Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Saturday, April 16, 2011

Sarrahsworld

By John Ballard


Sarah Been watching Sarrah, a smart young Egyptian, wanting to post one of her videos. She has promised English sub-titles but hasn't got around to it.
Meantime, she popped off a string of clever tweets that will get lost iif I don't grab them now. She illustrates the exploding creative energy driving the Arab Spring. Notice especially the reference to Obama.


Why is it that everytime I want to sleep, a good hashtag starts!



  • ...once one of your friends asks you "whats your source", drop them instantly, coz he/she failed to realize you're THERE!

  •  #TahrirTaughtMe that your true "friends" never hesitate to support you. cough cough obama cough cough.

  • ...how to stand in a queue (im not so happy with this one, I miss el wasayet ) #lolz

  • ...who my friends are, who my family is (so dramatic, I know!) how to laugh out loud, even after a dictator makes a very long speech.

  • ...That the stronger I believe in myself and my beliefs, the clearer everything becomes. that fear is my worst enemy, and how to go for feedom with that enemy at heart!

  • #TahrirTaughtMe the history of Egypt. the people's history of Egypt. not the one we memorized in 6th grade and forgotten months after!


Check out the hashtag.  Half or more of the tweets are in Arabic but there is enough English to catch the spirit of what's being shared. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here.


Imagine what might have been posted had such a site had been around following the Revolutionary or Civil Wars. 
Come to think of it, a similar topic might be #WhatIraqtaughtme, but after someone posts "damn near nothing" it would be finished.


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ADDENDUM, April 17


Sarah Abdel Rahman is a student at American University Cairo.
She appears in this recently uploaded video.



This link to an interview transcript also links to an excellent quality video of a short speech she delivered at an event covered by Policy Review TV.  Here is a video from the audience at the same event but the non-embeddable link found above is much better.



 



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