BLOGZIL!

My observant and intelligent friend Seth sent me an email today I'd like to excerpt from:

If you had explained why you once believed in some of this stuff and why you changed your mind, then you would allow people the opportunity (and I think that this is what Bananarchist wants) to debate you point for point on what is reasonable... What I imagine is frustrating for Mandy is that you make statements that you're leaving her camp (which she clearly strongly identifies with), and yet you don't provide her with an opportunity to defend the reasons. It's like never arguing with your girlfriend and then breaking up, without ever giving her a chance to hash out your differences and deal with your problems, but just telling her that you've finally realized that she's a total bitch and walking out the door. . . Actually it's not like that very much at all, but maybe you see my point in there. And I hope that you understand that I see your side of not wanting to turn your blog into a point my point discussion of left/right politics and policies, but just wanting to make some statements about the strong (and reasonable) reaction that you had to the world social forum.

Yeah, he's right, I haven't really given my reasons. I would if it were at all simple, but it's not. My modified opinions are the result of 1,000 different things I've read and experiences I've had over the course of several years. I don't know if I could go back and retrace the steps, and even if I could it would take more time than I'm ready to spend. There was no silver bullet argument I read somewhere. I realize this can be frustrating to the people who want to know why. Perhaps sometime I could do it for a particular topic: try to go back and find some of what I thought were the more persuasive facts and arguments, then put them out there for Bananarchist and others to take potshots at. This would be a very good thing, but I'm not ready to do it right now. (Note: Seth may be cooking up a blog dedicated to this very concept. Stay tuned.) So I'll say I recognize this as a problem, I'm sorry about it, and maybe sometime soon I'll address it. But for now: CARNAVAL!