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October 16, 2005
Pandagon Gone?
My friend Jesse at Pandagon is leaving blogland for the bluer, better-paying pastures of Ted Strickland's campaign for governor. Longtime readers will know that Jesse and I shared online real estate for over a year, and it was, for me, a time of great growth as a writer, as a political thinker, and as a blogger. We also exited the experience good friends, contrary to the still-flying rumors about some venomous dissolution. So the site holds a very special place in my heart.
This is a great move for Jesse and a huge gain for the Strickland campaign. If we retake Ohio, you'll know who to thank. Pandagon will be left in the capable hands of Amanda and JEdmunds who, in a very nice bit of cyclical blog advancement, was guest-blogging at this site before Jesse extended the invitation. Both of them are phenomenally talented, irritatingly incisive writers, and they'll do a great job. It won't be the same without Jesse -- he was the soul of Pandagon. But it'll be different, a must-read on its own merits, and you folks should keep supporting the site.
October 16, 2005 | Permalink
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Comments
Jesse has claimed that he is tired of sitting on the sidelines. You have to hand it to him. He is out there doing something instead of simply bitching about it. I admire him for that.
And now Pandagon is, as I suspect it has always been, Amanda's board. The readership will change. The issues will be the few that has always been important to her.
It is Pandagon's loss to bear.
Posted by: Fred Jones | Oct 16, 2005 1:02:52 PM
Fred, change isn't always a bad thing. JEdmunds is a fantastic writer, as is Amanda. I can't wait to see what they come up with.
In the meantime -- will Jesse be a commenting mainstay? I hope. The one thing I will miss the most is his ability to title a post in a most outrageous manner.
Posted by: Lauren | Oct 16, 2005 1:36:15 PM
Yeah, well from now on, you will understand more about the world of Cats and, of course, the "music scene" of Austin and why smoking in bars is a good thing.
Good luck with that...
Posted by: Fred Jones | Oct 16, 2005 2:57:15 PM
Pandagon dropped off my blogroll not long after Amanda started posting there. Which is a hard thing to admit when you consider yourself a feminist, as I do.
But bottom line (at least for me) is that there are other feminist bloggers who cover the same material without all the histrionics.
Posted by: fiat lux | Oct 16, 2005 4:23:03 PM
I also dropped it after Amanda started. Ezra and Jesse were a good mix and I missed Jesse's style after dropping it, but the blog no longer fit me and the new look never really sat well with me either. What can I say, it just wasn't the same, now it will be less so.
Still I will poke my head around the corner every now and then to see what is brewing.
Posted by: Fr33d0m | Oct 16, 2005 4:37:56 PM
But bottom line (at least for me) is that there are other feminist bloggers who cover the same material without all the histrionics.
Pretty much covers it for me, Fiat Lux. Of course, I'm not a feminist, or even female for that matter, so my saying that would revert her to a rant regarding the penisocracy or something.
Posted by: Off Colfax | Oct 16, 2005 5:48:50 PM
Damn, such little love for Amanda...
Which is ridiculous because she is freaking great. Pandagon 2.0 begins!
Posted by: Peter Parker | Oct 16, 2005 8:28:45 PM
Amanda just looks for any way to scream about Patriarchy. The most extreme was when she related one strange man's use of a blow up doll, to the reemergence of a domineering patriarchal society, then the argument twisted to how it was okay for women to have sex toys but not men. The site used to be great and relevant. With Jessie gone, I doubt it will be worth anything more then to see how often Amanda breaks Godwin's law. The only thing is that if you disagree with her, instead of calling you a Nazi you are a misogynist. She sucks.
Posted by: Dave | Oct 16, 2005 8:41:40 PM
Bummer. I was hoping Jesse would come to his senses, boot Amanda off, and hire someone a lot more readable as his partner. Oh well- plenty of other blogs out there.
Posted by: matt | Oct 16, 2005 8:55:56 PM
Thanks for the kind words Ezra. I guess it's no surprise that there's a strong loyalist contingent here, but if it's any consolation to you guys, I'm confident that my pimp hand is stronger than Jesse's was.
Posted by: Jedmunds | Oct 16, 2005 9:34:12 PM
Thanks Ezra. Sorry to steal this badass guest blogger from you. But I just need his troll-smacking talents and perverse sense of humor.
Posted by: Amanda Marcotte | Oct 16, 2005 9:50:26 PM
And seriously, you have the cattiest bunch of trolls in the blogosphere. C'mon ladies, be nice to the lady blogger. It's not her fault she's prettier than you and the boys like her better.
Posted by: Amanda Marcotte | Oct 16, 2005 9:52:49 PM
See, the way I heard it Amanda, you used your torrid fling with Jesse to force him to kick Ezra out. That was all part of your grand hillaryesque scheme to eventually force Jesse out, all so that you would have a bigger audience for your man-hating screeds...
Posted by: Andrew Cory | Oct 16, 2005 9:58:27 PM
Well I guess we put the rumor that the blogosphere, like the Usenet before it, was just chock full of bitter boys to bed. Clutching something.
Sorry geek boys, Amanda is putting some uncomfortable truths up to sizzle in the light of day. You don't have to like it. In fact I suspect that Amanda doesn't want you to like it.
Amanda Rules, Misogynists Drool.
Posted by: Bruce Webb | Oct 16, 2005 11:04:50 PM
Aw, but I want them to like it. What's wrong with them liking it? It's like castor oil, sure, but the kind that tastes like chocolate.
Posted by: Amanda Marcotte | Oct 16, 2005 11:49:16 PM
Truth? Ha! Amanda can’t handle the truth. That’s why she has to bury herself in the comforting lie that is feminism...
Posted by: Andrew Cory | Oct 17, 2005 12:16:23 AM
And seriously, you have the cattiest bunch of trolls in the blogosphere.
Actually, most of these guys are making a special guest appearance for just this post. You're hitting a few nerves - keep on hitting, girl!
Posted by: Dustbin Of History | Oct 17, 2005 4:26:46 AM
Gee, I guess Ezra will have to ban *ALL* of you for not bowing down to the Panda Alter of feminism. As I understood it, criticizing Amanda Marcotte is off limits.
Looks like Ezra will be very very busy if he keeps true to his word!!
Posted by: Fred Jones | Oct 17, 2005 8:11:39 AM
Weird, I never knew that the definition of "troll" was someone who disagrees with or criticizes Amanda Marcotte anywhere ever. Luckily we have her here to clarify.
Posted by: Sara | Oct 17, 2005 10:36:10 AM
Weird, I never knew that the definition of "troll" was someone who disagrees with or criticizes Amanda Marcotte anywhere ever.
All one need do is visit her board (and it has *always* been her board) to understand this simple truth.
Posted by: Fred Jones | Oct 17, 2005 10:59:44 AM
C'mon ladies, be nice to the lady blogger. It's not her fault she's prettier than you and the boys like her better.
I didn't criticize Amanda's looks or lifestyle, I focused on her writing. Instead of responding "hey, my writing style is my writing style, not everyone is going to like it," which I would completely agree with, Amanda accuses her women critics of jealousy and couches her accusation in language straight out of high school -- "the boys like me better".
If you want to make a feminist critique of female envy, you're going to have to do better than that. That's just inflammatory.
There's a role for angry feminist blogs, and there are a number of good ones out there. But anger is nothing alone. It needs to be coupled with wit, or intelligence, or insight to be a force harnassed for good.
Posted by: fiat lux | Oct 17, 2005 1:10:18 PM
...It needs to be coupled with wit, or intelligence, or insight to be a force harnassed for good.
OK...settles THAT!
Posted by: Fred Jones | Oct 17, 2005 2:24:52 PM
You're half right: Amanda IS irritating. Conceited, obtuse, inconsistent, and emotionally needy, too. Case in point, her solipcistic rants about the smoking ban in Austin--way to back the wrong horse in a two-horse race, Amanda. Another example: Her execrable "Music Snob" column, in which she's really only half joking.
The upside is, I can remove one bookmark from my already overcrowded Publications/Opinion folder.
Posted by: Jimmm | Oct 17, 2005 3:26:08 PM
Hell, I got lumped in with the "assholes" over on Jesse's farewell post due to simply saying that I gloss over Amanda's posts. If I wanted to be an asshole, I could've said many things, such as:
Her writing style is droll, repetitive, and dry. There are high school fresh(persons) out there that can create both a more engaging and more streamlined piece of prose.
She has little to no sense of direct application of the stream of thought. Instead, she rolls from topic to topic, within the same paragraph, nonetheless, with little thought and disasterous consequences to the actual flow of her writing.
All her writing devolves into one of three categories: the evils of the penisocracy, the failure of modern society, and her personal life (which apparently includes cats and being an insufferable music snob). And I can get the third category just as well by reading a bunch of random LiveJournals for an hour.
All of which designates our dearest Amanda as being far less than stellar, in my opinion.
And NOW you can call me an asshole. And regardless of JEdmunds being there, I have bid Pandagon goodbye, so long, farewell, and adieu. And if that makes me an "asshole troll" then so be it. After all, I comment so rarely over here and only when I actually have something to say.
Last I heard, "trolling" requires dedicated effort rather than the occasional snark.
Posted by: Off Colfax | Oct 17, 2005 3:29:05 PM
Wow, y'all beat me to the punch. Amanda is shrill and obnoxious. Even when I agree with her stances on particular issues, she still annoys the bejeebus out of me.
Goodbye Jesse, goodbye Pandagon.
Posted by: StockWood | Oct 17, 2005 5:30:12 PM
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