The Pakistani Spectator

Would you please tell us something about you and your site?

It’s just an outlet for me to write liberal political commentary. I’m a former journalist who isn’t working in the field currently because of a lack of opporunities.

Do you feel that you continue to grow in your writing the longer you write? Why is that important to you?

I’ve been a professional writer for more than 20 years, so I’m not expecting to get any better as a writer — maybe better as a blogger, since the form has some conventions you don’t have in regular prose writing.

I’m wondering what some of your memorable experiences are with blogging?

Haven’t really had any memorable experiences on this blog. I post things, folks turn up and comment, and since I don’t have many commenters I can reply to them.

What do you do in order to keep up your communication with other bloggers?

I’m not very good in that regard, although I occasionally cross-post some of my work to more established blogs.

If you had to describe life as a blogger in a Twitter message (140 characters) what would you say?

Don’t really have any use for Twitter — I don’t devote enough of my time to blogging to use the platform, so I don’t have enough of an audience to justify Twittering.

What do you think is the most exciting or most innovative use of technology in politics right now?

I think technology has influenced politics, but I don’t think politicians care about it — it’s something they leave to their staff, but only if they can show results. I’m not aware of a single active politician in the U.S. who actually uses Twitter himself or writes his own blog posts — that’s all staff people. The best use of technology for political writing and blogging has been YouTube — it makes it nearly impossible for politicians to speak out of both sides of their mouths on  important issues. For example, Sen. John McCain said he’d be OK repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell for gay soldiers if Colin Powell was for it. Last week he said he was totally against it while Colin Powell said he was for it. You could catch these things with research in the past, but actually showing McCain on TV saying he’d repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell really hammers his hypocrisy home.

Do you think that these new technologies are effective in making people more responsive?

Up to a point. Most politicians roll out new websites, public forums, Twitter feeds and such with big hoopla, then they ignore them after they’re not shiny and new any more — or after they discover there’s no advantage to answering constituent complaints directly on an online forum. They prefer to keep the public at arm’s length, and new technologies mainly help them disguise that position.

What do you think sets Your site apart from others?

Nothing, really. I tip off my friends that I’ve posted something over Facebook, though I post under an assumed name, so I pretend the post is by someone else. Because I hope to eventually return to journalism, or at least professional writing and editing, I don’t want the blog to come up if an employer Googles me — many employers would be turned off by the blog. On the rare occasion when a job posting appears to be suited to my blog content, I’ll offer the employer a link.

If you could choose one characteristic you have that brought you success in life, what would it be?

As I’m a former journalist blogging under an assumed name, I doubt I have any insights on success that would enlighten your readers.

What was the happiest and gloomiest moment of your life?

Well, that gets into ground where I might tip my psudonym, so I’ll decline to answer.

If you could pick a travel destination, anywhere in the world, with no worries about how it’s paid for - what would your top 3 choices be?

Seattle/Vancouver, London, New York City. I’m afraid I prefer English-speaking destinations, though if I were in London I might consider a Chunnel ride to Paris or Amsterdam.

What is your favorite book and why?

My current favorite is “Idiot America” by Charles Pierce, a writer for the Boston Globe and Esquire.

What’s the first thing you notice about a person (whether you know them or not)?

Whether they’re speaking to me.

Is there anyone from your past that once told you you couldn’t write?

Never had that experience. I’m frequently told that the things I write suck, but that’s from people who disagree with me — and who are usually wrong about the topic to boot!

How bloggers can benefit from blogs financially?

Advertising, but you have to generate a large readership for ad money to amount to much. Someone starting a new blog today fresh is going to have to work around the clock to get enough readers just to generate beer money from Google ads or an Amazon affiliateship. For that reason, most people blog as a creative outlet. Concentrating on money turns the blog from a hobby into an ordeal — and for the amount of work necessary, you could probably do better with a part-time job if money is your main focus.

Is it true that who has a successful blog has an awful lot of time on their hands?

Absolutely not. You need a lot of time on your hands to start a blog, but once you cross over into financial success it’s as all-consuming as any job. Some popular bloggers, like Instapundit or Atrios, are able to incorporate their blogging with their regular day jobs, but that’s rare — nowadays, if you blog while on somebody’s payroll, you’re probably blogging for your employer’s site and you don’t have the latitude to write about whatever moves you or use expletives in your text, etc.

What role can bloggers of the world play to make this world more friendlier and less hostile?

Well, I don’t think blogging is the direct route to that outcome. Political blogging, in particular, often means taking up a fight on particular issues — and there’s a blog for every side of many political issues. So people aren’t going to come together in a fight over closing Guantanamo Bay if they’re on opposite sides of the issue. But it is true that such battles do bring together people on the same side. That was true a thousand years before there were blogs and it’s true of blogging today.

Who are your top five favourite bloggers?

The blogs I am most likely to read on any given day of the week are Eschaton, Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake and Suburban Guerilla. There are many others I read as well, though not necessarily every day.

Is there one observation or column or post that has gotten the most powerful reaction from people?

The most reaction to a blog post on my blog had to do with gun control, but in America gun control posts tend to bring people out of the woodwork. Our Second Amendment defines a right to bear arms, but with rights come responsibilities that reasonable gun control measures help underline.

What is your perception about Pakistan and its people?

I don’t write much about Pakistan myself. I have a perception of a country with a large population of people trying to live their lives, raise families and earn their livings, and that the country has a weak and chaotic government that finds it difficult to speak and act with one mind. This is how the country can officially be an American ally, while factions of powerful people inside Pakistan help facilitate actions against America. I’m not much of a fan of America’s military adventures in Pakistan and Afghanistan, however — I know our people say they’re trying to help quell the violent factions in these countries, but I’m not sure our presence is helping.

Have you ever become stunned by the uniqueness of any blogger?

Well, stunned is a bit much. If I like bloggers, I read them, and if I don’t, I move on.

What is the most striking difference between a developed country and a developing country?

Well, it’s stability. Developing countries tend to have violent outbursts over purely political questions that police action can’t quell, and this leads their governments to take extreme action. Also, high joblessness in developing countries encourages extremists to devote all their time to disrupting civil order; in America, Japan or Western Europe, political protestors tend to have regular jobs and social positions that require them to be better behaved. That’s a function of civil and social stability.

What is the future of blogging?

Hard to know. Blogging started off with young people finding a different way to express themselves, and now it’s a mature technology adopted by people of all ages as well as businesses. Now the cutting edge is supposed to be Twitter, but tweets tend to be gibberish, especially those made by people who don’t write well in the first place. Still, they get across one or two facts, and for a lot of folks, that’s enough. But wading through a thousand Twitter streams is time consuming and inefficient. Just because someone is on Twitter doesn’t mean they have anything to say, and finding the worthwhile tweets is a lot of work. Ironically, you tend to find good Twitter streams via blogs.

You have also got a blogging life, how has it directly affected both your personal and professional life?

Not at all. Nobody has offered me a job from my blogging, and only a few people who know me know about my blog.

What are your future plans?

Probably keep blogging, hopefully with a bit more success.

Any Message you want to give to the readers of The Pakistani Spectator?

I think I just did.

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