Sullivan is hanging it up

"I want to let you know I’ve decided to stop blogging in the near future" — Andrew Sullivan, today, to his readers.

I can't say I'm surprised. Sullivan mentions health issues: "not HIV-related," but rather the "result of fifteen years of daily, hourly, always-on-deadline stress" — another way of saying, mental bombardment. My daily routine isn't nearly as unforgiving as Sullivan's; I've no million readers or 30,000 subscribers to please every day, and candidly, I've never wanted that many. There's a heavy and brutal price to be paid for what's called online "success," which Sullivan is now paying. I'm poor but mostly content in my meager ways. Could I stand to triple my readership and thus at least crawl out of poverty? You bet your ass. But even at that, I'd still be the master of my domain, rather than the slave of a relentlessly demanding site.

Sullivan's had enough of those relentless demands. He's pulling out, and one could read this development between his lines for the last few weeks. Something just seemed, well, off. Although his writing remained top-notch, it seemed infused with a certain yet inexpressible discontent. So I'm not surprised he's hanging it up. I wish him all the best.

I'd also like to thank Mr. Sullivan for his past "Blog Love" link to this site and his occasional linking to particular pieces here. I have heard from many of you that you found my site through The Dish, and I must say what's unique about that is rarely do such major sites acknowledge the small ones. Sullivan and his staff never played the insider-bloggers' "club" game; if they found a piece interesting or worthy of note, they noted it, and it made no difference that its author was not of national notoriety. That helped my overall readership a great deal, it was damned refreshing, wonderfully democratic, and just plain decent of them.

I shall miss Andrew Sullivan.       

 

Comments

[Anne J]

Proud to be one of your loyal readers since I first discovered you through Buzzflash almost twelve years ago now. I, for one, would love for you to stay around just a little bit longer...but only if you want to.

[Robert Swartz]

Ditto, PM. I found you through Andrew's blog, and many other great discoveries. I was stunned, but not surprised by his announcement today; like you, I've noticed something off on the site the last few weeks.

I think the whole TNC race/Murray re-hash took a toll, and you have to wonder if attending the Colbert farewell helped prod him along.

[Peter G]

It is sad to watch the slow relentless descent into saneness of such a person. When he first came onto my radar screen it was via one of his polemics with which I profoundly disagreed. And in the only time I ever personally engaged with him I was an asshole. Like most of the other herd that was replying to him. I've always regretted that. He is a decent person with whom I happen to frequently disagree. I've never understood how he did it,or you for that matter, and generated so much that was worthy of consideration and thought. No more than I understand my own compulsion to read and engage. I presume though, that one day we'll all get better like Andrew Sullivan has done. It's like watching someone leave group therapy sessions. All better now.