The neo archives
I’m still taking everyone’s suggestions (thanks for so many!) about the renaming of the blog under advisement. I may just be lazy (and responsive to most of you) and keep the status quo. But if I change it, it will be to some form of “neo.”
But I wanted to clarify, for those who don’t read all the comments and therefore didn’t see my explanation, that “neo.com” and various other obvious forms of that are not available domains. That’s part of the problem, although there are creative ways around it.
Also, whatever I do, if I do anything it will include a redirect of some sort so that the old URL still leads to the blog, and the new URL does as well.
In that thread, commenter “Tom G” made the suggestion that I use my name more:
Are you ready to own your extremely thoughtful opinions with your conservative hating liberal friends? None of your “new friends” can fully replace some of your long time friends.
But you can more easily become an intellectual leader…using your real name and writing more for other pubs, especially PJ Media, maybe.
That comment made me realize that there are probably quite a few readers who aren’t aware of my history, so I thought I’d clarify. Actually, I wrote for PJ for about 10 years, the first few years as “neo-neocon” but in later years as Jean Kaufman. Then about a year or two ago they reorganized themselves and started using more in-house writers and dropped me and some others. (By the way, that link to “as neo-neocon” turns up not just my articles but some others in addition, for some reason. But my articles are also in there.)
I also have written for the Weekly Standard online edition.
Come to think of it, maybe I should put up links to those on the right sidebar.
Also, my friends and family all already know about my blog and my writing, although the vast majority never read the blog. So none of this is a secret among my friends and family. I don’t usually talk about the blog (or politics, for that matter) with people I meet casually, or with people who are just acquaintances, but people who know me well are well aware of what I do.
I’m reluctant to talk politics as well around friends and family, as most of mine are lefties. I like these people, and don’t want to cause trouble between us.
About 18 mos. ago, the National Guard was conducting exercises in Texas which had some of the locals wondering what the heck was going on. This was heavily reported in the MSM, and those who were concerned about the exercises were being ridiculed.
I attended a dinner party at the time, where the host brought this up, and chimed in about what yokels those Texans were who were making the fuss.
Without even thinking, I briefly but vigorously defended their right to be concerned, and the whole table immediately went silent. It was an awkward moment. One I deeply regret.
To make matters worse, instead of calling the host the next day and apologizing about spouting off, I let it go until our next encounter months later, where I made my uncomfortable Mea culpa.
To this day I don’t know what got into me. I usually know enough to keep my mouth shut. I was with this same group recently and am still embarrassed about my loose lips
I’ve always found it interesting in a none of my business but still interesting way when bloggers go by aliases. Like Ace of Spades, Allahpundit and others who have never to my knowledge published anything under their real names. Then you have others like Instapundit who uses an alias sort of while posting under his real name. On one hand I can see putting your name to your opinions if you are trying to influence public opinion but on the other hand the internet is a scary place with some creepy folks lurking around.
Haven’t read any of the suggested changes. but mine is “neofacts.com”.
So some ground rules have been set:
1. “Jean Kaufman” isn’t sufficiently descriptive.
2. “Neo” must be part of the new blog title.
OK, here goes.
URL: neonanette.com
Author’s nickname: Neo
Full blog title and subtitle: NeoNanette: thoughts from a conservative who rejected the Left’s embrace
Hmm. Still sounds like a joke. Not sure what’s been wrong with me lately.
Paul, whereas I can agree with you and Neo and many others about not roiling the waters, one of the reasons that the Left has owned the culture, the government, and the conversation for decades is precisely this failure of the Right to speak up and contest the Gramscian Marchers.
I don’t say I could do it either; obviously, Conservatives value friends and family more than Progressives do, as we aren’t willing to lose them and (by the evidence on the internet) they are perfectly fine with cutting us off.
Here’s a Progressive who has been mugged by that reality.
http://www.thegetrealmom.com/blog/viralblog
“To say the past two weeks have been taxing, would be an understatement. And while it’s lovely to hear huge news sites suddenly refer to me as an “influential mommy blogger” and “big time blogger”, I won’t sit here and pretend like my blog gets any usual clicks beyond friends and family. So while I do appreciate the accolades, lets call a spade a spade. My blog didn’t go viral because I’m an internet blogging sensation with a huge following. And while I’d love to think it went viral because my plight through the Disneyland restroom inspired other women to not stay silent, but instead speak up regardless of political correctness, I know exactly why it really went viral. It went viral because a few huge conservative sites took my words, twisted them, misrepresented who I am, what I believe and then plastered it as political clickbait. And boy did people click. Every hour of every day, a friend or family member was sending me links to articles from The Blaze, Conservative Tribune, etc to the affect of “Liberal mom gets what she had coming and finally sees the light on why transgender people are the problem in the world.”
….I dont even know where to begin with that headline…”
I don’t agree completely with the POV of the Blaze and others, but she DID see the light about SOME of the results of the progressive PC shaming scheme, and in her original post, it wasn’t just the Right giving her grief for being ashamed that none of the many women in the bathroom, including herself, so much as said “boo” to the un-transed MAN who took a stroll through the place peeking in the stalls.
Another bite of the apple on the PC dilemma for Progressives.
http://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=9962
There’s also the fact that the lunatics promoting this stuff truly believe it horrifies the sane, normal people out in squaresville. A big part of radicalism from the French Revolution to the present, is the desire to be shocking and outrageous. Radicalism, political or cultural, is mostly a temper tantrum by people who can accept the world as it is. Just as a spoiled child throws tantrums in public, the radical seeks to offend those they see as normal.
Then there is the Theodore Dalrymple observation from years ago:
“In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is…in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.”
That’s the lesson from this story about a good, progressive mother of small children, having to stand silently as a burly man, claiming to be a women, uses the lady’s room at Disneyland.
So yes… there were women and small children using the restroom and this man was walking around knowing no one would say anything. So here I am…writing this blog, because honestly I need answers. We can’t leave this situation ambiguous any more. The gender debate needs to be addressed… and quickly. There have to be guidelines. It can’t just be a feeling. I’m sorry. I wish it could, but it can’t.
A society in which no one knows the rules, except the rulers, is a society that cannot self-organize. It must fall into authoritarianism. In fact, it must embrace authoritarianism, because there must be order. Even the madness of North Korea beats anarchy, where it is a war of all against all. To no small degree, the people pushing the denial of biological reality are doing so in order to expand their authority over the rest of us.
“Actually, I wrote for PJ for about 10 years, the first few years as “neo-neocon” but in later years as Jean Kaufman. Then about a year or two ago they reorganized themselves and started using more in-house writers and dropped me and some others. (By the way, that link to “as neo-neocon” turns up not just my articles but some others in addition, for some reason. But my articles are also in there.)
I also have written for the Weekly Standard online edition.
Come to think of it, maybe I should put up links to those on the right sidebar.”
Second the motion.
I vote for “NeoLicious”!
Interesting dilemma, Neoneocon, I have often wondered whether you would ever rename your blog. Challenging on every level.
The name, neoneocon, is awfully catchy, though, so it’d be tough to match.
You could simply add in your name to the title of the blog.
You could create a hybrid, as you indicated keeping the neo part. Neo-notes. Or, Neo’s Notes. Or, Jean Kaufman, Neo’s Notes, then a subtitle.
Or you could shorten the name to simply Neon.
Or you could do two name changes over time, spend some time as “neoneocon Jean middle name Kaufman” and after a time, drop the neoneocon. Adding in your middle name would help distinguish your unique identity.
What is your middle name?
Good luck. I really appreciate and enjoy your blog.
@Neo – try wordoid.com – allows you to start with (or end, or contain) “neo” to generate catchy names and simultaneously search the registries to see if the .com and .net are available.
Also, try other tools here:
http://mashable.com/2013/11/17/domain-name-research-tools/
I kind of like “NeoJean” as it is unique and reflects how you’ve turned over a new leaf, so to speak. Or, maybe since you want to drop the “neo-con” portion, maybe it should reflect an even newer view with “NeoNeoJean”. Maybe this was suggested already (didn’t read thru all the comments).
Anyway, you can use the tools to work with “neo” and any other commenter’s suggestions, to come up with a list you might prefer and ask for input on those, if you like.
What I’ve come up with so far is neoconsiderations, which is available, and a search doesn’t turn up anything objectionable.
Or, maybe neoneocoda?
Coda is nice and short and sort of fits, even with your top illustration— plus neocoda and neoneocoda are available— because a coda relates an independent musical passage at the end of a composition to give a satisfactory close; to ballet, especially the final part of a pas de deux; any concluding summation.
The neo neo implies the conclusions can be investigative and ongoing.
Neoneocoda sounds like anaconda. I think neoanaconda -which is available- and has a certain tough ring to it too. The snake symbolizes wisdom, transformations, metamorphosis and healing and could be the snake offering the apple. It is also a creature cursed by some, not unlike neoconservatives:-)