blog better as time goes on.

6 comments:

John Savage said...

As far as becoming part of the "movement", I hope you will get to know at least a couple of other blogs that should be of interest to you:

Are you familiar with Jim Kalb at Turnabout? He can be rather extreme at times, but is always worth reading. Kalb actually was the one who started VFR, but then turned it over to Auster after a while. You'll want to go back and read some of the posts listed under "Popular Content: All Time", such as his Conservatism FAQ and Anti-Inclusiveness FAQ.

You might also find Oz Conservative very interesting. It's by the most prominent Australian traditionalist blogger, but covers issues we all deal with, such as the defense of the West, immigration, and the collapse of the family. Oz Conservative talks a lot about liberal "autonomy theory", which is something I didn't know much about before I started reading him.

Glad to be of use to you anytime!

DR said...

Congratulations on your 100th post. I am by no means an expert on blogs, but I personally think you have one of the best. All of you at the AFB seem to have a true understanding of the Constitution. I would not try and improve the blog too much, apparently it is working the way it is. Keep up the outstanding work.

John Savage said...

Terry, and congratulations too! I forgot to mention that. I'm glad this blog has given you the freedom to cover a lot of different topics. I'm sure you will continue making progress!

Michael Tams said...

I think your blog stinks and you're wrong about everything!

Nah, I love ya, Brother, and you're rocking on everything that you touch. Congrats on the milestone and may God continue to bless us all by inspiring you to keep up the good fight.

-MT

Vanishing American said...

Terry, from one fellow traditionalist blogger to another, I don't think you need to change much here. I think you are on the right track and doing good work.

Congratulations on that 100th post. Keep it up.
-VA

Terry Morris said...

Thanks to everyone for the encouraging comments. Coming from this group, well, they really mean a lot; more perhaps than any of you know.

John, I actually did happen across Kalb's participation at VFR the other day while going through VFR's archives. I've not yet been to Turnabout, however, but I'll be visiting there shortly. As for Oz Conservative, I've been there a couple of times so far, and I certainly plan on returning and frequenting the blog more often. Thanks for the suggestions.

DR, thank you very much for the encouraging words. I think you give my efforts to date too much credit, both here and at the AFB. But I sure do appreciate what you say, and I'm glad you like what you've seen so far. But you ain't seen nothin' yet. ;)

Mike, how many times do I have to tell you, it is not me that talks funny, you are the one with the weird accent. lol Thanks for the encouraging words, brother.

And last, but certainly not least, thanks to you as well, VA. That you consider my work here to be good work means a lot to me. Your opinion always carries a lot of weight with me.

Thanks again to you all. And of course, I certainly think all of you are doing fine and outstanding work yourselves. Keep up the good work! The victory is ours.

-Terry