Ah, it appears I've been tagged in a Blogger meme again. This is a nifty ritual where one blogger nominates another and poses questions to be answered. The rules are simple:
1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Link back to the person who nominated you.
3. Answer 7 questions decided by your nominator.
4. Nominate (no limit of nominations) other bloggers for this award and link back to them.
5. Notify those bloggers of the award requirements.
In this case, the tagger was my dear friend Dymphna over at Gates of Vienna.
Here are her questions for me, and my answers:
1. You’ve been at this for a number of years now. Looking back, what was the biggest illusion you had about blogging before you started?
Honestly, none. I first got into blogging after I had a pro-Israel op-ed accepted for publication by none other than the NY Times...provided I agreed to certain 'editorial changes' that would have turned the piece's direction around 180 degrees and included facts about the intifada and the so-called 'occupation' I knew to be totally bogus.
I declined, and the experience led me to take the plunge and take a stab at writing what I wanted via the 'sphere
2.In your opinion, is anti-Semitism in your corner of the world getting worse or better?
Depends on how you define my corner of the world. If we're talking my immediate locale, no. If we're talking America as a whole, I think there has definitely been a change, and Jew hatred - oh, pardon, 'anti-Zionism' - is now a mainstream trend in politics and the media. Anyone who saw what happened at the last Democratic convention was able to observe this first hand. And the influx of Muslims into America isn't helping.
3. What do you do to keep on keeping on?
Several things. I keep in mind that we are in a war that I think the majority of Americans don't even perceive, and it's obvious that a lot of the legacy media and the current crop of politicians want to keep it that way. I focus on the fact that in my small way, this is my attempt to help to fight that war, by inspiring and educating people and articulating ideas in a way perhaps a number of them can't. Even a small pebble dropped in a pond sends out a lot of ripples, and the more pebbles that get dropped the bigger and more powerful the ripples. That can actually be a force for change.
Another thing that revs me up is when I remember is that when my children look back on these times and ask me what it was all about, They will have a first hand look at the historical truth as I perceived it and will realize not everyone was a Good German with their heads in the sand.
And finally, it helps that I've met so many wonderful folks via Joshuapundit.
Also, if I get bogged down I have correspondents on six continents, some of whim I've known for years. A hot inside tip from one of what I call my notorious Lil' Birdies can often be enough to start my brain and fingers moving. You can literally become part of what you're writing about, and there's nothing more fun than having something you wrote go viral long before the legacy media gets a clue.
Oh, and there's also the vast sums of money I make blogging, the blogging groupies, the fame and notoriety...
I may have exaggerated that last one, just a little bit.
4. As a second part of #3, do you ever feel like quitting?
Sure..who hasn't? But then I remember why I got into this in the first place.
5. What are your biggest concerns about America right now?
I think my number one concern is the way a number of my fellow Americans seem to be adapting to totalitarianism, the emergence of a Ruling Class and state control. This has been aided and abetted by a president with an historically unique contempt for the Constitution, the Separation of Powers and law.
Another concern is the vast influence the Muslim Brotherhood has in America, especially in Washington.
6. Do you have any ideas about how we might address those concerns?
Very much so, but a response would take pages. A search on Joshuapundit under some of the obvious topics would be recommended to interested parties.
7. What is the most important characteristic (or virtue) for any would-be blogger considering firing up their own page?
Determination and persistence.
Don't you love being in such great demand?
ReplyDeleteGroupies. That's what we are.
There were so many I wanted to nominate, like Bob Parks...
I find the blogosphere a fascinating place. The haters don't have the persistence you talk about. I guess when one's p.o.v. is guided by who they're against, the candle burns out more quickly.
Thanks for re-doing this since you'd already been done to. I normally don't like chain thingys, but this has worked well. Ned in Denmark, and me here. Just the way we split things on the blog in general.