… Well, sir, here’s to plain speaking and clear understanding. … You’re a close-mouthed man?”
Spade shook his head. “I like to talk.”
“Better and better!” the fat man exclaimed. “I distrust a close-mouthed man. He generally picks the wrong time to talk and says the wrong things. Talking’s something you can’t do judiciously unless you keep in practice.” …
Now, sir, we’ll talk if you like. I’ll tell you right out – I’m a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk.
(Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon))
One of the reasons I started this website was because I couldn’t find an on-line community that thought like I did. That went for my particular personal interests like photography and science fiction. But also, the general interest, news and political sites that I could find. So, in addition to the sense that freedom of speech had been curtailed by the powers that be that ran the internet I also felt isolated from people like me.
From time to time, I’d run into someone who talked the way I did. And that was fun. But what I noticed was that these people tended to be either run off the sites that I frequented, or forced to watch what they said or outright banned. And I got that same treatment too.
Now that I ‘ve become an old hand at this right-wing existence I begin to see what will and won’t happen anytime soon. What won’t happen for the foreseeable future is the end of leftist domination of the media and most of the on-line infrastructure. Elon Musk may have opened up the door a crack to our side on Twitter but Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, PayPal, etc. have the rest of the doors slammed shut and they can crush anyone they want as ruthlessly as can be imagined. I’ve gotten all of that through my thick skull pretty thoroughly. So, I’m not conquering the internet anytime soon.
But I do get exposure when maddmedic or whatfinger or duckduckgo decides to link to one of my articles. And that’s fun because new people show up and some of them stick around. And why that’s fun is because talking to people on the site has become my favorite part of the whole thing. Talking to folks I’ve known for years and folks who just showed up is fascinating. People sometimes talk about the anonymity of the internet being a bad thing. And I guess if a hopeless troll shows up and tortures you, I could see how being anonymous could give license to him to say some pretty awful things. But anonymity also allows people to be honest about what they say too. And that’s something that we can’t say in real life much anymore. And I think sometimes it’s healthy to say what you really think. Even if it’s an unhappy truth being expressed.
So, for instance, I’ve lately been of the opinion that the Dissident Right is correct when they say we can’t vote our way out of the mess we’re in. And that’s a discouraging fact. And it removes a lot of what I typically write about. After all, what exactly is there to say about 2024 if it’s highly unlikely that the Republicans will win the White House or the Senate. Just repeating over and over again that all hope is lost is pretty obnoxious and boring.
But what I find is that there’s still plenty to talk about with people on our side of the fence. Our local lives are real and much less constrained than what the Left has done to national politics. There are still Red States that are trying to help their people and leaders that may begin to make a difference in our lives.
And there’s contact with people who think and talk the way I do. And I think that’s the most important benefit of a site like this. It sponsors camaraderie and provides enjoyment for me and possibly others who otherwise wouldn’t have a place to listen and talk about things they think are important.
And so, I’ll take this occasion to once again encourage anyone out there who has something to say to comment or even provide a post for the site. People like to read opinions and they also like to state their opinions and I want to encourage that. So, by all means jump in. The more the merrier. I’d love to hear from regulars and lurkers and new readers too. And not just on politics there’s plenty of latitude for things to talk about out there. In the immortal words of Caspar Gutman “I’m a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk.”