Pissing in public

I just responded to a post over at my friend Ben Bunting's blog, and I feel kinda bad about it because it was maybe a little like pissing on somebody else's house, in public. That's just not really cool.

The gist of my point is this: face reality. God himself knows I have an incredibly hard time doing that exact thing, but I guess there are certain situations for which I do that better than others and recently it's been in the area of the philosophy of economics.

There comes a time for all kinds of companies when the reality is they can't keep operating in the way that they have. Sometimes a restructuring of the business can keep the company alive, but often it means shutting the company down for good. And it's sad. People lose their jobs, their identities (to some extent), their dreams, and everything dies. But it's also necessary. You shouldn't try to pretend that something is working, or could work, that isn't or won't. That's even sadder than being forthright about the death of the company. In the end, it will end, and your pretending will have only brought extended sorrow. It also ends up looking a bit like a 50-year old women trying to look 20-year old again. You can't be what you're not, and it's sad when people try.

But all that is a digression. What I really want to say is that I really enjoy reading Ben's blog.
I've been reading his blogging for a few years now and it's really cool to see how he's changed, what he talks about and why. I enjoy his writing style, especially the spastic rambling personal posts, I enjoy the random self-movies, I love the Madden Football coverage, the continuous coffeetable-book offering of photos, the snippets of news, the occasional dietary posts, etc. Of the blogs I've run across, Ben is more diversely himself than most. The long, serious diaristic entries are bookended with random thoughts about food or music or the building he's currently in. And with all the photos and movies and such, there's a very complete, if distant, communication about who Ben Bunting is. From maudlin to mockery.

So, I'm sorry to have kinda pissed on Ben's blog, because, you know, I really like it.

Cheers.