Oh, #@*%&$!
Many people miss U.S.S. Clueless' Steven Den Beste since he stopped blogging. Today, I learned why he stopped:
"I've been suffering for years from a genetically-caused degenerative disease. For the last year or so, the only way I was able to continue posting was by taking increasing doses of very powerful stimulants. (Understand that they were palliative; there's no cure or treatment for the underlying disease, and no one knows what causes it....Those prescription drugs have serious side effects which I put up with in order to be able to keep writing for the site."
Unfortunately, some of those side effects have been permanent - and his condition continues to deteriorate, which means he'd have to take even more of those drugs to resume blogging. That isn't an option as Steven notes:
"....I posted for three and a half years, and made a small contribution to getting this nation through the worst part of the crisis. I cannot help any longer; you'll have to rely on other people now to carry the load. I gave it everything I had to give; there's nothing left now."
Yes, he did, at a time when we needed him very badly. If you don't believe that, just read David's comments section, and notice how many blogs started and minds changed because of USS Clueless.
If you know Steven Den Beste, you know he has scanned every medical lead there is to scan by now. He's very categorical about this: there's no cure on the horizon for him, not in time. He's also quite emphatic about not wanting pity, or suggestions, or offers of assistance or potential cures.
Sometimes I guess there's just not enough rocks.
David of Rishon Rishon responds by simply saying "thank you." I think that's the right response.
Thank you Steven Den Beste for the insights you brought.
Thank you for you diligent research, and the patient explanatory style that gave your readers a crash course in human affairs, international relations, and the war we now find ourselves in. You opened up the thinking behind your point of view in a way that few blogs ever have, and shared your intelligence with us all.
Thank you for always taking the time to answer your voluminous email inbox, an even more amazing feat given what we know now. The mark of a scholar and a gentleman.
Thank you for stepping into the breach after 9/11, and making deep and lasting personal sacrifices because you felt you were needed. You were - and knowing what we know now reminds us what a citizen should be made of.
Thank you for the role you played in making the blogosphere what it is today. It would have been a different place without you.
Just... thank you, Steven.
Best Comment: T.J. Madison (#9): "Nobody will ever be able to claim that he died 'with his music still in him.' And that's all anyone can really ask for."
Additional Thought: It's pretty clear from reading Steven's explanation that this is a fatal disease. I think we should start some kind of fund or other effort to keep USS Clueless online somewhere in perpetuity. It's way too valuable to lose, a valuable historical record as well as a resource site. In the meantime, you can get an official ZIP file of his entire archives (17.7 MB) if you want it.
When I found that Joe had linked one of my early analyses, I was chuffed. When I saw that he'd put mine up against SDB's, I was honoured.
Thanks, Steven.
How about getting him to do this: http://www.blogbinders.com/
and then it could be sold through Amazon?
The rishon-rishon comments thread adds an unexpectedly intimate touch to a person most of us had come to know only electronically, and only through ideas. I'm glad to have emailed Den Beste to say 'thanks for your writing.' That's my lesson going forward: to show more appreciation for the efforts of folks I respect, in person and online, in ways that they, well, may appreciate.
Merry Christmas and keep well, Mr. Den Beste.
I caught his works just as the blogosphere was starting to really get noticed. If I had only known sooner. Thnx Mr. Steven, and best of luck.
Joe, I had the same thought re: Steven's archives. I have a snapshot up on the Electric Minds server here which was put up with Steven's blessing. I'll keep it there as long as our own server stays up (and, sometime soon, I'll get a refresh of it from his most recent snapshot).
Reading SDB's essays on the arab world, and the essays in his Essential Library (at USS Clueless) is the first step in educating oneself on the greatest threat to freedom in the world. Den Beste provided an incredibly valuable service. That information must be preserved.
Since we never know how much time we have, it's good to say and write things that are timeless. So Steven Den Beste will not fade away.
Den Beste was a voice of hope, reason, and encouragement to me, back in those dark days when so many of us had to shake ourselves out of "the quiet dogmas of the past".
Words save blood, the pen is mightier than the sword, and weapons win battles but ideas win wars. That's why Steven Den Beste is a hero.
I'm very sorry to hear why one of my favorite blogs went inactive in the Blogosphere.
These degenerative disease processes are not well understood by modern medical science. This is very unsettling to hear about. Count me in any fund if that will help.
On a slightly different note, here's a related issue that the Blogosphere can take immediate action.
HSPIG is tracking a breaking story re a new book, Vaccine-A by Gary Matsumoto. Matsumoto is an investigative reporter of some note. In this book Matsumoto is reporting facts he has uncovered that if true demonstrates a forensic link between the anthrax vaccine (2nd generation) and Gulf War Syndrome. The link is an adjuvant (booster) squalene that ramps up the immune system to stimulate a more intense response by the body to generate more antibodies.
The only problem as claimed in Mastumoto's book is in some people the body's own immune sytem begins to attack itself. This generates a whole cluster of auto-immune disease processes, including MS, ALS, and rheumatoid arthritis. These are all generative diseases.
For further info see:
Link Here
and
Link Here
Ron Wright, Moderator
HSPIG Forums Site
www.hspig.org
I was usually very suspicious of SDB's reasoning on political matters, but quite impressed by his explanations of technical matters. It's very unfortunate to hear that he's going down for the count. Well, at least he'll go down watching some damn fine anime.
Nobody will ever be able to claim that he died "with his music still in him." And that's all anyone can really ask for.
I'll second that.
It's a damn pity his voice has been silenced by illness and netcritics.
The WoT is complex, and there's a real need for just the sort of clear reasoning and writing that Mr. Den Beste exemplified (hell, if every side of the argument was reasoning and communicating at that level, the political discourse in this country would be simply amazing). While I'm grateful his writing was there after the confusion post-9/11 and in the buildup to Gulf II, I sure do miss it now, and often wonder what he'd make of the current situation (and whatever comes after that).
Well, for what it's worth, thanks. Discussions about denbeste.nu are part of what got me into blogging (the sincerest form of flattery, eh?), and if I can ever write half as well, I'll consider that quite an accomplishment.
May your days be many and your troubles be few.
Dear, Steven Den Beste
I would like to see if I could get your help, here is a network I have designed its call (Wi-CDMrA 5.8Ghz) Wireless-Firewall Code Division Multi Random Access
http://www.map2010.com/network
copyright.2006 MAP2010
I wept loudly and peed in my pants when I read of Steven's dread disease.
Truly he is a fallen warrior and I hope one day that I can express my love for him in person.