I saw this advertisement over at Loaded Orygun, a blog I have been following... partly because of Senate '08 coverage (and no, I don't really mean Novick v. Merkley). Torridjoe (a.k.a. "TJ") and Carla (a.k.a. "Merkley's web mistress") got me to pitch in some dough to try and recruit Rep. Peter DeFazio to take on Sen. Gordon Smith. We failed. Since then, I guess I've just been trying to get my lost money's worth.
But back to this post and that ad... It was a string of testimonials from various Oregonians declaring why they're proud to be Oregon Democrats. I know a few folks from the ad, and by the end... well, I was rather emotional... mixed emotional, actually.
Maybe it's just the week sitting shiva... (What's often missed in my posts... in the writing of them I mean... are the frequent long pauses. You might call it introspection. Other's may blame a short attention span... Anyway, I just went there again...)
And when I look inside to try and articulate what I would say in such an ad, well...
"I'm a Democrat... again... [CUT!] ... because... when my voice was silenced... by a Democrat... I wanted to vote in May... [CUT!] ... I'm an Oregonian who grew up a Republican... [CUT!] ... I'm a Democrat who is not proud of the Democratic Party. [CUT!] ... [CUT!] ... [CUT!!!]I want so much to associate myself with all those Oregon Democrats on that video. But I am thoroughly disgusted with the leadership of this party of mine which I recently rejoined. At first, I assumed incompetence when after the 2006 election the Democrats continued to fund the occupation in Iraq. Today, given the scope of the Bush administration abuses already documented and the Democratic leadership's reluctance to hold him accountable, one can only conclude complicity.
And I keep coming back to the ad... "I'm so-and-so, and I'm proud to be an Oregon Democrat."
I don't feel proud. I feel ashamed... of myself. It's not that I was silenced... I silenced myself... out of fear. I don't blog under a pseudonym for purposes of privacy, but rather for protection. Everyone who knows me knows that this is my blog. It's just the strangers left scratching their heads. Unfortunately, I have been stalked in the past. And in a world where the information superhighway can lead right to my driveway, I choose to be Thom.
But the president of Mandate continues to push, and there's little I can do about that. I won't be posting my bio any time soon. Who cares, anyway. It's not like I'm on anyone's payroll. But if you really want to know... just ask. The email link has always worked.
3 comments:
The ad was just played on KPOJ. In case it's not clear from yesterday's post, I LOVE it. It just pushes a lot of my buttons at the moment.
And for Carla, again if I wasn't clear... Thank you. It was a mitzvah what you did. It also demonstrated class.
Hmmmm... I'm sorry to hear about your dad. My mom had a near-miss a decade ago, and I'm still not fully recovered from that. I can't imagine how it must be to lose someone after a long illness.
I'm not sure that this is an appropriate place to be addressing this, but since you called me out (again), I'll respond. Hopefully, thoughtfully.
First, you outed yourself right here on your blog, at least by first name. Your identity was EASY to figure out online - which is why I initially linked once to your work home page -- I didn't realize that you were being anonymous. You just hadn't covered your tracks at all. I certainly don't have any superpowers for figuring out who someone is -- I just click on links.
Second, I don't much like anonymous blogging, but I can respect the reasons that people do it. Whether it's work-related, or stalker-related, I get it. But what I can't respect is when someone uses their anonymity to launch vicious, personal, unfounded (and possibly libelous) attacks on other people, other people who have chosen NOT to be anonymous, other people who have chosen to be publicly accountable for their words.
In general, if people keep things on policy and political disagreement, the anonymity is fine by me. But when someone is publicly alleging unethical or illegal behavior, doing so repeatedly, and doing it behind the veil of anonymity - don't be surprised to find the recipient of all that wanting to fight fire with fire and hold people accountable for their words.
I've tried to leave it alone for a while now, and I hope you'll do the same. It's a new year, and we've both had big changes in our lives. I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. I hope you'll do the same.
The place is appropriate enough, Kari, assuming you behave yourself this time. The timing sucks of course. If you had half the class as your colleague Carla you would have ended with the first paragraph and then practiced a little STFU.
Your identity was EASY to figure out online - which is why I initially linked once to your work home page -- I didn't realize that you were being anonymous. You just hadn't covered your tracks at all. I certainly don't have any superpowers for figuring out who someone is
Kari, the problem when one starts telling lies is that one forgets one's story. For the record, you didn't "figure out" my name, profession, home address, etc. I sent it to you , along with my resumé back in July.
Second, I don't much like anonymous blogging
It's curious that you allow truly anonymous commenters (and I don't mean folks with a pseudonymous nickname such as myself).
what I can't respect is when someone uses their anonymity to launch vicious, personal, unfounded (and possibly libelous) attacks on other people
Kari, if this has anything to do with me then you'll have to be more specific with your attack. I have tried to be. I have called you unethical for exercising your control over BlueOregon in order to shill for your clients. You claim to "always" give full disclosure in that and other forums, but you and I both know that's a lie.
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