Pictures from the Mozart residency

tangled wood at tanglewood

Better late than never. A set of pictures from the Mozart Tanglewood residency is up at Flickr. This is different from the previous set primarily in that there is sunshine, so the pictures look like something other than mud.

Still to come: pictures from this residency, provided it stops raining; pictures from our recent kitchen cabinet demolition; and maybe even pictures of me in a white tux jacket looking spiffy. But don’t hold your breath about the last one…

Duh: Bloggers “don’t pass the maturity test”

Interesting article in the New York Times about the impact of blogs on the Lieberman/Lamont primary: In Race, Bloggers Throw Curves and Spitballs. The title should tell you what’s coming: hand-wringing about the role of blogs in political discourse, combined with laments about the maturity of blog writers and a harkening back to the good old days when the campaign controlled “the message.” In fact, the second page contains what is perhaps the perfect quotation, from a pro-Lieberman blogger:

Mr. Gerstein complained that for all the reasoned arguments by some bloggers, too many resort to crude humor and angry diatribes that “don’t pass the maturity test.”

“Too much of what passes for political commentary in the blogosphere is pretty juvenile and petulant, and that’s not the way you persuade people,” he said. “If the blogging community is going to have a real impact, they’re going to have to have a reckoning soon about their place in the real political world, because in that world there’s a caricature of them as being dominated by crazies.”

You can quote me on this: that’s a bunch of sanctimonious bullshit.

First of all, the quotation shows a profound misunderstanding of the nature of blogging and bloggers. There is no “dominating” the blogosphere, just as there is no controlling its speech. Blogging is free speech. Everyone is free to say whatever they want to say in a blog about any political race. The campaign can wring its hands, but the truth is that people have opinions that aren’t in sync with the message that the campaigns want to project. Really, the last thing that the people who have opinions about politics want is to have those opinions subjugated to the message of the campaign. That has never worked, from the Roman forum through the water cooler, and it won’t work in the blogosphere. If I want to state an opinion in the blogosphere, I’m free to do so.

In fact, let’s state two. First: Joe Lieberman’s argument that questioning the administration’s actions in Iraq is equivalent to acting against the country’s interests isso servile, craven, reprehensible and counter to the interests of democracy that they constitute a dereliction of his duty as a senator. Second. Ned Lamont is coasting pretty well on anti-Lieberman anger among the base and has a long way to go before he can prove to me that a Senator Lamont won’t be the new boss, same as the old boss.

See how easy that is? It’s speech. It’s free. And if you don’t like it, respond in kind. Don’t try to silence me.

Finally, I think the most fundamental misunderstanding here is the conflation of anti-Lieberman blogs with organized opposition. While some of them may well fall into that camp, I’m pretty sure there are a bunch—like me—who are just citizens with opinions and a publishing tool. And when you look at it in that light, it becomes a different argument. Consider:

…for all the reasoned arguments by some voters, too many resort to crude humor and angry diatribes that “don’t pass the maturity test.”

“Too much of what passes for political commentary in the electorate is pretty juvenile and petulant, and that’s not the way you persuade people,” he said. “If the voting community is going to have a real impact, they’re going to have to have a reckoning soon about their place in the real political world, because in that world there’s a caricature of them as being dominated by crazies.” [Emphasized words substituted to prove the point]

Bottom line: the bloggers are citizens. You should respond to them accordingly. In the final analysis, the best thing to do is to respond with persuasive speech, and there hasn’t been anything from either the Lieberman campaign or his independent supporters that persuades me that he’s worth keeping around.

Friday Random 10: At-least-it’s-not-a-drought edition

So here I am, actually on vacation, no calls to take later for work, in Lenox, Massachusetts, between days of my residency at Tanglewood for the Mahler 2nd. “Oh that magic feeling…nowhere to go.” And of course it’s pouring. Er, has poured, is currently spitting, but looks like it might pour again any second.

What’s a depressive guy to do? Why, crank up the iPod, of course. Today’s random 10 is brought to you by the fine drip coffee (since the espresso machine is broken) and free wifiat the Lenox Cafe, an outpost of Barrington Coffee:

  1. Sufjan Stevens, “Vito’s Ordination Song” (Greetings from Michigan)
  2. Nada Surf, “Blankest Year” (The Weight is a Gift)
  3. Shannon Worrell, “Shoot the Elephant” (The Moviegoer)
  4. Soul Coughing, “Maybe I’ll Come Down” (El Oso)
  5. R.E.M., “Lotus” (Up)
  6. Neko Case, “That Teenage Feeling” (Fox Confessor Brings The Flood)
  7. Tori Amos, “Toast” (The Beekeeper)
  8. Lambchop, “Suzieju” (How I Quit Smoking)
  9. Minus the Bear, “Drilling” (Menos El Oso)
  10. Mission of Burma, “Nancy Reagan’s Head” (There’s a Time and Place to Punctuate)