About

Alright then. This blog has now been around – in one form or another – for almost two years (there had been blogs of mine before, but they were different). So I think the time has come to take stock and consider what this blog is for and to re-define its mission statement (I suppose it must have one) accordingly.

The original point was to argue in favour of a particular worldview, namely mine. Ah, how original. In any case, what is that worldview, exactly? The original definition was something along the lines of it being a sort of romantic, moralistic and anti-liberal Socialism, and, in all honesty, that seems like a reasonable accurate (if laughably British) summary, at least when you strip away the thick layers of bitter irony. So I think it will stay as the main objective (or, rather, justification).

Something must change though, and that is the suggested clarification that this worldview could be thought of as ‘a form of Socialism that rejects the idea of progress’. This is firstly because it gives the impression of fatalism; that there is no real point in attempting to improve people’s lives or trying out any new ideas. This would be a highly misleading impression. More importantly, however, is the fact that a form of  ‘Socialism that rejects progress’ has become quite the topic of debate on the left-wing sections of the British part of the internet (or should that be the other way round?) over the past few months. While I find it interesting, it isn’t really my cup of tea (I can accept that social democracy can be seen as a ‘conservative’ force in of itself, but I vehemently disagree with the idea that it ought to be blended with any aspect of political conservatism), and so I must at once preemptively disassociate myself from it. Not that anyone cares, but the internet is serious business, you know.

And on to the title. Well, it is what it is: Besy, the transliteration of the Russian title of Dostoyevsky’s great anti-revolutionary novel. And, as it happens, my favourite novel. Perhaps not an obvious title for something on the Left, but it makes sense in my head. Besides, the idea of having a blog with a title that means something like ‘possessing demons’ is an idea that I like just a little bit to much.

So, what of the blog itself? Well, a few things either have changed or are about to (not that this really matters as no one is supposed to actually read this damn thing). The first thing is that there will no longer be a so-called ‘blogroll’ (is that word still current?) because whenever I link to a blog as a blog, then there’s a roughly 75% chance that said blog will cease to be active within a minimum of three months. This has been proved by Science, comrades. So, instead, I’ll just stick a few in the main links section and hope for the best. The second is that I will probably get round to whining about more than mere politics, but then that’s been my intention for years (literally) so perhaps that won’t actually happen.

Some things will not change though. This blog will remain as unreadable, as infrequently updated, as pretentious and as deeply unsatisfying as it has always been. To change any of these things would be to change the very purpose of this blog form of internet communication. Or something like that.

And finally, or at least I (and presumably you) hope so,  onto the author of this piece of internet detritus.

The fool that writes this rubbish (and objectively it is rubbish, comrades) is a bearded history postgrad student who has spent far too much time watching The Singing Detective. He is also a member of the Labour Party and a tragically devoted Sunderland fan. He also thinks that this rambling excuse for an introduction is funny. And that says far too much about him.

Here’s a (not very good) picture that will probably not be here for very long and has only been added for the purpose of random amusement because it appears that someone has no idea how to pose for photos:

The flower, at least, is a joke.

 

Pseudonyms do change for ever and ever. Amen.