In a recent comment thread at the MoBettaMeta blog, a commenter wrote, in reaction to the divisions that now drive some to criticize Koz, Booman Tribune, and other large blogs:

My god, what has happened to all of us?

Remember when we were all at one site, then others grew, and it was still okay? For the most part, everything was still... Okay.

Now, there are factions among factions among factions. I don't know where all this hatred came from. People took offence at so and so and rifts grew and all of a sudden I can't tell who's on whose side anymore...

Except I know we're all supposed to be on the SAME side. This is the very definition, in terms of our attempt to grow a new way to be a political activist, or at least remain informed and engaged, of the Circular Firing Squad.

We've done the work of the enemy for them.

There are so many assumptions to address in this ("Enemy"? "new way to be an activist"? "when we were all at one site"? "People took offence at 'so and so'"?), however they are not all my immediate concern. The reason I bother responding at all is not because I want to shame or harass the poster, but because it addresses a topic that matters to me and to the purpose of my own blog. It also touches on ideas that I think are important to the functionality of the blogosphere in general.

Like 3D life, bloggers will group according to interests, views, and agenda. I don't think any one statement can account for all bloggers, because—again—BLOGGERZ are Humans, not some alien form of life. By mouthing the sound "blogger" you do not change human behavior! In my opinion, "Bloggerz" are just politically aware, socially conscious, relatively economically well-off, internet-savvy humans. We are by NO means a cross-section of humanity. I think there is a terrible lot of ego and pretentiousness in ever thinking we are some choice slice of society. Or that we do things for the rest of Them, or that we will Change the World, or that We are the Voices that Matter. So many people do not blog. So many good humans don't give a shit about blogging, so many important hearts and souls and minds you will never find here. Remember this always.

And just like in 3D life, even of those here, none of us are or ever were "on the same side." I know that is not why I am here! I promise you that I will piss you off at one point or another, and that's fine. I don't go out of my way to do it, but since my agenda is not to be Friendly or to Agree or to Love up the Borg, it will happen. And if by "taking offence at so and so," the writer intends to imply that our true feelings, thoughts, and self-identification ought to, ahem, take a back seat to "keeping the peace," well.... Keep the back seat and enjoy your pseudo-peace.

As far as I personally am concerned, DK (dailykoz) is the System growing another arm. Marketing the Gate, hierarchy, Typical White®/mainstream thinking, investing in the system as it stands. It is a cybercafe/newspaper/money-vote machine. Big deal. And you know what? I don't care! Good for them. It means as much to me as the News, or the politicians who talk on TV to me. That's their thing. Oye, do it till it sting. Do it till your very last bird takes wing.

But to assume that those of us against Bush are somehow tied to one purpose is silly. It's sweet, but naïve. I mean in my opinion, any human in their right mind is against Bush. That accounts for no real kind of commonality really. Just a mark of sanity.

I recently re-read my blog bio. And while I edited maybe twenty words throughout, just for polish, I'm happy to say I remain on track with my original purpose. I am here to learn, empower myself, to provide solidarity with The Brown™, to educate myself and anyone else who wants to ride along, to align myself with many others that suffer at the hands of White Male Supremacy Thought or their own internal colonization, and to make my way out of mine. Ultimately, to grow. I'm bumping along, I'm finding my way. It's not always easy, it's not always pretty. But it is so enriching to me. And a warning: I am not here forever. I am not here to establish an empire or a permanent institution. Those who know me well know that this is how I do. I've had maybe 6 or 7 blogs since May of 2001. Some people who read here have actually been reading me that long. And so they have seen for themselves that with each one, I change. I grow. I move forward. There will come a day when this blog has done all it was meant to do for me. And then I will be gone. Promise.

But remembering what I'm here for keeps me on track. And I am not here to play Goodboy, I'm not here to find dates, I'm not here to pretend to be something I'm not (just the opposite), to agree with everyone, to be a "Large Mammal" in the Blogworld Ecosystem (though I'd rather be a llama than a snail, yes I would); not here to have the hottest Oaxaca news, to be On the Same Side as the biggest, coolest group, to get anyone elected, to point out every minute symptom of the machine's nonfunctionality (because DUH it's broken beyond repair), or to make the Frog Pond my home. I am here to become truer. And this is (incidentally, mind you), a way of changing society for the better. Because people remember me when I move through their lives. That's who I have always been. Not bragging or feeling sorry for myself. That's the fact. I am not quiet or subtle or ordinary. My point is that if I am in a better place, truer to myself, and more at peace with myself, I affect many people in a much more positive way.

On a final and related note, while I am not here to please White® folks, or to make them happy (good luck with that when you are a PoC rising to your strength and pride), I do want to recognize those White folks who stick around and make an effort to understand the conversations and viewpoints given room here. You don't do a favor to me, but you do do one to yourself. It doesn't mean I'm right about everything, nor that you are wrong, nor that you've done some saintly Favor to the Brown™, or put in time (as in a charity), but you do have my respect. You do show White America how it's done. You also provide an example of how I should be when I am chilling at, say, a hardcore Feminist site and read something that stings me (well, on your better days;). We can all help each other when we try and move beyond our tiny boundaries. And I'm happy to have you around. Propz to tod@s l@s Blanquit@s who chill at Nezua's. You are the cream of the cream (of course not quite as tasty as the cocoa or chocolate, but hey—you can't have everything!) You inspire me with your own openmindedness and effort.

Lastly, the greatest of thanks to the feminists, the gays, the vegans, the blue-furred snuffleupagi—all the random Freaks®, that is—and mostly, The Brown™ who travel with me here. There is no debt, no duty, and no obligation. But the solidarity, when it happens naturally, is beautiful.

This is the "side" I'm on.