Ms. Zerbisias
THANK YOU!
I feel like Stephane Dion.
Thanks to all my faithful readers, friends, colleagues and cousins who voted over at the Canadian Blog Awards.
Congrats also to my pals Tod Maffin (Inside the CBC) as well as my guys at the Galloping Beaver, Matthew Good, Peace, Order and Good Government, Eh? ... and nominee Sheenavision who shoulda won dammit.
Unfortunately, for this blog, this may well be a posthumous award. Until that decision is made, my treeware columns are here.
I know. I know. Paper. Ewwwwwwwww.
P.S. Note that comments were closed only on that last post. The comments had once again drifted far off topic.
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Okay. She should be feeling more like Michael Ignatieff - IF he'd won the Liberal leadership. Because there was never any doubt that she'd not win Best Media Blog in this years Blog Awards hosted by this Cool Blogger:
But speaking of Robert McLelland, this entry is going to be about the last two lines of Ms. Zerbisias's entry: "P.S. Note that the comments were closed only on that last post. The comments had once again drifted far off topic."
Now, if you follow Ms. Zerb's Blog at all you know what she's really talking about - she's talking about every single one of her Blog Entries becoming a polarized debate about Israel vs Everything and Everybody Everywhere. It was uncanny. One minute commenters would be telling pet stories, the next minute there'd be that plaintive plea: "The Jews! The Jews! What about The Jews!"
"The Jews", by the way, means "Israel" in the context of Blogging. That way, when the Commenters show up who don't agree with Israel's "discrimination" against the Palestinians, or its "war crimes" in Lebanon, or its "threats" to nuke Iran - the Commenters who DO agree with Israel's "defensive" policies regarding the above three "agent provocateurs" - can call them "Anti-Semites".
You know, in the same way Stephen Harper called all of the Liberal leadership candidates "Anti-Israel" when Michael Ignatieff referred to Q'ana as a War Crime. Even though you'd have thought it was only fair commentary after having said he wasn't losing any sleep over the deaths of civilians (i.e. "Human Shields" if you are Pro-Murder, er, I mean Pro-Israel) in Lebanon due to the defensive (i.e. "indiscriminate" if you are Anti-Semitic, er, I mean Anti-Israel, er, I mean, Anti-Murder) bombing of Lebanon by Israel.
So, you can see how exasperating it would be if you were Blogging about your dog and within two or three Comments, your Commenters were flinging poo - Joo poo, really (if you're, well, gawd - either/all of the above, I guess - i.e. Anti/Pro Israel/Murder and so on and so forth and more of the same etc etc.)
Yes, indeed. You'd be some exasperated. You'd also be drawn into the debate (i.e. "Bore-a-thon" if you have no interest in the Middle East but do enjoy Entries about dogs) and find yourself torn between trying to reason with PsychoFascistDementoids ("Pro-Israel Nutters") and trying to get your Sane Commenters ("Not Pro-Israel Nutters") BACK ON TOPIC!
Unfortunately, that old saying "The Political Is The Personal" was never truer than it is on Blog Comments sections. And for some reason - the Middle East just seems to trump everything - decency, decorum, democracy. And I say democracy because even the most generous of Bloggers ends up having to delete Comments and ban Commentators because it is all just so over the top.
Yup. That's right. I've had a few Comments deleted, myself. I had a running "Bitch" gag going that Ms. Zerbisias eventually tired of - thank gawd, since I really push the envelope, sometimes. To the point where even I want to delete me, but being a bit of a Technotard - don't know how. So I can't imagine what it's like for people who don't think I'm funny. (I know, I know - you're thinking, "Is that even possible, Sooey?" Yes. Yes, it is, Dear Reader. Especially if you're a Pro-Israel/Murder/Fascism PsychoMcSquirrelbrain CrazyMcNumbnuts PooPooHead.) I also asked once in a Comment if we could still say "Israel Sucks Ass!!!" after Ms Zerb had had enough one night and deleted a bunch of scurrilous posts from both sides of the "Debate". That got deleted. Probably more because it was in a thread about Normal Spector. You know, the old Tory whore who called the middle-aged Liberal whore, Belinda Stronach, a "Bitch". (And, by the way, he's apparently suing some media outlet for claiming he defined "Bitch" to suit "Belinda" and not the other way around, or something - so don't tell him I called him an "old Tory whore" because I'm not sure how to define whore. Brian Mulroney, maybe?)
Anyway, in the midst of all this I've noticed that something is different. (And here's the part of my entry where I try to convince Ms. Zerbisias to keep her Comments section on her Blog - IF she even keeps her Blog - but that's another entry.) George W. Bush is a Lame Duck President. And by that I mean - the Middle East isn't the Grand Poobah of Politics anymore. Because none of the above really had anything to do with Israel. It all had to do with the polarization between the Political Right and Sanity. Sanity being Everybody Else. Without this polarization, suddenly Israel is just another country the rest of the world needs to keep an eye on - whether you're Pro-Israel or just a Normal Decent Human Being.
Yes, indeed. Call me Pollyanna Sunshine, but I think the storm has passed. And it passed with the election of a Democratic Congress and Senate. Balance is restored. The moon and the stars are in alignment. All is as it should be, or will be, when the Moron Chimp is gone and replaced with a Democrat. Or, at least, a Human Biped.
It is, once again, safe to have a Comments section, Ms. Zerbisias.
