The Fly on Lee
The first blog that I ever started reading was Right Thinking, which is a political/personal blog run by a guy named Lee, formerly of San Francisco, currently living in Los Angeles. Today Lee posted the following message.
He then posted a quote from a 1975 interview with Ronald Reagan. If you want to read it, you can go do it for yourself. Lee's site is about him, and this site is about me; if you're reading this, you want to read my opinion.
I'm going to say it flat out: the quality of Lee's work has been slipping. When I started reading his stuff during the summer of 2003, it was really pretty brilliant. It continued to be brilliant for a long time. Every now and again, he'll post something that I'll absolutely agree with; even when I disagree, I usually appreciate his opinion. I've been able to say that less and less lately.
Lee claims that he's blogged in support of the rights of the religious in America countless times. Lately, though, he's called the same religious folks ignorant as often as he possibly could. His attitude since December hasn't been respectful of religious Americans; the tone of his posts has seemed to say "Religious people have the right to be as ignorant as they want to be." Now, I can take a dig as well as the next guy, but this has been more than just a dig, and I'm not the only one who's gotten fed up with it. Lee has posted a number of E-Mails from people he claims to respect. These E-Mails have included some pretty objective and constructive criticism, and he has dismissed them all. Apparently he doesn't respect these people enough to listen when they tell him that he's losing touch.
I will go on the record right now and say three things.
First, many of the religious folks that Lee has been railing against have been infinitely more patient and tolerant than he. They've been more open-minded and more objective in their assessment of the debates and his posts and comments than he has been of theirs. At one point, he equated those skeptical of evolution with bratty children throwing a temper tantrum. I've gone out of my way to respect Lee's religious and scientific beliefs; he's made pretty much zero effot to afford me the same courtesy.
Second, Lee's assertion that the majority of conservatives are fiscal and political conservatives and social moderates/progressives is wrong. Flat out wrong. The big news following the November election was that the family values crowd voted in droves, and they voted for President Bush because he's morally conservative and he has integrity. The conservative movement has room for people like Lee, but they must realize that they are the minority within conservative circles. When Lars Larson and Michael Medved (who is not Christian but Jewish) wholeheartedly disagree with Lee on the issue of Colorado's overturned capital punishment sentence, and can present far more coherent arguments on the subject, that means that Lee is in the minority, not those who disagree with him.
Third, Lee opens his blog up for comments. He and Drumwaster share a failing: they can't admit when someone has gotten the best of them. I can't remember a single situation where Lee has acknowledged that his argument was weak, and decided to reconsider his position. Even if he didn't admit defeat, and instead came back with a stronger argument for his original position, I'd respect that. Instead, he's developed a tendency to present hypothetical situations that are, at best, tangentally related.
It's no secret that Lee's been working himself too hard lately. I know he's had a lot of lousy things happen to him in the last year, and I sympathize with that. I have no clue whether or not that has anything to do with the decline in the quality of his work; it doesn't matter.
I'm not going to get all squishy like all of those sissies did at Lee's site. If Lee quits blogging, I'll be disappointed, and I'll miss reading what he has to say. Unfortunately, I'm already disappointed, and I already miss reading what he has to say. If Lee quits now, it's won't be because he's tired of religious zealots; it will be because he just plain burned out; that would be a shame, but it would be the truth.
Some people have said of the Terri Schiavo case that if President Bush, Jesse Jackson, and Ralph Nader all agree, that should say something. Lee appears to have been getting a lot of critical letters from people he claims to respect lately, and there have been corresponding comments to his posts. If I were in that position, I'd be moved to do some serious soul searching. Do I think that Lee should go to church, accept Christ as his personal Lord and savior, and renounce evolution? Yeah, that might be nice, but that's up to Lee. What I do think he should do is reconsider just how tolerant and progressive he really is.
Lee, if you're reading this: take a holiday. You're making good money; take a week off and unwind. Whether you return to blogging or not, the way you're working and acting isn't healthy, and even if you don't care about that, it's sure as hell not going to make you happy. Take a break, mate. We're all worried about you...
Even us ignorant religious zealots.
I Quit
I can’t handle spending all day arguing with people whose opinions I used to respect. It’s quite obvious that there is no room in the conservative movement for someone like me. I’ve blogged in suport of the rights of the religious in America countless times, and over the past few weeks I’ve seen just how much respect those very same religious people have for me, my opinions, and the rule of law.
Fuck all of you.
He then posted a quote from a 1975 interview with Ronald Reagan. If you want to read it, you can go do it for yourself. Lee's site is about him, and this site is about me; if you're reading this, you want to read my opinion.
I'm going to say it flat out: the quality of Lee's work has been slipping. When I started reading his stuff during the summer of 2003, it was really pretty brilliant. It continued to be brilliant for a long time. Every now and again, he'll post something that I'll absolutely agree with; even when I disagree, I usually appreciate his opinion. I've been able to say that less and less lately.
Lee claims that he's blogged in support of the rights of the religious in America countless times. Lately, though, he's called the same religious folks ignorant as often as he possibly could. His attitude since December hasn't been respectful of religious Americans; the tone of his posts has seemed to say "Religious people have the right to be as ignorant as they want to be." Now, I can take a dig as well as the next guy, but this has been more than just a dig, and I'm not the only one who's gotten fed up with it. Lee has posted a number of E-Mails from people he claims to respect. These E-Mails have included some pretty objective and constructive criticism, and he has dismissed them all. Apparently he doesn't respect these people enough to listen when they tell him that he's losing touch.
I will go on the record right now and say three things.
First, many of the religious folks that Lee has been railing against have been infinitely more patient and tolerant than he. They've been more open-minded and more objective in their assessment of the debates and his posts and comments than he has been of theirs. At one point, he equated those skeptical of evolution with bratty children throwing a temper tantrum. I've gone out of my way to respect Lee's religious and scientific beliefs; he's made pretty much zero effot to afford me the same courtesy.
Second, Lee's assertion that the majority of conservatives are fiscal and political conservatives and social moderates/progressives is wrong. Flat out wrong. The big news following the November election was that the family values crowd voted in droves, and they voted for President Bush because he's morally conservative and he has integrity. The conservative movement has room for people like Lee, but they must realize that they are the minority within conservative circles. When Lars Larson and Michael Medved (who is not Christian but Jewish) wholeheartedly disagree with Lee on the issue of Colorado's overturned capital punishment sentence, and can present far more coherent arguments on the subject, that means that Lee is in the minority, not those who disagree with him.
Third, Lee opens his blog up for comments. He and Drumwaster share a failing: they can't admit when someone has gotten the best of them. I can't remember a single situation where Lee has acknowledged that his argument was weak, and decided to reconsider his position. Even if he didn't admit defeat, and instead came back with a stronger argument for his original position, I'd respect that. Instead, he's developed a tendency to present hypothetical situations that are, at best, tangentally related.
It's no secret that Lee's been working himself too hard lately. I know he's had a lot of lousy things happen to him in the last year, and I sympathize with that. I have no clue whether or not that has anything to do with the decline in the quality of his work; it doesn't matter.
I'm not going to get all squishy like all of those sissies did at Lee's site. If Lee quits blogging, I'll be disappointed, and I'll miss reading what he has to say. Unfortunately, I'm already disappointed, and I already miss reading what he has to say. If Lee quits now, it's won't be because he's tired of religious zealots; it will be because he just plain burned out; that would be a shame, but it would be the truth.
Some people have said of the Terri Schiavo case that if President Bush, Jesse Jackson, and Ralph Nader all agree, that should say something. Lee appears to have been getting a lot of critical letters from people he claims to respect lately, and there have been corresponding comments to his posts. If I were in that position, I'd be moved to do some serious soul searching. Do I think that Lee should go to church, accept Christ as his personal Lord and savior, and renounce evolution? Yeah, that might be nice, but that's up to Lee. What I do think he should do is reconsider just how tolerant and progressive he really is.
Lee, if you're reading this: take a holiday. You're making good money; take a week off and unwind. Whether you return to blogging or not, the way you're working and acting isn't healthy, and even if you don't care about that, it's sure as hell not going to make you happy. Take a break, mate. We're all worried about you...
Even us ignorant religious zealots.
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