1. I used to comment at BrothersJuddblog so obsessively that OJ asked me to blog.
2. While blogging at BrothersJudd, I "met" Brit, who commented at BrothersJudd. Ultimately, Brit and I, throwing caution and commonsense to the wind, actually met in real life over drinks at a pub.
3. Brit introduced me to Bryan Appleyard's blog, which I read for a while but stopped reading when it became clear that it was a hotbed of anti-American propaganda. Brit commented so obsessively that Bryan asked him to substitute blogging while Bryan was away. While substitute blogging, Brit bemoaned the death of lunchtime drinking.
4. Andrew Sullivan linked to Brit's post, and did some moaning of his own.
5. Ann Althouse made fun of Andrew for being nostalgic for rampant alcoholism.
6. I often read Ann Althouse's blog, saw her post, linked through to Andrew Sullivan and saw his link to Brit.
Clearly, I invented the Internet.
21 comments:
I was in the UK a couple months ago to refine my lunchtime drinking skills.
Unfortunately, Brit put me on disregard.
If I comment on this post, will the internet explode?
Skipper: I was in Annecy, France - I did email you explaining this. The law states that whenever you are in the country, I must be out of it.
France?! I've heard some weak-ass excuses in my day, but ... France?
You're not fooling anyone, David. The whole 'we hate France' thing is no more believable than OJ's pretending to hate soccer.
We can't forget about Brit's literary side and the fantasies that go with it. Remember all those poets and wastrels who used to decamp to France to flee debt and scandal. Brit's far too boring to be caught up in scandal, so he lives the vicarious thrill of naughtiness by fleeing to Calais whenever his blogging buddies threaten to show up.
A couple of factual points re this post.
First, I don't comment at Bryan's blog anything like as obsessively as we used to at Orrin's. That was just unhealthy. It's more like a couple of times a week. Second, I wasn't bemoaning the loss of lunchtime drinking, but it's interesting that Sullivan chose to read it that way. Third, Bryan's blog is not a hotbed of anti-Americanism. And fourth, I make the conclusion not that you invented the internet, but that Ann Althouse invented you.
Thanks.
"Factual?" What is this, "Factual?"
Nevertheless, Bryan's blog is a hotbed of anti-Americanism.
Are you sure the problem isn't so much that they are anti-American as rather you don't get irony?
Actually, there seem to be just a couple of trolls who stand by waiting to open a full frontal at the rapacious Yankee trader on whatever pretext. Most of the rest are far too eccentric, nay insane, to be coherently anti-anything.
There's a few nutters but the party line is generally pro-Yank. Blimey if you think Bryan's blog is anti-American you can't have seen many anti-American blogs.
Brit doesn't believe us when we say we don't care a fig about what "the rest of the world" thinks. Now he thinks we're fibbing when we say France is de classe. I guess we Yanks aren't only too stupid to agree with the "rest of the world," but we're even too stupid to know what it is we think.
I haven't read Appleyard's blog, but I've sure read and heard plenty of the casual anti-Americanism that Brits take for granted to such a degree they think it's the normal course of things and don't even notice it (kinda like libs think the msm are fair and balanced and contrary viewpoints are rightwing hate mongering).
"American, ya know" complete with roll of the eyes.
We're been watching a lot of old BBC programming (thanks to Netflix wireless viewing on our big new Ugly American TV) and it didn't just start with BushHitler. Lots of these former television series go back to the 70's and there are many gratuitous asides. Obviously they're not advancing the plot. Their only function apparently is to make the people involved in the production feel better about themselves.
Peter -- don't get irony? Be serious.
"Anti-Americanism" in this context means "tolerating 9/11 nutters." I actually have a high tolerance for run-of-the-mill dislike for the United States, our politicians and our role in the world. If I were them, I'd hate us, too. We rule, they drool.
I even have some tolerance for 9/11 nutters themselves. At least they're fun to poke at and can't actually make a difference in the world until they stop smoking dope, at which point they'll no longer be 9/11 nutters.
But Bryan takes a hands-off, "one man's opinion is as good as another's," moral equivalence approach to the nutters that I find utterly intolerable.
It's more that Bryan doesn't like getting involved in comment arguments. Very wise really.
So, it is a hotbed of anti-Americanism, but Bryan just doesn't care enough to do something about it?
It's more that he doesn't see the comments section the way, say, Orrin does.
I should say though, that I too thought Bryan should have either put the conspiracy theorist in his place, or deleted him, or posted a general rubbishing of conspiracy theories. But the more I read these guys, the more I think the right approach is simply to ignore them: they crave being taken seriously. There's no reasoning with them so engaging them in argument is futile.
Also, I don't think it's really appropriate to describe 9/11 conspiracy-ism as 'anti-Americanism'. It's more anti-humanism, or better still, nut-jobism. Better to just laugh at them than get indignant.
erp - as with Peter and David, you shouldn't take my comments as being too serious (except when they are), but I happen to know that David fully subscribes to the maxim that "when good Americans die they go to Paris."
Sure, but at that point there won't be any Parisians there.
Where to good Parisians go when they die? Um, er, we'll let you know when it comes up.
Skipper: I was in Annecy, France - I did email you explaining this. The law states that whenever you are in the country, I must be out of it.
Hmmm ... darn the intertubes. I never got the email.
I'm working on getting another Cambridge layover.
However, when I next get one, I'm not going to make the mistake of giving you too much advance notice.
I have no beef with Paris.
Cool, Skipper. Instead of the midnight dash on the ferry to France we'll be treated to a film noir retro with you chasing Brit through the Tube.
David: Re your "We rule, they drool" quote. I promise you, old friend, that will make its way onto several specially selected blogs up here. Priceless.
Yes, I'm not really avoiding you, Skipper - let me know if you can swing it. However, you need to remember that we Britons have a totally different concept of distance to you Americans. To me, getting to Cambridge is an epic and complex journey that requires a great deal of planning, so I will need at least 6 months notice to be on the safe side.
Be sure to post news of when any of you are coming to the UK.
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