The formidable Lounsbury, major domo of the essential group blog ‘Aqoul, frequently refers to Right Bolsheviks or “Right Bolshies†and I’m beginning to think he’s on to something although I think he awards that accolade a little too readily. I certainly think the blogosphere in particular is just full of people advocating extreme positions.
People seem to be advocating mindlessly extreme positions as the minimally acceptable policy. Only a pure market health care system is acceptable. Only a totally socialized health care system is acceptable. Abolish the minimum wage. Double the minimum wage. Nuke all Arabs. There is no terrorist threat. Nothing is Bush’s fault. Everything is Bush’s fault. 9/11 changed everything. 9/11 changed nothing.
Or, alternatively, people take solace in adverse turns of events on the grounds of “the worse, the betterâ€*, presumably under the assumption that it will hasten the adoption of their pet approach.
My own experience is that workable approaches are neither burning hot nor bitterly cold. In the world that I see around me there are competing interests, incomplete information, hidden agendas (sometimes even to their owners) and, above all, gradual progress.
Winning is winning. Losing is losing. A step in the right direction is good. Moving in the wrong direction is bad.
*Although this is frequently attributed to Lenin, he doesn’t seem to have originated it. The phrase does occur in one of his essays (attributed to someone else) but it appears to have originated with Chernyshevsky, from whom Lenin appropriated a number of ideas.
I admire (and am slightly frightened by) your ability to wade through Lounsbury’s stuff. Frankly, every time I read something he writes, I get about halfway through before I give up, because I cannot stand the rhetoric and ad hominem, nor how readily he sloshes them about. Yet it also seems, frequently, like he has a serious point worth addressing. But because of his manner of expression, even if he might be right, he is unconvincing.
Lounsbury actually says very little in comparison with his invective. If you distill the substance from the acid, there is almost nothing left. There are much better places to go on the web for genuinely useful information.
It almost does make you wonder if intelligent life has a chance on this planet, doesn’t it? The worst of it is, these are far too often the blogs getting the traffic. Being moderate, realistic and reasonable just doesn’t attract attention.
For some reason I have a hard time imagining anyone leaping to the barricades and waving the red flag on behalf of moderation.
And on behalf of Lounsbury I’d like to say that I find his posts on MENA business and finance interesting, well-informed, and unique. Art, if you can direct me to additional sources for that kind of information I would relish it.