Halt

I've been happy to carry on with this blog over the last few weeks, and I've even had the pleasant feeling that something that might be termed a "style" was emerging and evolving. But I've been disappointed by certain negative reactions expressed by individuals (in France) who are relatively close to me and who should normally know me well enough to respect the integrity of my motivations. One person started the ball rolling by saying that she was shocked by my shamelessness (lack of pudeur) in displaying a medical image of my head and describing a minor health problem that occurred over a year ago. Another person suggested that it's not correct for me to talk about neighbors, and show images of them. That person even went on to state that I didn't have the right to display an image of my daughter in bed. A little later, another person hinted politely at the same kind of criticism, suggesting that my blog style might be acceptable in America or Australia, but not in France. It was suggested that I might use initials to refer to real individuals, and refrain from showing photos of them... unless, of course, they had formally authorized me to do so. The person who made this suggestion added that, as far as she herself was concerned, it was entirely out of the question that I should ever refer to her in my blog by her real name.

Meanwhile, as far as Australian readers are concerned (for whom I first imagined this blog), there hasn't been much feedback, neither as incorporated comments, nor as e-mail. So, it's a little like speaking in an empty room. Incidentally, somebody suggested that the only reason why I have often criticized Bush and his catastrophe in Iraq (based upon lies and stupidity) was merely... to irritate my Australian aunt and uncle! Needless to say, this totally absurd interpretation of my motivations, disregarding my moral convictions on themes such as warfare and torture, sickened me.

For these reasons, I've decided to halt my blog for the time being. Later on, I'll decide whether this halt should be transformed into a definitive termination of the blog and the deletion of existing messages.