tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post8769453659155811468..comments2024-03-19T07:48:54.021-06:00Comments on Gus Van Horn: Quick Roundup 310Gus Van Hornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-8079784394371096042008-03-11T18:34:00.000-06:002008-03-11T18:34:00.000-06:00I decided to blog on the larger point this episode...I decided to blog on the larger point this episode demonstrated regarding intellectual activism rather than dwell on how insulting this "Dutch" comes across or speculating on the motives for his posting said innuendo-laden "meditation", and I am not going to waste my time doing any of this now. I will leave this as an exercise for the interested reader. The comment immediately preceding is an excellent place to start.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-62494703765769637682008-03-11T17:45:00.000-06:002008-03-11T17:45:00.000-06:00hi. your parsing of that sentence actually makes y...hi. your parsing of that sentence actually makes you look sloppy and therefore suspect, as well, if you consider that I was actually referring to a slew of websites that picked up this story long before marginal revolution (who was pretty late to the game, coming two months after boingboing, fark, metafilter, digg, and reddit sent 200,000+ to the photo, including all the typical wackos you'd expect). After I saw what was being said about the photo on hundreds of tiny blogs last January, I went back and looked into what really happened at the book depository. When Reason magazine requested use of my photography for a piece they wanted to include in their print magazine, purportedly to illustrate their preexisting theories about public education, I "educated" one of reason's editors about the building's history and they decided to kill the story. a month or so later, marginal revolution picked it up. honestly, I don't even care what political schism MR falls under. I certainly was not equating whatever ideology it is that they or you hold dear with libertarianism or racism or whatever. I am not a political blogger and all this wonkism bores me to tears. it actually pains me to have to defend myself like this. all I cared about was making sure that anyone who wanted to use my photography as evidence for whatever ideology they follow understood that there was more to the story than their cherrypicking blog posts told. <BR/><BR/>I never expected my original blog post to be scrutinized by the "friends of capitalism." Do you guys have a comic book? You should. I have a small audience of 4-5,000 daily readers who come to my site to read personal stories. This was a meditation on the shocking scene I found after wandering into that warehouse and how it related to my experience living in downtown Detroit. To a certain extent, the photography speaks for itself, but I found a lot of bloggers with their own agendas offering plenty of ventriloquism. when I noted how many were reveling in my photos as fuel for their hostility towards blacks, Detroit, public school administrators, teachers, unions, democrats, and more, I simply thought it was prudent to point out that the reason these books supplies actually ended up this way is because a private insurance company would not allow the school system to salvage supplies it had already been compensated for, and a prominent businessman with a monopoly on the busiest border crossing to Canada bought the building and allowed it to fall into ruin simply because owning the property ensured his monopoly would continue. <BR/><BR/>again, I subscribe to no militant political ideology. I just felt that if anyone was going to use my photography in such a way, I had an obligation to explain what by then I knew to be true.jdghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-85907004911827497362008-03-10T14:37:00.000-06:002008-03-10T14:37:00.000-06:00You are quite right.To be charitable, there is a l...You are quite right.<BR/><BR/>To be charitable, there is a legitimate point in not being too eager to take something that is not evidence of one's point as evidence, but, yes: It is silly to dismiss non-support of public education as a "prejudice". Thanks for making that point explicit.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-78854988793809721312008-03-10T14:09:00.000-06:002008-03-10T14:09:00.000-06:00“I have seen these photos and selections from my p...“I have seen these photos and selections from my post appropriated by right-wing, racist, and libertarian bloggers to illustrate existing prejudices against black people, the city of Detroit, and the very idea of public education.”<BR/><BR/>It is absurd to write that there is a “prejudice” against public education. Its centuries-long existence, but particularly over the 20th century, has given us all plenty of time and evidence to judge it accordingly and accurately as a failure.Joseph Kellardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05792444138935346026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-24532811943307816702008-03-10T12:33:00.000-06:002008-03-10T12:33:00.000-06:00That's what photos of your home projects are for! ...That's what photos of your home projects are for! Hint, hint!Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-23773283105531993252008-03-10T12:28:00.000-06:002008-03-10T12:28:00.000-06:00Thanks Gus, I'm honored. I'm also a bit daunted a...Thanks Gus, I'm honored. I'm also a bit daunted at the prospect of keeping this thing going on a regular basis. A whopping week (or less) into it, and I've still got ideas to write about. We'll see what happens when the first serious case of writer's block hits...C. Augusthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05860759500684485756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-3485156276658736882008-03-10T09:36:00.000-06:002008-03-10T09:36:00.000-06:00That's a good turn of phrase, as well.I have found...That's a good turn of phrase, as well.<BR/><BR/>I have found that over the course of blogging, my political opinions have become much better developed than they were before I ever started -- and my patience for discussing politics with most people much shorter for that very reason.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-57001806576420493792008-03-10T08:54:00.000-06:002008-03-10T08:54:00.000-06:00"Titanic Deck Chairs" reminds me of a phrase I enj..."Titanic Deck Chairs" reminds me of a phrase I enjoy using - "Shingle Arguments"...<BR/><BR/>Most of the political discourse (Hell, most of any discourse for that matter) we encounter is debating aspects of the *shingles* on a house that either doesn't exist, or should've never been built.<BR/><BR/>See the issues (apparently) pertinent in our current presidential debate for examples.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com