R2N and Friends

Due to the US's criminal assassinations I was looking at twitter again and found a secret doorway off of one the 'hard left' accounts to their ... fourmation-style (phpBB) personal forum! It was a revelation in a few ways.

First, leftist like ugly sites like phpBB forums because they are function over appearance; leftists like rugged things that work, capitalists want endless choice and fancy packaging. This plain aesthetic choice also serves to weeds out most of the people who wouldn't participate in good faith anyways. In public you need a broad-tent, in a small forum you only want fellow travelers.

Second, they were the same sources I was, just as in academia, information may seem infinite but there are only so many useful English language sources. They got a laugh out of me because when they they would a source they always give their reservations about using them. My old friend Ivan used to endlessly accuse me of having 'my reservations' whenever I got a look on my face, so I'm very familiar with this sort of caution which is also another academic trait; but I still feel pretty blessed just to gave any semi-sane analysis and my recent Iran postings were framed in a gratefully manner. These is one of the many, many reasons the 'hard left' folks would eat me alive.

Third, it was nice to see some swear words on their forums. It's bad habit I have too.

Fourth, there was only two main posters. R2N is a basically one man's diary so I know the strange pleasures of solitary writing: semi-diary entries, scrapbooks of current events, rough pages for analysis and a psychology tool of sorts. Writing drags you into your head so that you can carry stuff back out - and it has been a revelation to do it in a simple non-academic setting. Having walked "a road to nowhere" for so long, I'm beginning to think I've actually been heading somewhere in some Zen manner.

So greeting to our hardcore comrades at "The Bell" from decadent "R2N"!