Since I’m writing here about this and that (but a lot of politics), I find that I’m also finding other blogs on WordPress that do the same. I think of politics as a hobby. I read about it and discuss it a lot. I use Feedly, Twitter and podcasts to keep up with the news. I find that my feeds, twitter follows and podcasts tend to be people on my side of the political aisle. I hear about the exploits of the Donald and Republicans in stories from my sources. But I don’t really dive into the main Republican or conservative outlets because I just don’t find those sources interesting to read. I guess this is my little bubble.
The one exception to my bubble, in the past, has been Facebook. I used to actively search out conservative friends (real and the FB variety) and try to engage in discussions/arguments about the topic of the day. What I found, with few exceptions, was people in their own bubble. But not just that. I found people who are angry. Angry at whatever thing we were arguing about. I also found a lack of interest in actual discussion. When I would intrude into their bubble, the anger would turn to me or to liberals or to Democrats. Throw in a little whataboutism (yeah, but Obama did it too) and you’ve got a real un-fun cesspool. I finally just un-friended or un-followed those folks, stopped visiting those nasty threads, and my life was better for it.
Before you say something, I know there are probably places with similarly unfriendly liberals who engage in name-calling and ad hominem attacks. But that hasn’t been my experience. I’ve probably curated my bubble to the point that I don’t see some of that on my side. I’ll grant that. I do want to hear commentary and analysis and want to engage with people who talk policy. I think the cesspool is worse on the Right. I doubt you can convince me otherwise, but I’m not going to spend too much time fighting over that question. Agree to disagree.
That brings us to today. I started writing here and, since I was writing on politics, I started engaging with commenters. I also figured, maybe the level of discourse in this place, where people actively choose to engage in writing, would be better. That I could get into discussions about immigration or the President’s awful…everything. That hasn’t been my experience. I sought out pro-Trump blogs and got the same experience I had on FB. The things Trump is doing. Dems did it first or worse or it’s their fault he’s doing it. And, rather than engage with the questions I asked, the commenters went after me. When I read through posts with lots of comments, it was a bubble. “yeah, you said it. Great point.” I was blocked from commenting on one blog. It’s not personal they said. You’re just not saying anything we haven’t heard before. This was a blog where the 10-15 commenters on one post were unanimous in agreement with the writer’s oh so astute observation about how Trump’s tweets were not racist. I was also asked to quit commenting on another blog because I was “clogging” her comment sections. This was on a post where there was one other commenter besides me. And that commenter said, “awesome, [writer’s name]!”
I’m just not that interested in trolling around and commenting “Hallelujah!” on like-minded blogs. So I guess I’ll keep looking and trying to find rational conservative or Pro-Trump blogs where they’ll actual engage in some discussion. If nothing else, at least I can visit and discuss with @profmondo at his site.