We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Who’s the Daddy? The BBC is running a competition:
BBC News Online wants your nominations for the best political websites and blogs, preferably with a UK focus. We are looking for lively, thought-provoking sites that stimulate genuine debate, rather than just pushing a particular narrow viewpoint or agenda, but all suggestions are welcome.
I know of a political blog that is lively, thought-provoking and stimulates genuine debate. In fact, it must surely be a shoe-in for the title of ‘Best Political Blog’.
I would tell you the name but…modesty forbids.
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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Done my duty 🙂
All done, but why you so desperately seek their approval beats me….
Done. I told them that you’re the political blog with the best dissident parties in town. You KNOW that’s all the BBC really cares about – which party you’re endorsing.
“. We are looking for lively, thought-provoking sites that stimulate genuine debate, rather than just pushing a particular narrow viewpoint or agenda,”
Hmmm. Is it just me or does this bit sound like they are going to dismiss any site with a right/libertarian focus? I mean, its the BBC…..
Anyway gave ya a vote regardless.
They’ll include this blog when hell freezes over — too subversive to The Tone. “OpenDemocracy” is much more their speed.
Harry also posted this link. I thought I might vote, but I distinctly dislike something that becomes too popular or, gains the approval of the BBC. If you’re interested in this sort of thing, you’ll find it yourself; I fear that it could jeopardise the whole blog way of life.
“We are looking for lively, thought-provoking sites that stimulate genuine debate, rather than just pushing a particular narrow viewpoint or agenda…”
S’funny, I’m looking for a broadcaster with similar attributes.
Please. Not the BBC. David, why? It is so much better NOT to be mentioned by the BBC and the Guardian.
And Monica, I am not sure we want BBC people at our parties.
Been there and nominated this fine blog already. What you bet whatever wins we will have never heard of before?
I’ve done my bit, but I’ve got a feeling the Chomsky blog will vanquish all others.
My post to the BBC:
http://www.samizdata.net
http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog
http://www.allahpundit.com
http://www.melaniephillips.com/
http://www.biased-bbc.blogspot.com/
These sites are probably too anti-idiotarian for you BBC lot! Common sense ain’t the Beebs strong point now is it?
I’ve sent my nomination to the BBC. The more they receive the harder it will be to ignore them, although the Beeb are *really* good at ignoring.
I don’t think this is about seeking Their approval. If this site does get a mention, it helps it to be discovered by a lot of people who are generally dissatisfied with mainstream political views but who otherwise wouldn’t find it. Sometimes all people need is a nudge in the right direction.
BBC approval, however churlishly accorded, would be depressing. It would be like being complimented on one’s fashion sense by Bette Middler.
The BBC should learn how to be a neutral broadcaster which doesn’t involve itself in Soviet style editorials crudely disguised as News broadcasts before they get into the business of evaluating blogs.
I am not voting.
JohnJo, Yes! Very good!
Well, I voted for this blog. Now how about asking the readers of this blog to nominate a broadcaster that isn’t too biased?
Not sure how they’re going to present their results, but i’ve put in my word for what it’s worth. Hope Samizdata gets a mention; to all you ‘oh, we’re too ideologically pure to appear on the beeb’ types… I’m with Rob; you may provoke thought in people who otherwise would never have come across the stuff covered here. If you’d rather preach to the converted, that’s fine, but then you might as well give up moaning about the state of the world, since you’re clearly not actively interested in changing it.
Now I know what the A_t is – you left out the ‘n’, as in Ant.
Then it all makes sense; they wrote a song about an ‘Ant and a Rubber tree plant’. All about trying to achieve the impossible, but you just have to keep on trying! A Frank Sinatra song I think…
As for, ‘we’re too ideologically pure to appear on the beeb’ types’, I don’t think there are many here who think that way, they may think a little differently, but ‘idealogically pure’. no way.
As for trying to convert folk, what do you take us for – Apostles ? I thought that you had abandoned any sort of religion on account of the prozletizing, and here you go suggesting we do just that.
To be recommended by the Beeb would, at worst, be akin to receiving the Vampire’s Curse, or at best, cheap flattery from a discredited organisation, and we may have to read more nonsense from the likes of Lord Lummy and Syon Park, and all of the preaching will not make any difference, or change a single mind. 🙂
However, nice to know that you have faith in the redemption of the masses, and there you were saying, nay bragging, about being a cynic, (sceptic)….:-)
Really you are just a soft hearted optimist….
I think I agree with Rob as well. It’s unlikely that anyone clicking through from a BBC endorsement will be under the illusion that this blog panders to BBC-eque opinion. Not after actually reading the posts here.
It is possible, however, that you could gain readers from a niche that wasn’t targeted previously. All important in that metaconceptthingy drive, right?
Monica – What would normal people be doing looking at the BBC’s website?
Ernest, bring on the vampire’s curse, I say! Sadly you may be right about just attracting the wrong kind of (irritating) attention though… we’ll see.
& no, I don’t take anyone for apostles, but there’s some good, compelling thinking going on here. The web has the power to spread ideas. Ideas which spread sufficiently may have an effect on the real world. If the ideas have no effect beyond this blog, there seems little point in even discussing them, particularly ones which relate to dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs. As I said above, if you’re advocating some kind of closed shop it seems particularly pointless to then complain about the state of the real world & the fact that no-one pays attention to ideas you like when they’ve never even come across them. I’m not so optimistic as to believe in a sea change as a result of a few blog postings, but if they help spread the ideas, that’s a good thing. Cast me as the ant any day! (particularly when the heavy lifting is far less physically strenuous than any rubber tree plant & it’s pot)
David
I’ve done my bit
Let’s hope for some success
Best
Simon
Verity – I stream things like ‘Just a Minute’ and ‘I’m Sorry, I Haven’t a Clue’, so I do occasionally find myself looking around the BBC website.
I’d guess that it could also be the default online news medium for those who don’t know any better.
Ha, wouldn’t it be great if they actually came to nominate biased bbc on the basis of recommendations. I might vote for it and start a blog campaign (somehow – I don’t know quite how yet) to get it listed – like getting some wierd religious practice mentioned in the census.
So we can laugh at it, of course. Or maybe, doing research for an anti-BBC satirical play?
If Samizdata is included I’ll be impressed, I don’t think it will be tho. I’ve done my duty as a member of the Commonwealth. Have to stand with common brothers and sisters in arms with this type of thing hmm.
So, if it does show up…I expect the Pacific Ocean to be freezing over at about the same time, and Hawaii to become a bastion for penguin’s.
Simon
“I’ve done my bit
Let’s hope for some success”
Jeez, if the benchmark of ‘doing my bit’ and ‘success’ for the habitues of a blog that purports to follow in the noble traditions of a group that once operated in their quest for free speech under the lethal dangers of the regime of Stalin et al., is the joy of coming top in a poll conducted by the Marxist BBC – and parameters set by them – then it’s time you looked in the mirror folks for a reality check. What are you for, other than self-aggrandisement?
Sadly
FP
Well looky here. Samizdata shoots and scores.
Gratz David… youre on the list and bizarrely enough so is lynne featherstone, the vile opportunistic Dim Lib candidate in North London…
I’m shocked. Did we just see someone reasonable at the BBC?