We live in a time of both crisis and opportunity, or as Homer Simpson put it, “criso’tunity.” According to Greg Palaste on a recent Laura Flanders Grit TV episode, the world is on fire. A litany haunts those with their eyes open; global warming, peak oil, empire fed on war, rising global poverty and disease…
Yet much needed consciousness spreads throughout the globe–little green shoots of optimism popping up all over. It’s obvious in Central America, but it’s even here in the US, the election of Obama signaling a “backing away from the abyss.” In 2006 the country seemed to come out from that strange coma we sank into after 911, when irrational fears overwhelmed and almost capsized the fragile remnants of our democracy.
TheOggblog does politics…
While many took to the streets, the raging blog movement helped spearhead the shift. Let’s give it a collective pat on its cyber-back. But now the movement faces what may be a greater challenge. The far right has been defanged, and we all breathe a sigh of relief as a result. And though the wingnuts have been cast out, we must still challenge them and their media enablers. Still, this is low hanging fruit. The more difficult task is ahead–addressing the current administration respectfully but forcefully. Once through the doorway to power, can the netroots still speak truth to power? Can it be part of the larger conversation while not surrendering on issues? After all, many in the fragile coalition Obama sits upon will eventually hold him accountable—including the average working person looking for a decent job, healthcare, and ultimately a place at the table where decisions are made. There is tremendous opportunity to make this a reality, but only if we set ourselves on fire, so to speak. Firing up the movements for change is critical to push Obama to do the right thing, what we hope he would like to do but feels he can’t, straitjacketed by the insider pragmatism of the old guard. TheOggblog will strive to part of this and other net roots conversations.
While I will be the major contributor at first, it’s my hope it will eventually include a wide range of folks who inhabit a world loosely called progressive, liberal, democratic, left, spiritual, green–or whatever label you want to use for higher consciousness, in a world where labels are becoming less meaningful.
TheOggblog does culture…
The battle isn’t restricted to the traditional body politic, the culture wars are real (if many sided) and its partisans be found in the strangest of places. Films, TV, books, they all tell fictional stories yet embedded within them are deeper explanations shaping the way we perceive the “real world”. We must both deconstruct the corporate-mainstream, anesthetized worldview and help build a more conscious alternative.
TheOggblog does technology..
Sure, some of are ‘boys with our toys,’ but let’s face it–blogging is made possible through advanced technology–we have a special responsibility to deepen our knowledge, honing our understanding of our tools. And sometimes we even need to go deeper, thinking about how the tools shape who we are as individuals and a society.
Why the “Ogg blog?”
My first thought was to use a different name for the blog, but friends convinced me I should take advantage of something I once thought to be a curse. Like the boy named Sue (Johnny Cash), maybe the name made me stronger? TheOggblog apparently grabs people and so I’m running with it.
Not just a blog, a magazine…
It’s admittedly a bit scary to be starting a blog at this point. According to a recent New York Times article, like small businesses most blogs go under in short order. It may be a strength or a weakness, time will tell, but I don’t really see TheOggblog as a blog strictly speaking, rather an old-fashioned magazine. Yet unlike the printed magazine, we can speed up the needed debates and discussions necessary to generate new ideas, and I invite you to join us.
Welcome to TheOggblog!
Chuck Ogg, editor