400 post milestone

I started this blog in October, 2012 with the purpose of providing a platform for sharing my ideas. I continue to thank my dear friend Greg Rosenberg for the suggestion that I start writing a blog, even though I rejected his initial suggestion. Initially, I published a post almost weekly, about 50 per year, but since I have no desire to simply add noise to the the fray and I want to contribute unique ideas to my readers, in recent years, my publication rate has slowed to between 1-2 posts per month. As of now, I have published 400 posts, so it seemed worthwhile to reflect on my blogging experience to date.

I continue to find it amazing that the internet spreads my blog all over the world, and for readers who are interested in what my most popular posts have been, here are my top 10 most read posts.

1. Losing Sheila’s Smile (2019)-discussing the tragic murder of my friend Sheila and urging common sense gun control legislation to prevent more needless death.
2. Open Letter to the Baraboo School Board (2018)-addressing the high school students’ posed Nazi salute.
3. Disrespectful Justice (2016)-describing why Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley is unfit to serve on that or any other court.
4. The Jewish Green Book (2022)-provides original source history on a fascinating piece of Jewish history from the early 20th Century.
5. Double Chai חַי‎=Double Life (2018)-written in honor of my 36th wedding anniversary with my wonderful wife, Sheryl.
6. First Amendment Hypocrisy (2018)-a follow up to my Open Letter to the Baraboo School Board.
7. After the Flood (2018)-urging long range flood mitigation after a calamitous flood in Madison.
8. Pessimism is a Tool of White Oppression (2020)-discussing why we cannot give in to pessimism even in the face of ongoing tragedies.
9. Republican Racist Death Cult (2020)-calling the anti-COVID mitigation campaign of the Republican party what it is.
10. Special Needs Voucher Scam Fully Revealed (2016)-explaining why Republican legislation to give public money to people to send their children with disabilities to private school is nothing more than a scam which bleeds our public schools dry.

The bulk of my readers come from the United States. But over 7% of my posts come from 146 other nations and territories. The countries outside of the US which have the most viewers of my blog are:

1. Canada
2. Mexico
3. United Kingdom
4. Israel
5. Australia
6. Germany
7. India
8. Ireland
9. Philippines
10. Brazil

Another writer recently asked me what I have learned in all the years that I have been writing so many blog posts. In addition to hopefully becoming a better writer with so much practice, I have learned that:

• Pictures are an important way to get reader’s attention.
• My Jewish related posts are more popular than I expected, and account for 4 of my 10 most read posts.
• I can never predict which of my posts will be widely read and which will not be read by many.
• Although I rigorously include links to support factual claims which I make, most readers never click on the supporting links that I provide.
• I still have unique ideas to share, but I have exhausted my backlog of ideas which I am willing to share publicly, accounting for the slower rate of my posts in the past few years.
• Relatively few readers comment directly on my posts, although many comment on them in Facebook posts.
• Many people find my posts through web searches and social media sites that I do not post on, such as Reddit.
• Occasionally, my posts are republished (with permission of course) by other media sites.
• On a number of occasions, my posts have helped lead to policy change.
• Many of my posts are blended essays in which I blend my personal opinions and experience with fact based narrative.

I always welcome suggestions for topics to write about. While I may not use your suggestions, I sometimes do, and even if I do not, they will still provide me with food for thought.

Finally, I truly appreciate my readers, who have provided many thoughtful comments, either directly on my blog, via Facebook, or privately to me via e-mail or in conversation. It inspires me to keep writing when readers tell me that they appreciate what I have written and that they learn something from my posts. As my readers know, I believe that our world’s problems can only be dealt with through critical thinking. As I have said before, failure to think critically results in people behaving like sheep and eventually those sheep are led to slaughter.

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For more information on how I can help you accomplish progressive, effective systems change, contact me,  Jeff Spitzer-Resnick by visiting my web site: Systems Change Consulting.