Thank you, and good-bye
The Shona proverb I cite most often is chisingapere chinoshura. It’s often used to console those enduring hardship, or to help people maintain a sense of perspective at the end of some venture. Sadly, the time has come for me to speak that proverb over myself and this blog.
Outside In has been going for almost two years now. Over that period, I’ve had the immense pleasure and privilege of writing about life in Ireland, as well as commenting on global current affairs. I’ve learnt an incredible amount, and have relished the privilege of discussing, debating and sometimes just fighting with all sorts of people – important public figures, anonymous internet users, and Mark, my housemate. I am grateful to, and humbled by, all those who have taken the time to read the things that I’ve written, those who have gone on to share their own views, and most of all, those who became part of the Outside In community.
So why stop now? Part of the reason is that I don’t really have much else to say about the underlying debate informing all the issues discussed on this blog. I can’t say precisely what that underlying debate is, but it definitely involves questions around the possibility of making claims for justice and recognition from a position of difference, be that with respect to global poverty, migration or multiculturalism. One of the philosophers I am currently reading, Alasdair MacIntyre, suggests that people within liberal societies have a tendency towards engaging in debate for its own sake, even though there is no hope of resolving those debates. The existence of such debate, he suggests, merely serves to create the impression that various positions are being taken into consideration, when in reality that is not the case; not really. True to my resolution at the beginning of the year, I refuse to Bug Out.
One could argue that I have just given a reason to carry on blogging. Spending the next two years trying to move beyond debate for its own sake, or trying to understand why MacIntyre’s critique of modern Western society holds so much water would be time well spent. Maybe one day. For now, I’m tired. I have too much else on my plate. There are other questions, other tasks, which for me are currently more pressing.
So, here ends this particular journey. I leave you in the very able hands of my colleagues, the other Irish Times bloggers. To quote another Shona saying, vakambowonana havashayane, which basically means, ‘till we meet again…’
Slán.
