VFR’s birthday

Today is the tenth anniversary of the founding of View from the Right by Jim Kalb. The first VFR entry, by Mr. Kalb, dated April 20, 2002, is entitled, “Off to the Races!” It reads in part:

A problem with being a right-winger is that we’re constantly being drenched in what we reject. The media and experts are always with us, and on the whole they’re on the left…. It’s hard to see what will change that.

So we right-wingers are always having to edit, supplement and reformat the things we’re presented with. That of course is healthy mental exercise, but one man can’t do it all. So whatever any of us can do, it seems to me he should share.

I had been in close communication with Mr. Kalb while he was developing the site, and gave some suggestions which he adopted, relating to the font and also the site’s nickname. I suggested “VFR” rather than “VftR.” I also commented frequently, and a month later he invited me onboard. My first entry, “The man who resisted liberty and diversity,” is a light and humorous take on a passage from Plutarch, or rather a mistranslation of Plutarch. My second entry, “The neocons go left,” is more substantive, and opens a theme that has been central to VFR: the steady movement of conservatives, whether “neo” or “mainstream,” to the left.

In 2003, Jim decided to create a new blog, Turnabout , and offered to hand VFR over to me. I was at first hesitant to take on full responsibility for the site, but eventually said yes and I was glad I did. I am the beneficiary of Jim’s web skills, as I could never have created the site with its particular look and features on my own.

You can trace the entire history of VFR at this page, which links every VFR entry (over 20,000 of them) from the beginning, starting from the bottom.

- end of initial entry -

David G. writes:

I believe that when the the next generation begins to understand what the Internet has wrought from a conservative perspective, VFR will show up as one of the seminal forces that maintained the integrity and profundity of traditional political thought while significantly adding to it. In other words, VFR is a part of American History. Happy Birthday, VFR.

Paul T. writes:

Happy birthday VFR!

…. and here’s to another ten years of blogging, if you can stand it :).

In heartfelt admiration,

April 21

Buck writes:

I’ve spoken before about how important discovering VFR has been to me, to my confidence and my late and struggling development. Nowhere exists a more focused, yet so broad and deep, compendium of thinking and resources about man’s nature and what transcends it. VFR has pulled the world together for me into something manageable, in the sense that events are no longer flying off into space (my mind) in a hundred directions; they are now all tethered to something that I can actually begin to understand and be confident about.

VFR, though, is a double-edged sword. It cuts through the debris of human history and modern histrionics, strips man bare and exposes us for what we are; what we will always be when constrained only by other men, when we stand and act alone. It’s the other edge of the sword, which, after exposing me for what I am, leaves me unsure about what’s next. Even as you, Lawrence, deftly slice through events here, gently paring back the dying, diseased cells to point out what is yet alive and healthy inside. I have yet to accept that there is something important that I can actually do, other than keep paddling up stream with others; even as you and others consistently encourage, that there is only One Way to get out of this alive.

CO writes:

VFR is the pillar of the traditionalist movement. It is the Sun the other traditionalist blogs revolve around.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 20, 2012 07:14 PM | Send