Enjoyed by dozens
I have to admit that my revealed preference in leftist internet writing is BartCop,
which I have read since it started in the early nineties and used to be
called "Rush Limba: Lying Nazi Whore" (a name which is very difficult
to forget), and has ever since been my daily read. Me being just a
happy-go-lucky Finnish tech student back then, I learned quite a few
words and things and American culture tidbits from BartCop. When I
later wrote my third book, which was a Finnish-language textbook about
artificial intelligence and theory of computation, I actually used
Bart's Second Law as the heading quote in the reinforcement learning
chapter. (Paraphrased, the Second Law says that if someone makes a
mistake and that mistake ends up putting money in his pocket, you can
expect that mistake to keep happening again and again in the future.)
I still remember it all, even the prematurely triumphant issues that predicted how Gore is certainly going win by a landslide. I still haven't subscribed to the radio show, though. And where does he get all those daily cartoons with politicians' faces photoshopped on top of some pulp fiction dime novel cover? Is there some guy somewhere manufacturing them for him?
I guess I am not the only one reading this guy, since BartCop has his own Wikipedia article (which I understand requires certain readership numbers) and has contributed the delightful phrase "monkey mail" to the blogosphere lexicon. Now, as politically leftist sites go, BartCop is so over-the-top to be practically in its own stratosphere in its sheer looney tunes "Der hitler-monkey and his cronies steal 100 million dollars worth of oil every day" conspiracy theory peddling. Yet, I enjoy reading it and keep reading it every day to learn something new. What gives?
I later realized what separates BartCop from the majority of leftist sites: somehow, and I am not exactly sure how, but he gives at least a damn good impression that he is fighting for guys like me. Unlike many other leftist sites which see most decent people as little more than a wallet whose contents are used to finance the coming utopia, when I read BartCop I get the impression that I am among friends. It's absolutely amazing how much is forgiven once that one little requirement is fulfilled. I bet there is something useful that I could learn from this.
I still remember it all, even the prematurely triumphant issues that predicted how Gore is certainly going win by a landslide. I still haven't subscribed to the radio show, though. And where does he get all those daily cartoons with politicians' faces photoshopped on top of some pulp fiction dime novel cover? Is there some guy somewhere manufacturing them for him?
I guess I am not the only one reading this guy, since BartCop has his own Wikipedia article (which I understand requires certain readership numbers) and has contributed the delightful phrase "monkey mail" to the blogosphere lexicon. Now, as politically leftist sites go, BartCop is so over-the-top to be practically in its own stratosphere in its sheer looney tunes "Der hitler-monkey and his cronies steal 100 million dollars worth of oil every day" conspiracy theory peddling. Yet, I enjoy reading it and keep reading it every day to learn something new. What gives?
I later realized what separates BartCop from the majority of leftist sites: somehow, and I am not exactly sure how, but he gives at least a damn good impression that he is fighting for guys like me. Unlike many other leftist sites which see most decent people as little more than a wallet whose contents are used to finance the coming utopia, when I read BartCop I get the impression that I am among friends. It's absolutely amazing how much is forgiven once that one little requirement is fulfilled. I bet there is something useful that I could learn from this.
Thank You. I too have read for many years, and you nailed it. It is a place that you feel is like being with "friends". He's posted this to his site... as you probably already know... let's see if your meter starts-a-climbing!
... and now I'm off to discover your ideas.
Are you on the bartcop forum also...?
Posted by informed canuck | 10:23 AM
I've been reading Bart since he was just a sub-page on Perkel's site. I agree you've nailed it. And what I like best about him is the fact that he won't sell his opinion. You don't have to agree with him - but if you don't, be prepared to back up your opinion with facts and manners.
Bart was calling the mainstream media "whores" long before there was mediawhoresonline - and apparently, long after too. I subscribed before there was a radio show, and lately have enjoyed it just as much as the page.
Posted by Peregrin | 10:08 AM
Great layout, entertaining, alway a fresh, sardonic, caustic, a tongue in cheek "take no prisoners" outlook... what's not to like? His rhetoric is a little like some of the rabid GOP-ers in the 90s but there's a big difference... he's honest, at least attempts to be fair even when you piss him off and his instincts for creating a site that flows are on target day after day.
Oh, there is one thing really wrong with Bart. He vastly under-estimates his IQ.
Posted by Ken Carman | 1:53 PM