One of our commenters, Brian, recently had a fine idea: having a few fellow Dalrymple readers get together for dinner and drinks in Manhattan, where some of us live and/or work. Clint and I have had the pleasure of meeting many Dalrymple readers at various events over the years and have always been impressed with them and in particular with the Skeptical Doctor readers and commenters and look forward to meeting more. It turns out our friend Gavin, who does heroic work running the excellent Dalrymple Forum and associated Twitter account and who also rebuilt our website (he’s a very talented pro at this stuff), will be making his first trip to New York next week, so we thought this would be the perfect time for a meetup. As such, we are looking at Wednesday night, July 8, at a restaurant or bar still to be determined. No, Dalrymple himself will not be there, but I am sure we will have a good time anyway.
If you plan to join us, may I ask you to RSVP to webmaster@skepticaldoctor.com with the number of people in your party? The more the merrier as far as we are concerned (especially since everyone is paying for themselves). Once we have a headcount, we can select an appropriate location and maybe reserve a table or two. We will provide the location via email to those who RSVP.
Thanks, everyone.
I just wanted to write to say that that is a marvelous suggestion. If I lived in New York, I’d meet for dinner or drinks in a flash. It is difficult to find like-minded, and sensible, and enjoyable people at all times, I imagine, but especially so today. At any rate, I’m grateful for this website, and I hope the meeting with fellow Dalrymple readers and supporters goes well.
All the best.
Thank you so much for those kind words, Gabriel. You are so right in your comments about finding people like us these days.
Out of curisoity, where DO you live? Always nice to find out more about who our readers are.
Chicago. So if anyone is interested in doing a similar sort of thing here, I’m certainly game.
I would like to endorse Gabriel Bartlett’s comment. This website is magnificent. I’m a regular visitor but I haven’t taken the time to thank those who keep this splendid website going. Unfortunately, I live in Flanders (Belgium), so I won’t be able to attend your meeting,.
By the way, I was under the impression that conservative thought is still reasonably represented in the United States. Your comments regarding the difficulty of finding like-minded people suggest otherwise. Was I totally wrong in thinking this?
First, Joseph, thank you so much for your comments on the site. We struggle to keep up with posting Dalrymple’s pieces, and we always regret not replying to comments as often as we should. So it’s very rewarding to hear that people like what we’re doing.
Secondly – no, you are correct. Conservative viewpoints are very well represented in America, and even moreso relative to Europe. And conservatives certainly outnumber the left here. (Although I don’t think we so-called conservatives are really the conservatives, but that’s another discussion.) But regardless, we are very well scattered throughout the vast rural areas here, and urban areas are pretty well dominated by the left. Those of us on the right who live in urban areas in the US often feel somewhat alone, and even under siege. Also, conservatives in America tend to be more hidden because they are less activist politically, and also more polite in my opinion and therefore much less likely to loudly proclaim their beliefs and make ourselves visible.
Thanks for clarifying. It’s a relief to know that there’s at least one Western country in which the tendency to uphold its cultural and political heritage and to challenge the utopian fantasies of the left is still strong. It’s also interesting to learn about the discrepancy between rural and urban areas. I’m guessing that’s due to a difference in citizenry and a lack of social structure in urban arias? To some extend this division is also the case in my country, even if, as you rightly indicate, conservative viewpoints have almost disappeared completely in continental Europe, at least among the intelligentsia. (Of course, as you mentioned, that leaves the question what one means when one uses the term “conservative”—in present day Europe, at least, I believe there is less to conserve and much to restore.
Could this also be arranged for London?
I think that’s an excellent idea. As we are in the U.S., it would take considerable advance planning. We would want to incorporate it into a vacation in England – which I would be very much in favor of, since I have only been there once, many years ago. Of course, it would also make sense to try to get Dalrymple himself there, which I think we could probably do. We have actually discussed this in the past. Let us discuss this. It might have to wait until next summer.
Of course you all could arrange something much sooner without us. Gavin is just outside London, so maybe you could head over to his forum and discuss it. If you are able to get several people together, I could see if Dalrymple would like to join you all – again, even if we were not able to attend ourselves. (Be advised, however, that he is in France during the summers.) We could at least help coordinate it.
How large do you think his base of readers is? In NY/London?
Would it be weird for him? I personally would find it quite uncomfortable to meet ‘fans’, though I’m sure we are all perfectly nice, respectable people. Still, it is stilted as it’s so asymmetrical.
I really have no idea as to the overall numbers of his readers, but we do know that the majority of our site’s visitors are in England.
Yes, he does seem uncomfortable with these things, even more than most people would be. I’m often amazed thinking back to the fact that this all started for us when my brother and I (after much Internet stalking) found his email address and sent him a message when we were vacationing in France, asking if we could drop in to meet him, knowing that he spent summers there – and he actually responded promptly with a yes. I think we just got lucky. He really has a surprisingly humble opinion of his work and its value. He is openly dismissive if you ask him if he considers himself a philosopher, for example.
But regardless, we may be able to help make it happen if we cajole him a little into understanding that it’s just a 1- or 2-hour commitment, that as you say his readers are repectable people, that he would be in London at the time anyway, and that it would help promote his work and kind of shore up his readership.