Nice try. But with that Rumsfeld/Cheney crack you went and alienated the large minority of people with whom you are purportedy trying to connect.

Big fail.

Bye, Hilz. We love you and will miss you. Enjoy the Dark Continent. I hope you find happiness.

Hilzoy, thank you for the amazing posts!

You write so beautifully, in whatever form,
I hope you keep writing.

Best wishes for your future adventures!

You sound like the kind of people one would like to meet in flesh and blood, but alas you just leave us just with your excellent posts.

Good luck in whatever your are trying to do. I am sure you do not need it.

Hilzoy: Due to working a lot of hours lately, I'm way behind in my reading here... and didn't realize you were hanging it up. I've enjoyed reading your columns and will miss your insight. Best wishes and anytime you want to come back, I'm sure Steve would be very happy.

Hilzoy, I will miss your words, your courage in speaking your mind, and how you never shied away from asking uncomfortable questions, to the point where your colleagues and even the greater blogosphere would reflect on your contributions, and think "Damn, I wish I had wrote that."

All you can do is try. And as my grandmother used to say to us: it is not worthy of humanity to give up.

When I first read that, even as a left-leaning lib who can't stand Palin, I felt a sudden urge to self-police: How is no longer contributing to the public discourse not a minimalistic interpretation of Giving Up?

However, you have made no larger, obvious to the point of being unstated commitments. This day has been coming, as it comes for us all. Your incisive wit and intellect will be missed, and I, for one, wish you all the possible happiness and success in your future pursuits.

Hilzoy,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us for these far too few years. FWIW, your posts have always been thought provoking and some have even challenged us (me) to justify a belief, or a rationalization that heretofore had been comfortably entrenched.

May you find delight and profound truth on the rest of your journey, where ever it takes you. Truth will reveal itself to you, as you have amply demonstrated time and time again in your thoughtful posts that this is what you seek.

As ye seek, so shall ye find.

Good luck in all you do. Come back and guest post as often as you can stand it. You would be most welcome and a guaranteed instant hit!

Best,

Hilzoy, have a safe and enjoyable journey.

I truly enjoyed reading your posts. Yeah, sometimes it appeared I was being nasty - yet, that wasn't the case at all.

I have a problem with some of the hypocrites that like to make people look bad, without admitting, everyone has faults, no one is perfect.

I know that while your on your journey, you will become rejuvenated and discover your true endeavors.

Good luck. You will be missed.

Oh and first poster "a" at 1:50AM, ...is your last name "hole"?

freelancer: I do have a day job ...

...God Speed Hilzoy.

...Thanks

Hilzoy,

I know you said you have a day job, and you are retiring from blogging - but you are starting your vacation.

Just thought I'd mention this, Worldfocus.org is always looking for international bloggers - that may be something that will interest you while you're on your trip.

I watch it everyday - sometimes this is how they get their international news, other times they actually have news personnel on the ground.

Either way, I hope to see something about your trip.

Hilzoy,

Thank you for contributing ma'am. It has been a pleasure to read your commentary and I feel the Inter-webs are better for it.

Enjoy your time away, and hopefully you will change your mind and join us in the trenches again!

Thank you and all the best to you.

Sorry to see you go, hilzoy. But you simply can't us with unanswered questions. Especially this one:

What in blue blazes possessed Moe Lane to want someone sane writing on his blog?

a: "Nice try. But with that Rumsfeld/Cheney crack you went and alienated the large minority of people with whom you are purportedy trying to connect. Big fail."

Don't flatter yourself. Trust me, she was never into you. But as a wise man once said, if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone, anyhow.

I like how you emphasize that it sometimes takes a conscious effort to be civil to those we disagree with. Whether it's politics or personal relationships, it never hurts to remind ourselves and each other to take a deep breath every once in a while and think on the fact that we're not the smartest most righteous person in the room. Unless you're some kind of monk, it's unfortunately not something that seems to come all that naturally to most of us. It's a decision one has to make. Being inspired/reminded helps that process along. You'll be missed!

You're a class act, I always enjoyed reading you.

Rock on Hilzoy you'll be missed.

As for "a"... what the F* are you talking about? those two jackasses are beneath contempt and moved well past any boundary within which they would have deserved a modicum of civility. F* them. Indict. convict. imprison.

With Obama in office, I find myself a little more charitable to engaging my fellow citizens in conversations, and they seem a little more willing to listen. I'm actually having a conversation through e-mail right now with someone about waterboarding, in fact, who also doesn't think the US tortures and says that,"in fact, historically, waterboarding was not considered torture." I found him through correcting a mass spam someone sent. I discovered that I really did know a lot of facts -- facts I could present dispassionately, and more than that, I could argue for the pros and cons of many of my positions. And ultimately, I didn't care if I convinced him -- I just wanted him to hear what the facts were, actually, and to hear a point of view he might not be exposed to on Bill O'Reilly

And how was I able to do that? Because of people like you, Hilzoy, willing to bring the salient facts to us almost everyday as part of a continuing argument. I can not get that anywhere else. Not in newspapers, not in TV, not on the radio. The moral spirit of journalism has now, for the most part, settled on the shoulders of people like you here on the blogosphere.

So, thank you for your efforts; they have been appreciated. And if you should ever return, they will be again.

Good luck in your travels!

you're unlikely to choose sound policies if you assume that anyone who disagrees with you is a depraved, corrupt imbecile.

Agreed. But it is also true that you are unlikely to make sound policy or make progress in anything if:

a) you project your outlook onto others
b) do not understand the nature of opposition to your views (often in large part due to (a))

There are clearly a huge amount of ignorant people including a nontrivial amount of educated people that disdain knowledge and intelligence. There are a huge number of disingenuous people that manufacture irrational and immoral arguments to rationalize and justify their own bad and self-centered behavior.

Understanding the nature of these people and the challenge that they create to progress is essential to actually making progress. Understanding that progress is not made by changing them or pretending that they possess traits for thought that they do not, but that ways to progress must be made in spite of them is essential to making progress. Pretending that such a challenge doesn't exist may serve to keep intact a fantasy bubble of human nature of yin without yang, but it is counter to making progress.

There are in fact no arguments of persuasion that will change the minds of anti-progressives. Progress policies must be instituted in spite of them. Some will in turn at some point understand the progressive argument after they see the results - this is called "real progress". But the vast majority will never understand or acknowledge the benefit of progressive positions, will continue to rail against progressivity, all the while reaping its benefits personally while trying to deny them to others - that's just the way it is.

I wish you luck and happiness in whatever you do . I have never commented here before but came here daily for a long while just to read your stellar writings and thoughts . I can safely say you are and have been for some time now my very favorite blogger . Blogs , TWM , journalism and our lives have become significantly poorer with your decision to take a new direction . Although that new direction has a bright shining new light in it's midst . I am certain that you will illuminate that new road as you did this one . Again my very best to you , your family and friends may you all live long , happy , healthy productive lives . You will be greatly missed !!!

Your friend always ,

Eduardo S Fernandez

Dear Hilzoy: I will miss your writing very much. Simple decency combined with complex thought is all too rare in this world. I have no idea what you will do besides blogging, but I know you'll be damn good at it.
I sincerely hope that as time passes, you will consider returning to the public sphere. I have already reserved T-shirt rights for your Comeback Tour!!!
My very best wishes.

Your insight and wise voice has always transcended the cacophony of the blogosphere. Good luck! You will be missed!

Your thoughtful eloquence will be missed.

Hilzoy,

Thanks for your contributions to this site. A day or two ago I saw somebody criticizes your posts as tending to be too long and 'wordy'. I hope you didn't let that kind of criticism bother you. Sometimes a train of thoughts needs more words and sometimes less. What counts, is that a post be written in good faith, get its message across and give the reader something to chew on mentally. And you certainly achieved that with this reader.

Thanks also for the occasional reminder that vehemently disagreeing with the seriously held position of somebody else is not a license to engage in personal insults.

And lastly, thanks for helping to keep the fate of the Uighurs in Guantanamo in the public discourse when the Obama administration wanted to punt on that issue.

Hilzoy - You have made me think and research and re-think. For that, I am incredibly grateful.

As Garrison Keillor says, "Be well, do good work, and keep in touch"!

Hilzoy,

Walter Lippmann said a long time ago that democracy was impossible without people committed to the "traditions of civility." You have encouraged the rest of us who've wondered from time to time whether we've lost that capacity for self-government in the way we've mainstreamed the lunatic fringe.

Hilzoy,
You will be sorely missed. Reading you was like a cup of cool, clear water on a hot day.
I wish you luck in all of your future endeavors. Keep in touch!

Thanks Hilzoy, you'll be missed

Thanks, Ted Frier, for mentioning Walter Lippman. He, in many ways, passed the torch to Walter Cronkite. Struck by Mr Cronkite's comment about dissemination of information being so important in a Constitutional Republic. He said it was his duty to tell people what they needed to know, not what they wanted to hear.

That torch has been passed on to such as Ms Hilzoy in a new medium. She, and those who would try to emulate her, are needed to turn over the rocks, peer through the shrouds of secrecy, search where so many have thought, incorrectly, that a subject is "unimportant to the masses". Yes, you are needed in whatever capacity, even the occasional guest weblogger. Look forward to a subject such as the spreading of MRSA through our uninspected food system, perhaps.

Do not let those Black Mambas deter you, neither those on the ground in Rwanda nor those troll types back here. As Mr Gleason would say to you, "Until that day, until that day".

All I can say is WOW!! Hilzoy I'm saving this and sending it around to my wignut family if you don't mind. That is such a beautiful expression of what so many of us feel. Your catharsis was enriching. Thank You

Ronald

Bon Voyage, Hilzoy!

My mother used to say that good manners and politeness are the grease that allows the machinery of society to continue.

When you relegate large swathes of people to the inferior category - whether that's based on race, region, political outlook or interests, it never has a good outcome.

Bye, Hilzoy. You were a literate, reasonably level-headed "but" genuinely progressive voice. Drop back in from time to time, please!

Best wishes to you, Hilzoy, and thank you for all your work. I've been a faithful reader, both here and at ObWi, and I'm going to miss your insight.

Have fun in Africa. Take many pictures of Bare-faced Go-away Birds.

Bye, bye. We'll leave a virtual light on.

Goodbye, Hilzoy, and thanks.

As the others are saying, I wish you luck and happiness in whatever happens next. I hope you'll come back and post, time to time.

Hilzoy, I remember your disciplined evenhandedness seeming pretty fringe-y (for blogs at least) back when you and the ObWings crew were new at this. It just seemed more useful and certainly a lot more fun to draw blood any way you could.

Our bad. Obama's half year has validated the power of good faith like I never would have believed possible.

It is important for people here to realize 25 percenters like "a" are not a counterargument to Hilzoy and Obama's approach (which align closely enough that the third and fourth paragraphs of the post above would accurately describe either). They validate it. The point of disciplined evenhandedness is not to reach everyone but to reach what I like to call "the community of people who will talk to each other".

Here is how it works. Most people on any issue spectrum that you can name will talk to each other if approached with respect and good faith (note - talking does NOT automatically mean compromising on an issue). Once the middle 50% start talking to each other, the 25% on your side have nowhere else to go and are therefore essentially captive. The 25% on the other side become marginalized and, in their isolation, increasingly paranoid and extremist.

Revisit how desperately al Qaeda leaders hate and fear Obama. Having their hate and aggression answered with hate and aggression in return only validated everything they said about America in muslim eyes. Now they're freeps and birthers as far as most muslims are concerned. Like many experts I am also convinced that the Khamenei overreacted in Tehran because they fear that the community of Iranians who want to talk to us will grow untenably powerful.

Here in America I meet another former Republican every day. People like "a" are not an impediment to shrinking the GOP to bathtub size but a key partner in the strategy.

Hilzoy is not Obama, she isn't the President of the US and she didn't conquer the blogosphere (different dynamics here). But the approach that she outlines in this post is undeniably powerful. Kudos to Hilzoy for seeing it before most of us.

Good Luck, Hope to read you in the comment threads or a guest post somewhere.

Thanks for your contribution over the years, you'll be missed!

Nice try. But with that Rumsfeld/Cheney crack you went and alienated the large minority of people with whom you are purportedy trying to connect.

Nice try. But with that Rumsfeld/Cheney crack you went and alienated the large minority of people with whom you are purportedy trying to connect.

Ack! Sorry for duplicate; the post kept erroring out, and I was expecting to see the new comment at the top, so I thought it hadn't gone through. Can't see any "delete" link, either. Feh.

Hilzoy,

Thank you for sharing of yourself as you have done here. I'm going to miss what you write. I hope you find what you are looking to move towards.

This post above is superb, by the way. I is a manifesto of the way to good citizenship, and will remain on my hard drive for me to review every so often when I forget why I am doing the things I am trying to do. It's good guidance.

Thanks again for what you have written.

Poor Woozle blotted the page!

============

DearHilzoy:

The service you provided of bringing non-headline issues forward for discussion has been invaluable. You will be missed.

Best of luck in the great wide world.

Long time lurker, first time commenter.

Thank you for the enlightenment over the years. All the best in your future endeavors. (and hoping for a triumphant comeback...?)

JW

hilzoy, thank you again for your thoughtful, well-researched blog entries. Your kindness shone through, as well as your incisiveness. I will sorely miss you. I hope (no pressure) to read more from you in the future.

Sorry to see you go. You've done some good work here, and will be missed.

Thank you, Hilzoy, for your contributions to the conversation and farewell.
FWIW, I think the rancor stems from the very real sense that we, the people, cannot really overcome the big-money-interests that shape all the important policies. Sometimes about all one can do is get angry and lash out, knowing, for example, that paying for a war means not paying for schools, health care, public transportation etc; knowing that the fearful are being manipulated and the hyperpatriots are being stoked. Same for the effects of climate change.
It's either that or get into a deep emotional depression, particularly when I see too many of the younger generations shrug their shoulders and go about their lives.

Hilzoy, I will sorely miss your presence here and on ObWi.

On the bright side, I feel sure that a book will appear sometime in the near future.

Wishing you a great trip and much inspiration.

There are a few people whose writing helped me keep my sanity during the Bush years, Paul Krugman and Molly Ivins at the top of the list. But many more like Kevin Drum, Steve Benen and, of course, Hilzoy were there providing a daily dose of soothing balm as Bush and his henchmen attempted to dismantle the country I love so much.

Molly passed on some years ago and now I will lose Hilzoy. But, where there is life there is hope and I will always that, one day, Hilzoy, you'll be back. I hope we won't need you so much, but I do hope you will come back.

Be of good cheer.

You should not try to persuade people who disagree with you. You should make your case as clearly and politely as possible so that people who are in doubt or confusion will pay attention to you.

Many thanks.

Matthew

Hilzoy: I can't say much other than thank you and I wish you well in your next set of adventures. And I really hope that you'll reconsider your retirement. You were the best.

Btw, I thought monoglot's "thoughtful eloquence" line was spot-on.

THANK YOU for all you've done. You will be missed.

Thank you for all you've contributed. I am deeply saddened we won't have your insightful posts to enjoy, ponder and learn from. You will be deeply, deeply missed.

Yesterday while cleaning up my office space, I ran across the issue of the Texas Observer that was the memorial to Molly Ivins. Reading it and now reading Hilzoy's parting message, I got much the same feeling. We have lost another light in the darkness. The only difference is that Hilzoy is still with us and can return when need calls.

Farewell and thank you, hilzoy. Your scrupulous honesty is treasured and has especially been refreshing here at WaMo, whose comment sections have hosted some shameless purveyors of conservative lies, some of whom don't seem to grasp that arguing dishonestly and in bad faith itself is impolite.

Thank you Hilzoy. You'll be missed.

Hilzoy:

I've enjoyed your blogging and regret your retirement. The country still needs your voice.
But daily blogging is definitely a hardship and I understand your decision. Good luck and may you return to blogging in the near future.

thank you for all your work. In particular your posts on torture were, oddly enough, a comfort for me: because I did not feel so alone and crazy.

Best of luck wherever you go next. An ornithological footnote: the Bare-faced Go-Away bird gets its name from its family connections with the South African Grey Lourie, the original Go-Away bird. You used to have to go into the bush to find them but now they are common garden birds in Johannesburg. "large noisy and restless" is a good description of them too..

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