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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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Dumbocracy

By Steve Hynd.


You know what's wrong with this country? Every day I get sent foreign and domestic news and analysis by bright people who avidly follow such things. I read dozens of other articles and news reports in an attempt to keep myself informed about all the many things I should be informed about.


We are in a tiny minority.


Here's my Yahoo! front page's news ticker a moment ago:


Dumbocracy 


You cannot have a participatory democracy if the majority prefer to rot their brains and not participate. And yes, corporate media has gleefully enabled that situation, because while the plebes aren't watching the corporatist rich elite can steal everything that isn't nailed down - then start on prying some of the nails loose. But each individual is still responsible for their own actions.


I've been poliblogging since 2004 and to be honest I'm sick and tired of our dumbocracy. This presidential election cycle  already looks set to be the greatest victory for dumbocracy and corporate campaign finance EVAH! The bipartisanly partisan bullshit has already exceeded my gag-meter. I'm going to go take a few weeks break and decide whether to continue rolling the stone uphill.



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8 comments:

  1. DongoSeptember 22, 2011 at 7:35 AM

    Garbage in, garbage out. George Carlin said it best:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIraCchPDhk

    ReplyDelete
  2. DebSeptember 22, 2011 at 8:43 AM

    But, but mac n' cheese is important. I'm right there with you, I haven't blogged for months and sometimes I don't even read all the news, because it isn't. I don't care about the Kardashians or Teen moms but I can't get through the checkout line without being bombarded by crap that doesn't interest me and isn't important in the grand scheme of things. That being said, I haven't seen any stories on alien babies in ages.

    ReplyDelete
  3. keithSeptember 22, 2011 at 8:44 AM

    In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus wrote that Sisyphus eventually embraced the meaninglessness of his task. Recall, "One must imagine Sisyphus happy." It's all meaningless and absurd, but DO IT ANYWAY. Scorn the absurdity and the meaninglessness!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Joe BlowSeptember 22, 2011 at 9:10 AM

    mmmmm MAC AND CHEESE... I made some the other week.. I used rigatoni and tri-color shells. velvetta and extra sharp chedder... mushrooms, onions.. and .. mmm. pickled jalapenos... mmmm did I put BACON in it.. I think so....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Joe BlowSeptember 22, 2011 at 9:11 AM

    OH. and . I have no TV and don't read any newspapers.. gave up on it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. SteveSeptember 22, 2011 at 3:02 PM

    If I remember correctly, you have gone through this conundrum before, Cernig(?), and have valiantly trudged on and continued "connecting the dots" for many of us stranded out here in The Matrix. Chill out for awhile and regroup `cause there`s a shitload of stuff still to happen. Your posts(and your fellow bloggers) are articulate and compassionate, qualities that are increasingly more necessary in These Interesting and Troubled Times. Like Hunter S. Thompson said, "When the going gets tough, the weird turn Pro". Or something like that.

    ReplyDelete
  7. hell is only half fullSeptember 22, 2011 at 4:59 PM

    Steve, do as you feel best. I don't say "thank you" enough to people who write and summarize what is going on. You do a good job.
    Burnout is nailing a huge number of prime bloggers. I may not be spreading out wide enough, but I'm not finding new top rate bloggers replacing them.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 1MaNLanSeptember 23, 2011 at 8:27 AM

    Steve,
    I have followed you and Fester (Dave) for a long time and just want you to know that your ever-thoughtful analysis, insight, and your example have been important to me in better understanding our rapidly deteriorting world. I am sure there are many others who would agree that you have made a difference. Is that enough? You will decide.
    For my part, I still talk to as many people as I can and try to pass on some of what I learn. Even though most people I talk to seem to prefer cartoon-colored reality, there are always a few that latch on to something that makes them want to learn more on their own about the big world. A light goes on. That's always nice.
    I don't pretend that will change anything. It probably won't. But it still makes me feel like a decent human, and keeps me from turning into a homelander. So, I keep on keepin' on. Hope you do as well.

    ReplyDelete

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