Tiberge: "Three years ago there was much more talk"

We should expect cycles of low and high activity in both right-wing and left-wing blogs.

"but the main reason for the decrease seems to be discouragement, if not despair on the part of bloggers who saw their hopes dashed with the election of Nicolas Sarkozy, the blunders of Jean-Marie Le Pen, and the virtual uselessness of individuals like Philippe de Villiers who promised so much, but did not follow through."

I think there is a particular problem in france. The somewhat eccentric traditional french ultra-right (even its royalist section!) had largely absorbed the ultra-left ideology of the 1789 french revolution. They supported the idea of france as a civic nation, with a centralized strong administration, and a colonial empire. For example, part of their ideology was that the Breton language should be abolished and replaced with the french language. Even french popular culture should be destroyed as much as possible, and replaced with a kind of subsidized state culture. There is much in common between the french state ideology and the more recent leftist, anti-western ideology. The french ultra-right had an incoherent ideology and had soaked a lot of the french left-wing statist ideology. A problem arose when the french government tried to combine its 1789 philosophy with the ideology of race-replacement. The problem is that third-world immigrants can not be transformed into Europeans as easily as Bretons and Corsicans can be transformed into cheese-eating universalistic frenchmen.
In france, as in other western countries, many have denounced the immigration policy and the destructive agenda of the left. Unfortunately, when they tried to organize, they found themselves under the direction of old-style, inadequate leaders who came from the french ultra-right tradition, people who put more faith in the french state than in the white race. I think the solution is to build new organizations from scratch.

"I still have a plethora of excellent blogs to choose from: François Desouche, Le Salon Beige, Yves Daoudal, Bernard Antony, Le Conservateur, Gérard Pince, to name a few."

I don't know all of them, but I'm afraid the authors of those blogs would be more saddened by the independance of Brittany than by the replacement of the entire Paris population by non-whites.

There isn't time for despair. The few self-starting people who brought us all to this, never quit. We must never quit.

Quote:"Finally, I note that Obama could be a blessing in disguise for conservative bloggers. I'll leave figuring the reason why as an exercise for the reader".

Dem' Congress, (Dem' Senate, Dem' House of Reps) Dem' President.

Dem' bones, Dem' bones, Dem' dry bones...

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/images/bex/prisoner_1.jpg

As a disclaimer, I did not read those blogs, and if they did support Le Pen, then I would have disagreed with them.

Having said that, I can see why people give up: predicting the "fall of Europe" day after day is pretty frustrating, when life goes on as usual, year after year, for the vast majority of people.  At bottom, the mistake made by conservative blggers is the same as the mistake of people who do not read them: thinking that they know for certain what is going to happen.  The most conservative bloggers assume that the fall of Europe is certain; other people assume that the fall will certainly not happen.  The bloggers are likely to get frustrated much earlier.

Finally, I note that Obama could be a blessing in disguise for conservative bloggers. I'll leave figuring the reason why as an exercise for the reader.

I don't think blogs are too intellectual. They can be useful and stimulating, even when they only serve an incrowd. But you have to be realistic and understand your place in the grand scheme of things: do you have a blog to vent your own frustration, or as part of broader political activism with REAL commitment and original input?

No personal offense to Tiberge, but 'despairing' about Europe's future because you feel your blog and online activism don't have enough impact in the real world is an over-the-top response and really just a bit... wimpy. What is the meaning of good old (conservative?) truths like "nothing worthwile is easy to get", if you don't apply them to yourself? If this despair is real and heartfelt, plus est en vous.

Correct !!

blogosphere is too intellectual most people just don't care. They are also too much influenced by the meaningless rubbish and PC-clichés that mainstream mass-media pour over them. Intellectual debate just doesn't exist anymore, and can't have substantial influence on the whole of society that has become too mediatised.

What we need is real resistance (legal and organisatory) in society and a new "march thru the institutions" so we can control media and academics/education. Thats what the left has done ! It's the secret of their succes !

If there's one thing that Obama's election, which is a farce and tragedy, has learned me that we overestimate the power of intellectual debate and democratic processes.

We just want to play the game fair, that's why we have lost today and will loose many times more.

Those hippies in the sixties didn't just write pamphlets; they intimidated the establishment by organizing mass meetings, by infiltrating labor unions, by massively overtaking and influencing pop culture, media, academia, schools and government institutions. Even the churches felt they had to accommodate the "new times" -- thereby effectively committing sepuku. There were plenty of examples of guys dropping out of academia or their office job to join their beloved "proletariat" on the factory floor and to organize them from the bottom up. Now that's something I can respect! And even though the big revolution never really happened, all this commotion did create a wave big enough to keep surfing even today. Because of this wave, the many things they wouldn't or couldn't overtake, like police and military (or plain old Reality with a capital R), still ended up on a leash. In the end, it all worked and they became the new establishment because, unlike the stereotype of marijuana-smoking slackers with a hygiene problem, many of these guys were highly dedicated at the time and had the will to give up anything and WIN.

So dude, give me a break... did you really think you're going to change the world with maintaining a few blogs? Do you get tired not seeing results after merely three years of publishing on websites most people don't even know exist? Making an impact does not mean being glued to your laptop with the occasional visit to some blogosphere meeting in some fancy restaurant. It means getting of your ass, dedicating your entire spare time or even your entire life to a cause and doing all that in the real world. We live in the age of true mass democracy, so if you really want to make an impact, you have to meet the standard that was set many decades ago. Right now, that means you have to become media-savvy as a real life organizer or academic. E.g. in Western Europe, too many top notch economists and political scientists retreat in ivory tower think tanks and have virtually no popular output, when it's they who could be the core of a new wave. Or if that's not possible (you're not smart enough to be an academic, not particularly "charismatic" or not gifted as an orator), join one of the institutions like your local church, party, school, army or police force and try to make a positive difference there. But please, if you're not willing to make that sort of commitment (and that's perfectly understandable in itself), keep your despair to yourself. Give us inspiration instead.