About The Poet Omar
The Poet Omar on Aug 04 2006
First, let me thank all of those who have helped to make A Second Hand Conjecture one of the blogosphere’s best up and coming sites. Yes, dear readers, this most certainly includes you. Second, let me thank Lance for inviting me to his already great site and giving me the opportunity to spread some of my ideas. I hope not to do him any discredit with my work. Last, but certainly not least, allow me to thank MichaelW for initially inviting me into the world of blogging. Without his enthusiasm and encouragement, I wouldn’t be posting here today. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to work with you both.
Now, a little about who I am and how I’ll fit in here. Since this is a three man operation, I guess we can think of this in terms of a game show, Wheel of Fortune, say. This originally being Lance’s site, I suppose that makes him our witty and charming host. No game show is complete without the smooth voice of the announcer, giving us the play-by-play and the prize rundown. I think MichaelW fits the smooth and sophisticated announcer role nicely. Unfortunately, that leaves me as the lovely assistant. Sadly, I am anything but lovely (I’m a bespectacled thirty something academic). Perhaps I can make up for this obvious lack with my sparkling repartee.
As to the actual nuts and bolts here: I’m a happily married, thirty something male. My wife and I do not have children yet. My family is Turkish and Persian, although my father’s grandfather was German. Somewhere back in the family tree, you’ll also find some Greek, Armenian, and Italian (Byzantine) ancestry. I am a Muslim (quick, hide the kids), although certainly not an Islamist or Salafi. I’m a professional historian and theologian by trade (yes that means I am educating the future leaders of America, scary, huh?). Politically I’m a bit of an old guard conservative (not a paleo-con), roughly equal amounts small government and social conservative. Yes, we do exist, although we are definitely an endangered species. I’m a recovering distributist and still curse the day that I discovered GK Chesterton and Hillaire Belloc (although I still love their work). Now I balance the ideas of Hayek, Friedman, and Nozick with those of the above mentioned and also Peter Kreeft. In the final analysis, however, I will always choose small government over social conservatism. I guess that makes me somewhat of a “big tent†Libertarian.
Other interests (just to give you a more human picture): NFL football (no, I’m not a college ball only purist), Environmental activism (surprised you with that one, didn’t I?), The Academic Freedom movement (SAF & FIRE specifically), Cricket (go Team India), Travel (Australia and Antarctica are the only continents that I haven’t been to and I’m working on remedying this), Cooking (love ethnic dishes), Most British television (not just the Britcoms), Anything by P.J. O’Rourke, Terry Pratchett, or John Maddox Roberts.
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