Via Crooked Timber, I hear that
For those of you who lied, twisted, cheated and bullied until the least worst choice available to me was to close the site, congratulations. You've won. I hope it was worth it. It would be ungracious of me to hope that bad things happen to you in return, so I'll merely take solace in my knowledge that you have to go through life having a personality like that... Good work, fellas.
And not on my blogroll, but visited occasionally in the past few months, objectivist libertarian blogger Arthur Silber is giving up, citing health problems, poverty and public indifference to his writing as reasons. His story seems familiar somehow.
Some of my critics tell me (to quote one of them) that I should "grow the fuck up." What they mean by that is that, instead of offering what I'm able to do–my writing–in exchange for voluntary donations, I should turn myself over to the state. In that manner, all of you will have to support me indirectly whether you want to or not, and I won't have to do anything at all in return. Of course, the state may not treat me very well but, after all, beggars can't be choosers. Today, that's what it means to "grow up."But since this hasn't worked out and since there is no market for what I do, except one that is so negligible that it doesn't matter, I will now follow their advice. Next week, I'll turn myself over to the State of California. I'll let them figure out what's wrong with me physically, and decide whether and how they will deign to treat it. I'll let them decide where and how I should live, and how much money I should get, if any.
From what I've read of his writings, I'd say he deserves better.
