[Dean's World] Dean: The 14 Extreme Things That Define Dean's World

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Posted by Dean:
The 14 Extreme Things That Define Dean's World
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1146911953.shtml


   I recently participated in a panel to name the top political blogs for
   National Journal's "The Blogometer." The [1]results are right here.

   I found the results unsurprising, although the folks at National
   Journal did. For example, they were surprised that Daily Kos didn't
   rank higher because of the site's "monster" traffic. The problem with
   Daily Kos is that (A) it's often irrational and simply doesn't
   represent the mainstream of Democratic Party politics, and (B) it's a
   collection of many weblogs and ought to be viewed more like [2]Pixy
   Misa's mu.nu or blogspot or [3]blogmosis. Their influence is simply
   not what some people think it is--indeed, I would argue quite strongly
   that it damages the Democratic Party when pundits act like they're
   more important than they are. (And, not to contradict myself, I don't
   mean they are un-important. I mean their importance is inflated.)

   Furthermore, while there are a few reasonably centrist blogs listed by
   The National Journal, hyperpartisan sites dominate their list. Again
   this is no surprise. Those with the strongest feelings politically
   tend to write the most passionately and to draw the most immediate
   attention. Even from jaded veterans.

   It might also be noted that Dean's World didn't show up on their list.
   Despite being asked to participate, I didn't expect us to show up.
   Partly, this is for reasons I've stated above: we aren't
   hyper-partisan. Another reason is, we frequently offend people on both
   the right and the left. Not because we are "centrist" (whatever that
   means) but because we have strong points of view expressed strongly,
   and none of them fit easily in any convenient left/right map.

   Indeed, as I look at it, it seems like there are Fourteen Extreme
   Things that, to me, define Dean's World. We are:

   1) Very hawkish on the Global War on Terrorism
   2) Very pro-American (i.e,, the quite-flawed and totally imperfect
   United States is one of the greatest forces of Good in human history)
   3) Very pro-Muslim (meaning, supportive of the vast majority of
   Muslims who hate terrorism and are often the victoms of it)
   4) Very Pro-Israel (as imperfect as the Israelis are)
   5) Very Pro-Arab (not "Arabist," just pro- the Arab people)
   6) Very anti-fascist, anti-commmunist, anti-totalitarian
   7) Very Pro-Democracy
   8) Very defensive of gay rights and minority rights
   9) Not particularly sympathetic of minorities who play the victim card
   10) Very pro-women's rights but not particularly sympathetic to
   radical feminism or to extremist views on abortion
   11) Very pro-men (we like men, men aren't the "bad guys" and often get
   kicked around more than they should be)
   12) Very much believers in the 2nd amendment
   13) Very pro-science and rationalist, yet not at all anti-religion
   14) Very against campaign finance "reform" laws which muzzle
   independent free speech.

   I would add that, unlike almost any other weblog, we take our
   commenters very seriously, and we don't let just anyone comment here.
   We frown on anonymity, we frown on ad hominem, we frown on jerkoff
   behavior, we frown on overt partisanship, and we value intelligent
   discussion. (Although we are imperfect in that regard, and are always
   open to criticism if we fail there.)

   In looking at the above 14 things, I must say: if we have a natural
   constituency, I haven't been able to put my finger on it.

   In the [4]Blogging Ecosystem, we bounce constantly between "Playful
   Primate" and "Mortal Human," always on the edge between the two. In
   April of this year, we had over 5.5 million page requests. Whether you
   look at traffic statistics, or number of inbound links, or daily
   readers, Dean's World is one of the top blogs worldwide. Yet we are
   almost never mentioned in lists of the most influential blogs. And,
   when awards given out, we're often mentioned but never come close to
   winning (except for the [5]Winds of Change medal of honor, which we
   are very proud of, and of course the [6]coveted Tim Worstall award).

   I would never expect to be on anyone's list of "most influential"
   weblogs. We just never make those lists, and we just never win those
   awards. Yet day after day, month after month, year after year, we're
   consistently one of the most-hated, most loved, most commented upon,
   and highest-trafficked sites on the internet.

   Oh, and by the way, we founded the [7]campaign for Democracy and Human
   Rights in Iraq, and also helped found [8]Operation Give. Almost no one
   ever notices, but we did.

   We also helped well over 100 webloggers move from BlogSpot to their
   own domain names and independent blogs. Including some of the most
   amazingly wonderful blogs out there--babalublog.com, indcjournal.com,
   qoae.net, and wizbangblog.com. Not because we were looking for
   anything, just because we were wanting to help them. We also
   recognized, early on, that Indepundit Scott Koenig and Moderate Voice
   Joe Gandelman were clearly among the best writers in the blogosphere.

   Oh, and have I mentioned that [9]Methuselah's Daughter may be the best
   novel you've never read? (Probably to be self-published later this
   year?)

   Yes I am bragging a bit. But I also hope the folks at National Journal
   will keep looking for genuinely independent voices, and looking for
   those of us who don't fit the easy steroetypes, but who have something
   valuable to say. Among those I include my own top 10 of incredible
   blogs who have something Politically Relevant to say:

   [10]Classical Values<

   [11]Sheila O'Malley
   [12]Babalu
   [13]Cobb
   [14]The Queen of All Evil
   [15]Chief Wiggles
   [16]Crossroads Arabia
   [17]Dodgeblogium
   [18]Ali Eteraz
   [19]Murdoc Online

   I have intentionally left out any current or former Dean's World
   contributors (except for The Queen, whose comments section rivals
   Dean's World's). And I hope no one whom I fail to name doesn't get
   their feelings hurt. Becaues if this were a different day I might have
   named a dozen others.

   There are some amazing writers out there in the blogosphere, none of
   whom are mentioned near as often as they should be.

   There is a vast swarm of amazing writers in the blogosphere, whose
   writings are rarely represented simply because they don't fit the
   convenient labels. I'd like to think that Dean's World is in some way
   exemplary of that. I really would.

References

   1. http://blogometer.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/05/twib_notes.html
   2. http://www.mu.nu/
   3. http://www.blogmosis.com/
   4. http://truthlaidbear.com/ecosystem.php
   5. http://windsofchange.net/
   6. http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1102689167.shtml
   7. http://www.deanesmay.com/archives/000810.html
   8. http://www.operationgive.org/
   9. http://www.3500years.com/
  10. http://www.classicalvalues.com/
  11. http://www.sheilaomally.com/
  12. http://www.babalublog.com/
  13. http://cobb.typepad.com/
  14. http://www.qoae.net/
  15. http://www.chiefwiggles.com/
  16. http://www.xrdarabia.org/blog
  17. http://www.andrewiandodge.com/
  18. http://eteraz.wordpress.com/
  19. http://www.murdoconline.net/