A Damn Good Reason

If you're reading this right now... get back to work.

Seriously, I appreciate your coming here, for whatever cause. This is the first entry in what I hope will be a long-running, entertaining, provocative (or at least literate) blog, one that somehow manages to distinguish itself from the other 10,000,000 and counting already out there. By way of an introduction, check out the "profile" section. By way of an explanation -- that is, the purpose of this blog, or how I justify its existence (hence the above heading) -- well, read on.

Let me be brutally honest: part of my motivation for doing this is shameless self-promotion. I am a working freelance writer, which means that I never have enough work. In this society, when you choose self-employment, passivity is not an option. Thus I am always on the lookout for new ways to advertise my talents and services. My hope is that fine folks with discriminating tastes (such as yourself, of course) will read the entries -- really more like mini-essays -- in this space and pass my URL along the food chain until it reaches someone at The New York Times or Newsweek or Maxim or House and Garden who reads my work and exclaims, "This guy would be perfect for the new Kardashian profile... sign him up!"

None of this will happen, of course, unless I produce something worth reading. And that's fine with me, for it dovetails neatly with my other motivation: my interest in sharing my thoughts on culture, politics, society, and the places where they intersect. (The column, if you will, that I don't have on HuffPost or Salon.) Hopefully I can do this in a stimulating, original manner which stands out from the herd mentality pervading all too much of the blogosphere.

Thus, my subtitle: I don't consider myself a cynic -- cynicism in my view is just a short step removed from nihilism, from the "I don't give a crap, we're all going to die anyway" view of the world -- but rather a skeptic, one who takes very little at face value and doesn't sign on to anything without a meticulous reading of the fine print. I don't automatically trust the Will of the People, or the Verdict of the Market, or Oprah, or any other expression of what everyone should be thinking or doing or buying. It's in my blood -- I am a Jew, and historically the Jewish people (you could almost say it's part of our tradition) have been the ones standing in the back of the room when the Next Big Thing is announced and saying, "Are you sure about this? Have you thought it through?" We have often been vilified (and worse) for this, but I've seen enough examples of what happens when no one asks such questions to conclude that skepticism is a pretty useful thing, if employed judiciously.

Which is how I plan to employ it in this space. Like everyone I have my quirks and prejudices, the products of my life experience, the people I've known, the things I've seen; and I won't pretend that they never influence what I write. But as much as possible, I try to approach any topic with an open mind, an unclouded eye, and the realization that as the saying goes, "the only thing you need to know about God is that you're not." Among writers, my heroes are people like Swift, Twain, Bierce, Waugh, Orwell, Roth and Vonnegut -- men who listened to the prevailing cant of their era, the official story, the conventional wisdom, and responded, "Says who?" I can't say whether I have any of their talent, but I have committed myself to following their approach.

So when you read my postings, whether you feel like applauding or sending me a dead fish in the mail, at least be secure in the knowledge that I'm speaking for myself, not as an Spokesperson, Official or otherwise, for anything or anyone. My thoughts are my own, the product of one person's singular sensibility. Make of them what you will.

So thanks for your attention, and I hope you keep checking in. Now you can get back to work.