This is where we affirm who we are, what we stand for, and what we want to see happen.
Sometimes I like to do these posts, telling you what’s up.
For instance, here’s a look at the ages of the people that visit this site:
So as you can see, 58% of this site’s audience is under the age of 45.
Most, or 23%, are between the ages of 25 and 34.
So I have a young and young-ish audience, or at least an audience that is knowledgeable about those issues and wants to learn more.
What are those issues?
Things like student debt, poverty, endless wars, political corruption, and politicians that don’t really care about you.
Denise Juneau is 49, Steve Bullock is 50, Monica Lindeen is 54, Jon Tester is nearly 60, Linda McCullough is 61, Nancy Keenan is 64.
Now, not everyone in the Montana Democratic Party is a fossil.
Jesse Laslovich is 35 and Melissa Romano is 38.
And really, is 50 years that old?
Hell, I’m 35 and I bet many 18-year-olds don’t trust me or want to hear what I have to say…despite the 13% traffic I get from that age group.
I guess what I’m trying to say is…who are you talking to?
Take Bullock – who are you talking to?
Probably people your own age, right? I mean, those are often the easiest to identify with.
So it’s probably a good guess that I’ll be talking to people that are about 35, and my analytics from Google make that clear.
Perhaps that’s why I take the tone that I do.
Many people have told me they do not like the tone of this website.
Well fuck you.
Just walk the fuck right on out of here, because I don’t care.
I don’t.
I know damn well that the main reason people are coming to this site is because of the tone.
Sure, if you’re in your 50s you might not like it but I bet a lot of downtrodden and feeling-hopeless individuals my age or younger like it.
Hell, I know they like it – Google tells me as much.
And boy, do they keep coming.
That’s an image of my site’s traffic from January 2015 to today.
Things were pretty static until around November 2015 and that’s when my steady rise began.
Back then I was getting about 300 unique visits from Google a day, but today it’s around 600.
And don’t think that’s all – what we’re looking at now is just the traffic that Google detects because people are using that search engine.
How about all those that use a different search engine, click over from Amazon, get here through a sidebar link, or even use a bookmark?
So these numbers are low but I’m so happy to show them to you.
And why shouldn’t I be?
Well, the answer to that is simple – confidence.
I’m confident in what I do and what I say.
I feel extremely confident that my traffic will only go up, especially as more and more Montanans realize who I am and what I do.
Oh, a lot of you older and more established folks might not like it – or that damn tone – but so what?
What have you done for me lately?
We talked about that a lot in September of last year, this idea of ‘what have you done for me lately?’
Well, what have you done?
- Maybe you represent me, either at the local or statewide level.
- Maybe you write your thoughts out in the newspaper or on a blog.
- Maybe you even write out 140 characters on Twitter or put up a fancy Facebook post.
Awesome!
So…how is that helping me?
I write most everyday on this site…how is that helping you?
Is it?
Or is what I’m doing just a complete waste of time?
Hell, maybe I’m just digging a huge grave for myself with this site, my writings, my honest opinions, and that God-awful tone of mine.
Maybe.
But maybe not.
Hell, maybe I’m building a platform with this site that I can use to get the word out, developing an audience that can be mobilized, and putting out opinions that could change the dialogue and alter the discussion.
Maybe.
Or I could just be deluding myself.
Yeah, I can hear those older politicians laugh.
Strandberg – ha! That dumb fuck will always be a loser!
Maybe.
But maybe I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and those that take offense will just keep takin' it.
They’re a small minority, and they get offended because they make taxpayer money and then get called out on decisions they made while making it.
Well that’s easy – go back to the private sector where you belong, if your skin is so thin you can’t take an attack.
Oh, and is giving my honest opinion an attack?
If I call you a failure, stupid, dumb, idiotic, nincompoop-ish, or downright silly...is that an attack?
I guess it could be.
Well, grow up then.
Get a thick skin.
Get tough.
I cannot begin to tell you how many people complain to me – either on the phone, through email, or sometimes in person – that they don’t like my site.
These are always Democrats. Not once have I had a Republican tell me that the site is too much.
Oh, the weakness - the weakness of Democrats!
I have so many 1-star reviews on my books on Amazon, people giving their honest opinion of what they think.
Boy, I don’t like seeing those come through, but you know what – come through they do.
There is absolutely nothing I can do about that, for Amazon won’t remove those.
So they sit there, for me and everyone to see.
I have to live with that, knowing that people giving their honest opinions about my work is just part of the job, something I signed up for when I put myself out there for all the world to see and comment upon.
You politicians and public servants have to live with the same thing.
So grow up, get a backbone, develop that thick skin, and start winning.
Montanans hate weakness, but from most of our political elite in the state, that’s all they get.
And that’s why you hear from me in the way you hear from me.
That ain’t gonna change.