Saturday, June 24, 2006

Where are the Conservatives?

I’ve got a stupid question that I might end up regretting, but I’ve got to ask anyway: Why don’t conservatives read my blog?  Or at least, why don’t any argue with me?  I don’t get it.  I’m a reasonable guy.  In fact, my ability to reason is one of my best attributes (besides that I’m wickedly funny and always right about everything (oh, and don’t forget about my great humility)).  And most conservatives say they don’t hate all liberals.  In fact, it’s the opposite.  Most conservatives insist that they don’t have anything against liberals in general.  It’s just the particular liberals they end up dealing with that are the problem.  And they also insist that they’re open to discussion with liberals and would happily agree with anything a liberal said; if only they weren’t so pigheaded and stupid.

And so I should be their guy.  Not only am I not pigheaded or stupid, I actually like arguing with people and am quite good at it.  In fact, I’d much rather argue with someone than to be in agreement.  Not only is it more interesting, but you’re more likely to find errors in your own thinking if someone is critical of what you’re saying (assuming they actually understand what you’re saying).  Besides, I used to be a conservative Republican back in my naïve college days, and can understand how people get lured to that way of thinking.

So where are the conservatives?  I don’t think I’ll ever have a predominately conservative audience, but I do expect to have some.  Publius at Legal Fiction frequently suffers from plagues of them swarming his site, and my stuff is no more radical than his.  I’m not a bomb-thrower or a knee-jerk basher.  I’m willing to listen to others.  How else could I tell them how totally wrong they are about everything?

And most of these people see themselves as being fairly moderate.  Few will admit to being diehard Republicans, and most will readily say that Republicans are almost as bad as Democrats; at least in theory.  They only vote Republican because the Democrats force them to.  And I can relate to that.  I’m fairly liberal policy-wise, but my politics are fairly moderate.  I don’t think Democrats are perfect; nor was I a Deaniac.  I’ve never been in Greenpeace or PETA.  I’m a married familyman from Texas with my own business and a fairly decent resume and education in the businessworld.  I’ve lived in the South for most of my life and the only time I didn’t was when the military transferred my dad to Alaska and Arizona.  What’s not to like?

And yet no conservatives?  I believe a few have stopped by now and again.  But that’s not nearly enough.  Sad to say, but I’ve even been known to solicit conservatives, but they don’t seem to come.  Or at least, they don’t seem to comment.  So what gives?  Is my name somehow offensive or too silly?  Is it that my arguments are too tight to rebut?  Or am I simply so persuasive that they cease being conservative once they read my stuff?  I can buy that.  My shit really is good.  But I’d just like to know.  Where the hell are the conservatives?

9 comments:

L said...

Maybe if you put an ad on Free Republic?

"Reasonable liberal Democrat seeks argument^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h abuse?"

JoshSN said...

If you'd like, I could pretend...

You Baby-killing Nazi Demoncrat! Tax cuts now!
You must like Saddam Hussein and Osama bin-Laden. You hope for America's defeat and are objectively pro-terrorist.

Chances are the Republicans and Conservatives are intimidated by your second largest brain.

I will think though. Maybe there is a way you could bring a Republican or Conservative to Texas. If there was one there, I'm sure they'd enjoy a chat.

Anonymous said...

i'm in austin (are you here or am i thinking of another blogger?), and i get the feeling that, like in austin, your conservative readers are just remaining silent.

i find that getting them a little drunk first helps to bring out the idiocy.

Doctor Biobrain said...

Come on people. While I wouldn't mind getting a few conservatives to argue on my blog, I most certainly don't want them in my face. I may whore myself online, but I have standards in real life.

Anonymous said...

i was just making an analogy to austin, not offering to bring them to your house...

although there may be an escort service for that sort of thing.

Anonymous said...

Obviously, somewhere in some super-secret email list your blog is mentioned as one where a presence there means NO GLENN REYNOLDS PIMPING.

'Nuff said.

JoshSN said...

Hey, maybe you need to pose challenges to conservatives.

And maybe you need to write shorter pieces, so they risk reading the whole thing.

I have decided to challenge conservatives on my blog with this post.

Daniel said...

I suspect it's because the good people at places like Netvocates and the Rendon Group haven't taken notice of you yet.

After that, you'll have more than enough conservatives, republicans, moderate republicans, independents, libertarians, greens (all fake) who relentlessly disagree with everything you say and post endless detail-oriented misattribued, misquoted or just plain invented "facts" to dispute your posts.

Look at what happens over at Glenn Greenwald's blog. Troll heaven.

So be careful what you wish for, because you're welcome to find any troll-favoured blog and debate them there. It really wears on you debating people who are paid to do so and have no interest in debate, just repetition, obscufation and confusion. Their main goal is to change the subject in any discussion which makes the republicans look bad.

Daniel said...

I'll note also that PZ Myers has posted his own challenge to any Ann Coulter fans to email him paragraphs from her book ("Liberals are demon seed godless vampires who eat babies and what's worse, eat them well-done cause who would ruin good baby meat like that? Liberals!") and he will refute them.

That's his challenge: email a single paragraph from her book and defend it.

So far, 0 responses, and he does get conservatives/trolls posting there normally.

It's quite funny actually.