Logging out and signing off

Edmund — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:11:44 +0000

A while back I deleted my Facebook account. I simply couldn’t be bothered with it, just as I’ve never had any inclination to ‘tweet’. Over the last year, my interest in blogging and in reading blogs has likewise diminished greatly. At times I’ve gone for a month or more without reading blogs or getting round to writing anything. It’s not a case of falling into despair or anything like that. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. I’ve simply lost whatever it is that drives people to blog, mainly because I’m busily engaged in other things, largely in the ‘real world’ – and enjoying them. As a result, when it comes to blogging, I’m calling it a day.

The fact that I’m not an ‘activist’ type, nor involved in party politics, always made me something of an outsider within the political blogging world. I started blogging for one specific reason – to offer a small attempt at countering some of the BNP propaganda that for a while seemed to be helping that party to mainstream itself and to cover up its true ideology. This led to me becoming a blogger at Harry’s Place and to producing two reports on the far-right. I then diversified my blogging interests to include posting on anti-Western and anti-democratic ideologies such as those found amongst Islamists and their far-left fellow travellers. And at the same time, I also tried to put the significance and power of those groups into perspective and to counter the paranoia about ‘Islamisation’ that feeds into anti-Muslim bigotry. As far as that goes, I’m happy to have done my bit and have enjoyed the numerous writing-related friendships I’ve made along the way. However, I’ve really reached the end of the line on these topics. There are plenty of people doing excellent work in those areas, and I don’t feel in any way that I need to be writing any more.

Since I passed 30, bought a house in suburbia, and got married, I’ve very much made my peace with the mainstream, and unashamedly so. I enjoy gardening, photography, going for walks, reading up on local history, and have even started getting into cookery. It may seem like a shallow ‘white picket fence’ existence to some, especially those filled with rage and righteous indignation about all manner of issues, but I’m happy. Indeed, very happy.

I wish all of you well and want to thank the HP team for giving me the opportunity to be a part of what they do. I admire the work carried out by HP, but it’s no longer for me. In all honesty, if I never hear about the PSC, Gilad Atzmon, Andy Newman and ‘Socialist Unity’, the bitter cranks of groups like the SWP (and so on) again it won’t be soon enough. The same applies for reading the bizarre rants of obsessive commenters and internet oddballs who would no doubt benefit from getting out in the fresh air a bit more often.

So, to the many decent people I’ve encountered over the last few years of blogging, thank you. To the angry mouth-foamers and comment section obsessives, I hope life gets better for you and you can find a way to see through the darkness you perceive around you to the many wonderful things life has to offer. The world isn’t going to hell, any more than it was in each generation that people have proclaimed that it’s going to hell. On this, if little else, I find myself in agreement with the author of a well-known book of the ancient world.

Best wishes and farewell,

Edmund Standing