Monday, March 02, 2009
Comment on the Captain
Captain B calls to, among other things, complain that not enough people are commenting on his blog. This may be because people fear to take him on; his knowledge can be intimidating. So, boys and girls, get over there and tell him what you think about, among other things, Eric Hobsbawm.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Are we at the point where, even within the sphere of which this blog is the centre (every blog is the centre of a sphere), bloggers are outnumbering commenters?
ReplyDeleteNick Cohen could use some too. Like Capn B, I suspect he intimidates. Not that we don't respect your skills Bryan, but let's just say Thought Experiments is more open to...generalist amateurism.
Commenters must be nurtered, cherished, and always commended for their bravery. Too many readers just lurk. Come on, you bloody voyeurs.
nurtured, that is. GOOP-style.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Brit, a)about nurturing commenters and b) about the fact that I do such a bad job of concealing my inner ignorance.
ReplyDeleteIt is also customary to send them money, I understand.
ReplyDeleteIn 1939 the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a pact and communists supported Hitler. I became fascinated with this period when I was writing my last book because it echoes today's support of leftists for Islamo-fascists. Anyway, in my researches I came across a pamphlet written at the height of the Blitz by Hobsbawm and Raymond Williams saying that the real enemy wasn't Nazi Germany but British imperialism. (I have it on pdf if anyone wants to read it.)
ReplyDeleteNo wonder MI5 have a file on him.
In fact Bryan I've now blogged 4000 words on subject!
ReplyDelete(All right it was one I'd made earlier)
http://nickcohen.net/2009/03/02/eric-hobsbawm-and-the-hitler-stalin-pact/#more-512
I don't know, really I don't. I try to be a good little commentator over at the estimable Captain's blog. Even when I'm stuck in darkest Africa, sweltering in the Gulf or admiring Argentinian horseflesh, but have I received so much as a book token? Have I hell.
ReplyDeleteintimidating? sounds like a yearn for approval to me. if all else fails reach for the caption competition... or switch the comment facility off completely.
ReplyDeleteIt also doesn't help that it takes about five weeks to work out how to comment.
ReplyDeleteTip: You have to click on the title of the post.
As for being intimidated. Nonsense. The only thing that can intimidate me on this blog is appearing in the comments with Malty. Is there a better example of the perfect commentator than Malty? Knowledgeable; filled to capacity with perfect anecdotes; and, to cap it all, up there with PG Wodehouse in his ability to tickle my chuckle. I have been speaking to Boris about getting him on the Fourth Plinth. He tapped his nose and assured me "it is well in hand".
Luckily Malty is not yet commentating at the Captain's redoubt.
I'd rather talk about A.J.P. Taylor.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Malty's grammar, Recusant.
ReplyDeleteMalty's gammar is like Keanu Reeves at the end of The Matrix when he breaks free of the rules and kicks ass in a new dimension.
For example.
ReplyDeleteI speak as one of the lurkers. I lurk promiscuously all over the web but comment rarely, partly because I'm being paid to do something entirely different and my boss might appear at any moment, but also because reading all these blogs is rather like being at a particularly combative dinner party and I feel I would perform far better with a bottle of wine inside me.
ReplyDeleteScrew grammar, the stories the thing, nobody told me one had to be, literacy wise, up in the stratosphere, if you get your kicks wallowing in politically correct wordsmithing then whatever turns you on baby.
ReplyDeletePS, I thought Polly T had mown down Capt B with her heavily armoured Marin.
Bugger you Brit, now you've made me all self conscious about grammar and is it my fault the spell checkers American English. Lets all talk about AJP Taylor, historian and amateur anarchist, never once, during his magical TV lecture series did he use notes.
Sophie, if you provide the wine. I'll provide the argument. The more wine you provide, the more argumentative I'll get.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what I was saying though Malty - it wasn't sarky, it was honest praise. Anyway don't think about it, just keep on doing that voodoo that you do.
ReplyDeleteThat's the ticket Malty. Keep doing it your way; it's what we don't pay you for.
ReplyDeleteNow if you don't mind popping your clothes on that stool over there, we need to get a good likeness for the plinth. I thought one of you looking towards the distant peaks with a freeform grammar comment on the edge of your tongue.
Malty is the only commentator who i can't quite put in a convenient mental box. It's the way he seems totally nuts but also terribly, worryingly sane, in a cold & unflinching way, even as he is, as i say, totally nuts.
ReplyDeleteHe often reminds me of Brando's Col. Kurtz.
Do folks do better with a blog if it's hosted on Blogger or Wordpress because it's more likely to end up in search engine results? Looks a bit like it. Meantime, Bravo the Captain! I like the bit about freshwater piracy not being piracy, er technically. I wonder if that means the many houseboats on the Oxford canal are up for a game of walk the plank and can be safely raided for funds for rum and women. Was Eric Hobsbawm ever really dangerous as distinct from bonkers? It's hard to get that worked up about him not least because he is sooo dull and when, as Malty says, there are other, wonderful historians and writers out there.
ReplyDeleteTalking about Col Kurtz elberry and onykel Addies gang Nick, an excellent read about one fascinating character among a Reichstag full is Manvell and Fraenkels biog of the incomparable Dr Goebbels, as we all know both the Intrepid doc and his barking mad missus would be excellent candidates for a cracking good musical. Of particular interest are Joe's cosy chats with Hermann, discussing how to ban Juden from the rattlers, considering their later encouragement of these people to have exclusive use of the trains their conversation is odd. Also of interest is Joe's pinching part of the plot of Dostoevsky's The Possessed to burn down the Reichstag.
ReplyDeleteHow can you keep people like him down, Alistair Cambpell ?
I think Maltys comments should be sercuritized across the blogsphere one anecdote at a time.
ReplyDeleteA sign of the times, Mark --- I originally read your remark as: "Was Eric Hobsbawm ever really dangerous as distinct from bankers?"
ReplyDeleteAnybody got any money left?
Support of the Lou Zhu, Lou Zhu worked hard
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Nothing is impossible for a willing heart.
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