Shamus notes with some amusement that a large number of political bloggers are now blogging about anime.
I can attest to the fact that political blogging is draining. I was never a fan of the partisan scalp hunt. Lately I have just lost interest – especially given it all seems to make no difference in teh end. I find myself fighting the same battles over and over again.
I have long had a passion for science fiction, and Steven opened up a world of anime that I can enjoy with my daughter as well. This stuff is fun to talk about. Let other people handle the jihad or crusade or whatever. This just suits me better right now.
I think the problem is that it’s easy to start writing about politics. We all feel strongly about it and there is always something interesting going on, so the subject can provide a steady source of content. But the whole thing becomes a drag when you have to deal with the ad homium attacks, strawman arguements, misunderstandings, personal attacks, and incoherant raving that fills up the email and comments. (I think the larger, more successful bloggers are able to let this stuff roll off of them, which is why they can do their thing for so long without seeming to fatigue.)
But I think most of us want to be polite and reasonable and so we try to have a conversation and end up getting sucked in to the endless bickering. It’s the difference between someone trying to have a discussion and someone else trying to win a discussion. You are right, it’s draining, it doesn’t accomplish much, and it takes away valuable time we could spend watching cartoons.
I mean anime. Not cartoons.
I don’t even know why I said that.