The Color Club: Case Study No. 3
So now yet a third co-blogger at Dean's World has quit, in response to Dean's
Hi, I just became aware of the kurfuffle with the rules and sorry, I'll have to go. I don't do rules; I blog about Yemen. Thats it; take it or leave it... when you invited me to post it was with the stipulation that I could post any content I wanted, and on that basis I accepted. To the extent that you now require that I affirm or dispute your propositions, I refuse to do either. As much as possible, I refuse to be bound by other people's boxes, only my own.So the decimation continues. One step closer to the Color Club.
posted by paul @ 7:20 AM
4 Comments:
It just makes me sad. And until I went over to Rosemary's site, I hadn't realized how very many of the older commenters have wandered off, too.
Still, Dean is Dean. Its not like people didn't know.
Lucy, you're right: Dean is Dean. As almost everybody except for Dean himself seems to realize, Dean is Dean.
Indeed, that's what strikes me the most strongly about this latest Dean's World flap, and the many, many other such flaps which have preceded it. Dean displays little if any emotional self-insight into how his own behavior, his own emotions, his own way of dealing with people factor into the mix. It's as if this flap, like the many others which came before it, has simply fallen upon him, unexpected and unbidden, out of a clear blue sky.
Running just a quick text search on a few key words in the main DW threads in this latest kerfuffel, I count at least 15 commenters who have up and said farewell. And a good 9 out of the 15 are commenters who've been at DW now for 3 years, 4 years, or even longer.
Three co-bloggers now. I gather that if Rosemary herself had still been active on DW, she would be "Color Club Case Study No. 4." And well over a dozen commenters, some of whom have been at DW as long as I have, if not longer. And God knows, I've been there since the fall of 2002.
In one of the discussion threads, longtime (and IMHO levelheaded) DW commenter Robert Modean wrote:
"Dean, I've been a reader and occasional commenter here at Dean's World for at least 4½ years now and sadly I'm saying goodbye as well. I have no issue with any one of the five items in the litmus test, and the litmus test itself doesn't even bother me - it's your blog after all - what I can't take anymore is your behaviour in all this. It's typical of you. You can go months acting like a perfectly reasonable person then out of the blue you'll make a provocative statement, feign surprise at the tempest that erupts, ride your hobby horse into battle and once the blush is off the rose you start [to] moderate your position. I just can't stand it anymore. I used to like coming to Dean's World and engaging in intelligent debate with people that I might, or might not, agree with, but the last few months visiting Dean's World has become to feel like an obligation, not a treat, and it's simply not worth my limited time anymore."
I think Robert hits the bullseye. Or to sum it all up in three words, Lucy, as you put it: Dean is Dean.
As almost everybody except for Dean himself seems to realize. Every time a new DW storm hits, "feign[ing] surprise at the tempest that erupts." As if it's simply fallen upon him, unexpected and unbidden, out of a clear blue sky.
And you're right: the whole situation makes me sad, too.
Eh, after I posted that comment, I realized how long it was. Rambling on and on, as I tend to do when I'm upset.
And I am upset. Because I like Dean. I care about him. And it just tears me apart to see him sparking these forest fires, time after time after time, with (as far as I can tell) little or no self-insight into how his own temperament contributes to lighting the tinder.
wha wha wha
wha wha
jane
http://armiesofliberation.com
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