Vacation
One of the worst things that could ever happen to anyone is to die with untaken sick time at one's job. Second worst would be to die with an untaken break on the books. Dying with untaken vacation time isn't so bad really, because at least one's heirs will get the cash.
______________________________________________________________
As for me, I'm taking a vacation from blogging. It may last a week, a month, or a very long time. I've been posting here for over four years, and lately I've begun to think that either the point of diminishing returns has been reached, or my goals have changed.
Just this morning I had yet another anonymous commenter deliver a few personal insults, and I'm pretty tired of reading those. Anyone who is totally committed to blogging will not, of course, let a few bastards get them down, but when I read that stuff, it makes me question my purpose here. Who needs it. The internet appears to be filled with rude, anonymous cowards - and to anyone who has commented here respectfully but anonymously, no matter how critically, I'm not referring to you. To anyone with half a brain this will be obvious, but I'll say it again: criticize all you want, but I'm not required to let people insult me here.
But that's not the main reason I need a vacation. Blogging simply takes up too much time, and it has a way of taking over a whole lot of one's life. So I need to re-evaluate. I need to spend more time on investing, reading good books, and other important things.
Another big reason I'm questioning my enterprise here is something I mentioned awhile back, and that is that I've become reluctant to post what I really think, under my real name, for fear of repercussion. The state of the country, mass immigration, the ongoing war against whites and the West, and all of the politicians and liberals who put together this toxic brew that threatens to destroy America - all of it makes me sick. It's possible that potential repercussions will never happen and are a figment of my imagination, but why risk it? If I were truly making a difference, it might be worth it, but I'm not. And at the least, many of my opinions make me a "bad person" in today's climate, and why bother with that either? Besides, there are many other able bloggers, abler than me, that write on this; and I must say, I've often been surprised by the quality of comments here, often better than the post to which they were responding.
See you later.
posted by Dennis Mangan @ 9:19 AM
28 comments
28 Comments:
I understand you.
However, you wrote some interesting notes on investing. Could you please continue sharing your ideas on that field alone? And follow ups, for example, of the robot investing thing.
That's very unfortunate. I'll stay subscribed, though -- and I agree with the other commenter that you should at least continue the investment posts.
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
Well, that's a pity, Dennis. I enjoy your blog.
I understand your concerns, though: daily blogging is costing me a lot of my scant free time. It has been worth it, though, I think, as I've learned a lot by airing my views and having intelligent people criticize them. I've been lucky not to have attracted any "flamers".
I've also thought about switching to an anonymous blog; I do have a wife and kids, and some rather caustic opinions.
I do hope you'll be back.
This is a disastrous loss. Please resurface when we are in truly dire times. And anonymous blogs have always been necessary. I even assumed this wasn't your real name.
Good fortune in all your endeavors.
I do not think your concerns about possible retalliation for your heretical views (and by heretical views, I mean of course, things that every sensible person believed as recently as 30 or 40 years ago) are unfounded. We may well be entering a new regime of repression not unlike what is going on in Europe, our Constitution not withstanding.
I've enjoyed your blog and I've enjoyed posting here, even on those occasions when we've disagreed. Best of luck with your endeavors and stay well.
- Martin
Dennis: I second Martin's comments. I will respectfully disagree that you are not making a difference. You have made a big difference in me. I have grown tremendously in my understanding since you found my blog and linked us up. My book project, aimed at the great confused, has been aided by your grumpiness. The vitamin D stuff alone is worth gold, and it sounds like magnesium is next. Taking a break is a great idea, you are probably long-overdue, but do consider coming back after some R&R and don't forget the ladies - can't live with them...
Dennis,
Sorry to see that, old friend.
Read, think, invest and haste ye back refreshed and ready to fight those who would visit a Second Reconquista upon you and yours.
And if you're ever in the west of Scotland, my home is your home.
Good luck.
Hope you decide to take it up again.
After all, this is one of the places I heard about VD (i.e. Vitamin D)
Where else will I get my heath info.
I'm sorry to hear it Dennis.
It seems like my blogroll is going to be completely out by the end of the year! I'm sorry to lose such an honest, consistent voice. They are often hard to find among those one disagrees with. You had it.
ditto to what is said above. This is a real downer.
Aw, shucks.. Thanks everyone for the comments. I wanted to mention that in the past few weeks, on many occasions I've written posts and then thought that it would be a mistake to publish it - and that really made me rethink the blog. As (the first) Martin above said, these were things that any normal person believed not all that long ago, and they're now pure heresy.
I found your blog several years ago, and was delighted to do so. Honesty, intelligence, and the ability to think for oneself constitute a rarity, and indeed a heresy.
I hope you are back soon, Dennis.
Best wishes. Haste ye back.
Dennis, come on! The resolution is simple. Create a nom de plume and start another blog. Fictitious characters cannot be prosecuted can they? If they can then the universal defence is that it is all in the name of ART (the most sacred and divine thing there is)!!
One of the many admirable things about Americans is that they stand for what they believe in, damn the consequences. Take View From the Right: As much as Auster is a whinging pain in the arse at times you've got to hand it to him for not only his genius but his self belief and bravery in stating time and again what he stands for and believes in. The man is inspiring and so are you. Don't scurry away. Who gives a rats arse what some anonymous commenter thinks?
What I wouldn't give for an "anonymous commenter deliver[ing] a few personal insults"! Take it as a badge of glory. You struck a chord.
Better that you die an outspoken moron than a silent genius. Better that you touch someone than work as a drone touching no-one.
Mein Got, to think that writing one's thoughts could be reason for censoring oneself, given the current political climate, is alone reason enough to know that it is imperative that you continue to blog just on principal.
You've got a substantial following. Don't chuck it in. What would a Roman do in your circumstance? These are your Annals of Imperial Mangan. You are worth it, America is worth it if you believe in both.
Pat: Thanks, I don't think I deserve such high praise.
I simply can't be compared to Lawrence Auster - some may think that a good thing!- for a number of reasons; one is that he's at it tooth and nail every day, and damn the consequences, for which I give him the greatest respect. Maybe the example of Auster shows that untoward consequences aren't so bad as one imagines, at least for the moment. I think for him it mostly amounts to constantly being called vile names, a consequence that would be hard to take for those made of less stern stuff.
Pat, I'd say that you've got a bit more of the fighting Irish in you than I do. For some of us, the idea of putting our thoughts on the web for all to see was a great audacity, right from the start. Certainly in my personal life I'm well and able to get angry and stand up for myself when something is at stake, even if it's only hearing disrespect from a stranger. Otherwise my modus operandi normally involves Pascal's sitting alone in a quiet room and doing my best to ignore about 99% of the world and the shallow and ignorant beings who populate it.
A conversation with a family member yesterday convinced me that abusive comments are not a good enough reason to be put off blogging - of course there are bigger motivations than that, as I wrote. I'm not proud of feeling as I do; but maybe I can be excused by pointing out that a blog is both a vehicle for expression as well as my personal manifestation on the internet, and thus an insult from an anonymous commenter feels like taking a wrong turn into a bad neighborhood and having a brick thrown through your windshield. Since it's pointless to get out and physically attack the thrower, best thing is to avoid the neighborhood. Likewise it feels a bit absurd to expose oneself to anonymous insult - there's certainly no point in fighting against one of those morons.
What would a Roman do in my circumstances? Consider Julius Caesar and the pirates (from Wiki):
"On the way across the Aegean Sea,[24] Caesar was kidnapped by Cilician pirates and held prisoner in the Dodecanese islet of Pharmacusa.[25] He maintained an attitude of superiority throughout his captivity. When the pirates thought to demand a ransom of twenty talents of gold, he insisted they ask for fifty. After the ransom was paid, Caesar raised a fleet, pursued and captured the pirates, and imprisoned them in Pergamon. The governor of Asia refused to execute them as Caesar demanded, preferring to sell them as slaves, but Caesar returned to the coast and had them crucified on his own authority, as he had promised to when in captivity—a promise the pirates had taken as a joke."
While I've considered a pseudonymous blog, somehow it doesn't quite make it, but I may change my mind about that. As for this blog, I'll be back. Thanks again Pat, I think highly of your opinions and I appreciate your taking the time to set them out here.
We will miss you, Dennis. Your blog has been one of my favorites since I first came upon it.
Good luck in everything you do until you return again.
Dennis,
Sorry to hear you are taking time off. While you are on vacation, are there any other blogs you recommend for off the beaten path investment ideas?
Stu
I want to thank you all again: J, Byrne, Malcolm, Paleohawk, Martin, Jim Collier, Martin Kelly, tvoh, bobvis, h-man, Deogolwulf, dearieme, (Pat, you've already been covered...), Tommy, Stu. You're all too kind, and I'm glad that I've been able to provide something here that you value. I'll be back before long.
In the meantime - and I didn't realize that my investing stuff has been interesting for some of you - in response to Stu, here are some investing blogs I regularly read.
Controlled Greed
Daniel Wahl
World Beta
Top Down/Bottom Up This last one writen by a friend of mine, Josh Corn.
Each of these has links to many other good blogs.
Good luck, I'll hope you return. As a commenter on several blogs, I think that I am going to take a break too, the habit is time consuming, and takes away from some more in depth reading and thinking. Which is to say I empathize, even though I do not nearly so much as you do. It would be nice to see you return in a few months, perhaps with a weekly blog.
Dennis,
Let me add my regret that you are going on standby. But it may be necessary if you feel that this blog puts you at risk, brings you down, and takes time and energy that might be better employed.
If you decide, after going to ground for awhile, to start blogging under an assumed identity, I hope you'll manage to slip us all a discreet word so we can find you in your new cyber-incarnation.
In the meantime, best wishes!
Hey Dennis -
I have checked your blog regularly and love the clarity and intelligence which you bring. You have made a difference with me, although I rarely post comments as much as my thinking has been stimulated by your posts. I am sad to see you take this step, but, when I have considered starting a political blog, I have not done so for reasons of time and potential repercussions - so I understand where you are coming from.
Best wishes and happy trails to you, and hope to see you back, either here or under a psuedonym ...
this is too bad. i was just starting to make you a regular read.
Dennis,
Do what you have to do. I know you'll be bettering this world in whatever endeavor you undertake.
The presumption that you are not making a difference is fallacious. Are you helping turn the tide in 'our' (and I use that broadly, referring more-or-less to your entire non-ad hominem readership) favor? Maybe not--the cultural climate and the demographics just aren't there, at least not now.
But you are helping bring people to the cause. I know this simply from personal experience. I look back at my comments from a few years ago, as a freshman in college, over at Parapundit (the first place I started blathering), and am truly stultified at the difference. Wow, how quixotically thoughtless I was then. And of course there are countless others like myself, many of whom are more articulate, forceful, and gifted than myself.
Anyhow, I'm sure the vast majority of your readership will continue to check in--there's no reason to make the choice dichotomous. You can cut back without quitting entirely.
And if anonymity is what you're after, I'd suggest starting up anew elsewhere, and letting your blogroll know. I sincerely doubt that I speak only for myself when I say we'll immediately link to the new identity to help build the traffic flow back up.
Hope you have a good vacation ...
BTW, Bruce Hall has an interesting posting:
Cost of gasoline has unintended consequences for certain politicians.
I think we all understand you wanting some time off. But come back! A lot of us depend on you for your thoughtful comments about the way things are
Mr. Mangan,
Don't get discouraged. Maybe you just need a month's vacation and will come back with batteries re-charged.
I exchanged a couple of emails with Mr. Auster, which is why I haven't replied here, but I didn't want readers to think that I was ignoring his comment. So I thank him and reply that yes, with a little time off I may be back in form. As always, whatever (few) disagreements I may have with him, Lawrence auster remains an inspiration to anyone who cares about our country and culture.
As for Rick Darby, Audacious E., Roissy, ian , and the anonymi, thanks for your support.
Post a Comment
<< Home