Hello everyone!
I thought about writing a serious policy analysis for my first diary, so as to make a good impression. Then I thought: Nah. I can get to that in due course, and for now, I just want to sit here and soak everything in, now that I'm starting to write here.
Instead of that policy analysis that I was considering writing, I'm just going to write about why I'm here. I'm sure all of the veterans here might appreciate seeing a newbie come here for the first time, and to reflect about why they're here themselves.
I'm here because I believe in citizenship, and I've internalized its necessity. I think a lot. I like to think about physics, humanity, money and happiness. I like to think about ideas that change lifestyles, ideas that have their places in history.
But while I was interested in politics and cognizant of what was going on in our nation, I neither found nor provided critical analysis of what was happening. news.google.com is my friend, but by no means does it help to direct public discourse. As a fan of The Daily Show, I've figured out enough about the sad state of the news analysis, selective reporting and media narratives nowadays.
So why am I really here, and not trying to referee some silly flame war between adamant conservatives and stupidly disgraceful liberals on some forgotten message board (not that I haven't tried)?
The words quality, influence and volume come to mind. I'm looking for a higher and deeper standard of discourse - one that's looking to solve problems, not declare them - move levers, not identify them - create arguments, not simply criticize those that have chinks. And so, I'm going to be spending my time here coming up with new ideas and finding the diamonds in the rough of our decayed media to bring out into greater prominence.
I didn't want to join DailyKos at first, mainly because I didn't want to associate myself with the "extremist left". I don't like spin; I don't like disingenuous arguments. I like to solve problems. Now I realize that what the media says about you guys is not the case. People here are extremists only comparatively, because the citizens of our nation have allowed the wool to be slipped over their eyes while their nation slowly but surely has begun the tumble into, in the words of a certain Illinois Senator, "the dustbin of history".
I shied away from partisan websites because I have no intent of attaining a degree in Government, History, or any other liberal arts major. I'm a physics major, and I'm going to be doing a lot of things in science in the near future. I would love to run for Congress one day, but that's just a wish. I thought that that automatically disqualified me from participating in the public discourse. After all, in an environment where age is a simple enough reason for your opinion to be discredited, what business did I, a geek, have in the public discourse?
But really, enough is enough. With all the crap going on at the national level, someone who believes in duty cannot afford to stay silent. I seriously started considering ROTC, so as to make myself useful to a larger cause (I've since been dissuaded from that). I contemplated the speeches of great politicians past or present, internalized Chairman Dean's message - that I had the power to change things. And then I searched for a place to start speaking, shouting, and listening the whole truth.
I'm not going to pretend that I think I'm getting the whole truth here. But I think I get at least 90% here. And that's still an A in my book. We need the truth to come out, somehow. I want the truth in America, even more than I want people to somehow wake up, start stepping out of their daily lives and into the fray of national politics.
Making this damaged world better is important to me. OMGlookitsaliberal. And since this is my first diary, it's fitting for me to say thank you to kos for what you started, and thank you to everyone who is here for trying to right the wrongs.
Hopping around the site, I've been picking up the acronyms. MSM, which, I think, stands for MainStream Media. IOKIYAR, It's OK if you're a Republican. They're witty, effective, simple, to the point. They're nothing like my writing style =), but that's ok. I'll learn in time.
There's a lot to learn here, and I look forward to contributing. Cheers. And Happy Birthday to Me.