It’s My Ricoversary!
March 31st marks my first Ricoversary!
One year ago, my wife asked if I wouldn’t mind taking over dinner duties for an evening. “Of course,” I replied, “you deserve a night off!” Truthfully though, I’m not much of a hand in the kitchen so I quickly snuck off and Googled “Help me understand Turkey”. 12 months later...
Ok, that’s not even remotely true. My wife is not foolish enough to ask me to enter her kitchen.
Truth is, like many of you, I stumbled over from NRO to listen to the Podcast. A few weeks later I joined for the privilege of contributing to the Main Feed conversation. (Many of you are still waiting for my first sensible contribution.) But I stayed for the Members. The Member side is where one finds the true Ricochet Coffee Shop experience. It's worth joining.
Now, in the interest of making my post longer, I offer a few half-baked Rico-thoughts:
Don’t Josh The New Guy
I’ve noticed a pattern – Big Daddy Blue-Stater joins Ricochet after years of bottling up political frustration. He needs to blow off steam. His posts and comments are passionate and full of fire.
Give him some time and he’ll soon realize he’s among friends.
The passion doesn’t die but the fire does. He is better for it.
Less Tank and More Think
At its best, Ricochet will hover at a level above the news - Informed, intelligent conversation about what the news means. It’s really good stuff.
But then… we have the debates. And the primaries. And the gaffes. And “Who’s in?” And “Who’s Out?” And we analyze, and opine, and argue, and get…. Romney.
We knew that already. Wasted energy.
So going forward, let’s assume we’ll all vote against Obama and we’ll all wish Romney was better than he is. So then… what’s next?
Curb Your Reflex
You don’t hate the light bulbs, you hate being forced to love them. You don’t think recycling is stupid, you think mandatory recycling is stupid. You don’t think diversity is nonsense, you think categorizing your acquaintances is nonsense.
I know what you mean. You know what you mean. They know what you mean. Only, they pretend not to know what you mean so they can draw you down the rabbit hole. Curb the reflex. Stay focused.
The Old Gray Libertarian Ain’t What She Used To Be
The live and let live philosophy appeals to me. It feels right. But a year of Rico-Libertarianism has opened my eyes.
On paper, the Libertarian wants to keep the government out of our lives. In the real world, the Libertarian wants to make us butt out of each other’s lives.
Enforcement of live and let live is not so appealing.
“Has Ricochet Changed Your Mind About Anything?” Yes.
And so, to Peter and Rob, Thank You. Ricochet is a heckuva lotta fun. To all of you behind the scenes at Ricochet, Thank You. To the Members, Thank You. And to the Members who enjoy my poetry, Thank You… but really… what’s wrong with you?
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Jul '10
Re: It’s My Ricoversary!
Those awful federally mandated Chinese swirly-poo lightbulbs that I hate whether "allowed" or not, of course. There are limits to even the CoC.
Jun '10
Re: It’s My Ricoversary!
Casey: Sorry to join this one late, but I do have one gripe: all that homework you tend to give us. Yes, I could ignore it, but I feel our little community needs my perspective so badly I always answer your questions. Could you give us the month of April off?
And I must admit you've added a light touch that's nice after we've been beating each other over the head on some issue that will be irrelevant next week.
The poetry. It may not be T. S. Eliot or Homer, but it's way better than most modern poets.
Apr '11
Re: It’s My Ricoversary!
Casey
March 31st marks my first Ricoversary! · 5 hours ago
Hey me too! Thanks for reminding me.
Apr '11
Re: It’s My Ricoversary!
Thank you for this. Your thoughts on the smoothing of edges strike me as just right. I honestly don't know how Ricochet does it, but it does it very well. It's coming up to my anniversary of wishing that I could "like" posts, too.
Jul '10
Re: It’s My Ricoversary!
Casey
You don’t hate the light bulbs, you hate being forced to love them. You don’t think recycling is stupid, you think mandatory recycling is stupid. You don’t think diversity is nonsense, you think categorizing your acquaintances is nonsense.
I know what you mean. You know what you mean. They know what you mean. Only, they pretend not to know what you mean so they can draw you down the rabbit hole. Curb the reflex. Stay focused.
That is beautifully put.
Mar '11
Re: It’s My Ricoversary!
Mine, too!I love Ricochet because of the quality of the writing and thinking, which often matches or surpasses the WSJ's opinion and review pieces. But I do have one quibble: recycling IS stupid. And worse than that: it represents worship of a false god.
Dec '10
Re: It’s My Ricoversary!
Happy Ricoversary, Casey!
I stumbled over Ricochet via a link from Powerline, I think, and I'm glad I did. Let's all raise a toast to ourselves.
Mar '11
Re: It’s My Ricoversary!
Tommy De Seno: You're right - I don't hate the light bulb - just being forced to it.
I never thought of it that way.
Except the shape. That swirly shape bothers me. · 10 hours ago
I hate the light bulbs on the principle that solutions shouldn't need problems manufactured to justify them.
It's an engineer thing.
Mar '11
Re: It’s My Ricoversary!
Happy Ricoversary, Give Me Liberty and iWc!
Apr '11
Re: It’s My Ricoversary!
Why is recycling stupid and what god are you thinking of? I might not mind worshiping certain gods...I always liked Thor and Odin.
Dec '10
Re: It’s My Ricoversary!
etoiledunord
The Kenneth Experience is a lot like being a foreign tourist in Manhattan during rush hour, lost, and on foot. You just realized that you left all your money, all your identification, your keys, your cellphone, your subway pass, and your credit cards in some-number room at some gray-colored hotel that you can't remember the name of, or the location of.
You just have to hitch up your pants, proceed calmly, steadfastly, and you might get through it unscathed...maybe. · 23 hours ago
Edited 23 hours ago
If there was any virtue to Kenneth's peculiar way of interaction, it was that after a single scathing encounter, he succeeded in teaching me most of the lessons Casey so eloquently laid out, though without the nuance and graciousness.
Apr '11
Re: It’s My Ricoversary!
I hate the lightbulbs, but don't mind recycling at all. I too wonder why it would be stupid. I can imagine possible answers, in perhaps particular scenarios, but they'd seem to be exceptions. Do tell.