I get to be as self-indulgent as I want without wasting anyone's time. Guilt-free solipsism -- excellent!

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In case you haven't seen it yet, check out Salam's blog from Baghdad.

The comments some people have posted on his site will make you sick if you're not careful -- it's profoundly upsetting that there are people who can listen to an articulate Iraqi voice conveying with devastating specificity what it is like to be living in Baghdad at this time, and then turn around and patronizingly lecture him with high-flown arguments about Freedom, or dismiss his nuanced thoughts with braindead jingoistic bullshit. We all know how brilliant weblogs are at revealing the personalities of the authors -- they're inescapably and achingly personal. Reading Salam's blog tonight of all nights was a shock to my system, as it immediately made real all the conceptual arguments of the last few months. I guess my response was not a universal one, as some chose to treat him like just another punk weblogger kid trying on some fashionable liberalism. HE IS IN BAGHDAD!! You are sitting in smug safety, enjoying freedom that you did absolutely nothing to earn. You have no right to talk to him like he's one of the unenlightened who will soon be thanking you for bombing his neighborhood. And where's the fucking empathy?

"Innocent civilians" is a concept, no matter how specific you try to make it. Salam is a person, and a brave one at that. I hope he will be OK.
| posted by Alex at 11:56 PM