lgstarr: Celebrating 10 years of THE JAWA REPORT

There was a brief period of time between maybe 2004 - 2005 when blogs were going to change the world. I never bought into that. I always thought of myself as "just a blogger". But "just a blogger" seemed better than the alternative, which was to sit back and do nothing. It was during this time when blogs were the new black that we were involved to a minor extent in a number of minor media scandals. Those included exposing major news outlets hiring stringers with ties to terrorists and in the phenomenon of "fauxtography". In fact, the post that drew more attention in 10 years than any other was the one which exposed a photo taken by a stringer in Lebanon as doctored proving that, in fact, many of those covering the war with Israel had an agenda. Reuters later fired the stringer and was forced to recall the photo (see pic at beginning of this post above). Hooray for blogs!

But I didn't start this blog to change the world. I started it to directly confront our enemies. To annoy them. To make fun of them. To be a thorn in their side. And that's what I've done.

And more:

I have never been one with either the inclination nor the ability to refrain from confronting evil when it needs to be confronted and it is in my power to do so.

Moreover, what I'm doing here isn't really all that important on the grand scale of things. The men and women in Afghanistan are the ones really confronting evil. Me, using a pen name, from the safely of my internet connection, what am I really doing?

In one sense I am not much better than the leftists and Islamist apologists that I started this blog to counter. They criticize the real heroes safely removed from reality by an internet connection. I confront those we fight from that same safety.

But if I am unable to carry a rifle the least I am able to do is defend those that do. And if I am not in the position to kill the enemies of America, then I am honor bound to do what I can do to make their lives moderately less pleasant.

I started this blog with the intent of being a minor nuissance. I think I've done that here. It's a low bar, I know, but this is a blog. A web log. A personal diary of my thoughts and the thoughts of a few of my friends. I never expected it to last 10 years. I never expected to do anything more than amuse myself and maybe a few of my friends. The fact that I've been able to do any good with it and have any impact at all means I've exceeded all of my hopes and expectations for it.

Thank you all for making this blog a success and for your support over the years. I literally couldn't have done any of it without you.