This post garnered almost 400. I begged people to stop because a little thing called Katrina was happening and I thought that much more important than debating, if you can call it that, Intelligent Design.
I was called America-centric and more because somehow when the levees went I knew what that meant, and have spent almost two years wondering if I couldn’t focus on Light in the Piazza how Condi Rice could focus on Spamalotthe next night.
Katrina changed the blogosphere. Before Katrina, trolls were much more common. Trolls felt free to comment on any blog they didn’t like and pretty much tell people that they weren’t welcome.
People worked together during Katrina. Many of us saw that we had much more in common than our surface differences.
After this post I never cared if I got another comment again. They would come in long Gmail threads. Sometimes you miss a comment. People would get on me for that.
Excuse me, but something much more important was happening. I’m great at guilt, but will never feel guilty for putting Katrina over ID
I was invited to spend an extra week here and would love to but have a family reunion and so much else.
Since I don’t moderate comments: At the time ID seemed so very very unimportant. It seems important again.
Wombat, people kept saying that you can’t place blame and help. Maybe having lived 9/11, in NY, I knew that you could. People still trolled me for several months, but they didn’t descend in packs. Actually my worst troll was to come that October, but when he threatened bringing in his friends. Well, that was just stupid.
Trolls still happened. I learned to delete.
I do think that more people learned what we have in common is more important than what we don’t. I might hate a person’s ideology but as long as they’re not going to sacrifice people or animals, or spread inflammatory messages, hey.
Of course I am in South Carolina now. The only state in the nation not to have a major league sports team for a very interesting reason.
I’m sad you don’t get to stay longer :-/
Hope writing is going well!
Katrina may have been more urgent at the time than Intelligent Design, but they’re equally important, Pia. Great post.
During one of the GOP debates this year, Chris Matthews asked the candidates to raise their hands if they didn’t believe in evolution. Three hands went up: Brownback (Moe), Huckabee (Larry), and Tancredo (Curly).
Of course, the question is flawed: you can’t “believe” in evolution the same way you “believe” in God. In science and religion, the word means different things.
But to answer the question mindlessly, by raising your hand in solidarity with society’s witch burners… That’s just plain Unintelligent Politics.
Someone I read posted about Katrina, and the utter failure of the administration to handle it, and there were people saying, “everyone needs to shut up about this.” So I guess I didn’t see any surcease of trolling, but maybe it was a matter of circles.
oh, man, I remember that, I couldn’t BELIEVE the way it went on…
I uh had a lot to catch up on here. 🙂
In any event, surface differences are all we really have anyway… in the end we’re all here for the same reason.
To avoid getting hassled. 🙂