Ornoth

Lordy Lordy!

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 21:46:18 GMT

If identity politics is your jam, you may find this post in poor taste. I’m sorry. I’m not here to criticize how you or anyone lives their life. But if you’re incapable of finding any humor in the situation, this probably isn’t suitable for you. And I admit that my stale humor’s probably ten years out of date. But having said that…

O.L. Reigns!

I find it interesting that folks have taken identity politics to the point where they are able to choose to alter something as objectively verifiable as their genetic race or sex and impose respect of that preference upon the population at large. Yes, I know I’m conflating sex and gender; it’s hard not to, given that most people present them as the same.

What’s interesting to me here isn’t the interplay of race/gender/sex and society, but the ability of an individual to override an attribute that is as seemingly inherent and immutable as one’s chromosomes: an attribute determined not by social convention but by the laws of nature. I’m not saying it’s wrong to do so; just that it’s an interesting development.

Which becomes the springboard for my own take on the matter. If an individual is allowed to alter something as seemingly fixed and measurable as their race or sex – and enforce that preference – then it should be considerably easier for an individual to change an attribute that’s an entirely man-made social construct. For example, our legal and corporate systems give full sanction when people change their names, or spouses, or families.

In that spirit, I’d like to announce a change in my own public identity. I am pleased to inform you that I now identify as nobility, rather than one of the common folk. You shall henceforth address us as “Lord Ornoth”.

This should be quite easy for you to adapt to. After all, we are merely taking a different place within an entirely man-made social convention: that of socioeconomic class.

And according to public discourse, it’s a minuscule step to go from a hetero middle class white male Boomer to traditional titled nobility. It’s hardly any change at all! Nowhere near the magnitude of changing something inborn such as one’s race or gender.

Your obedience shall please us. With kindest regards,

Lord Ornoth

P.S. Oh and one final thing you might want to be aware of: I also now identify as a little teapot.

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さようなら LiveJournal!

Sat, 26 Feb 2022 18:53:26 GMT

It’s finally time for us to move on, LiveJournal.

You and I had a good run together. Twenty years, in fact, since our relationship started back in 2002. 1,350 journal entries, between my general and cycling blogs.

But boy have you changed. In 2007 you were bought out by a Russian company, but I stayed loyal to you when most of my friends left for your alter-ego: Dreamwidth.

Since then you have: fired your American staff, broke a promise by relocating your servers to Russia, adopted partisan Russian censorship policies in your terms of service, prohibited other blogging platforms from crossposting to LJ, and made it difficult for users to export their existing blog entries to other systems.

I don’t know at what point your behavior crossed the line, but it obviously has. At this point, my earlier choice to distinguish between LJ’s policies and those of the Russian state seems naïve.

With that distinction removed, it becomes much harder to pay for a service hosted in an authoritarian country that is engaged in a clandestine hacking war upon the United States, and an unjustifiable invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

Between LiveJournal’s own policies and those of the Russian state, things have finally gone too far. So after 20 years with you, I’ve finally joined Dreamwidth, who will host my general and cycling blogs going forward.

Yup. Twenty years, beginning on February 16 2002 with this post, where I shortsightedly stated, “You shouldn't expect to see very much in the way of public postings.” That was the first of 1,350 entries (so far).

I found it telling that I observed that 20th anniversary by posting a status update on my Facebook, rather than LJ. Previously, I’d written about my feelings on the fifth anniversary and the tenth anniversary of my blog.

Henceforth all new postings will appear on Dreamwidth, where I’ve imported all my old LJ posts and settings. As you might expect, a few things didn’t come across perfectly, but I’ll try and iron those out over time. If you notice anything missing, broken, or ugly, I’d appreciate if you let me know.

As a reader – however infrequently that might be – you can expect my blogs to continue as they always have, save for the obvious change of domain name. Hopefully the only change you’ll notice will be a return to posting more often.

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