In the Gottlieb piece, he explained that Montaigne used an early version of the stream of consciousness style writing to great advantage. Perhaps we should relay the link for that to the editors at a web site where some of our attempts to contribute cross posting efforts are rejected for not having one dominant connecting theme. Then again, when older Americans have to explain who the Jefferson Airplane was, maybe an effort to imitate Montaigne is asking for too much digital leeway.
Columnists (such as Ernie Pyle during the Thirties) used to go out into the hinterland to ascertain what the Average American was thinking. Now the Fox College of Cable Knowledge is readily available to tell Americans what they should (if they want to be "hip") be thinking and it saves Rupert Murdock a bunch of silly irrelevant expense checks and it saves the audience brain cells they would need to use up to think. In America, it has become easier to tell folks what to think and not ask them what they are thinking.
When we spent a recent evening chatting at the Cow's End Cafà © in Venice CA, we spoke with a hypnotist and amateur magician, who had worked in the psy-ops section of the military, and were surprised to learn that his pick for the next fellow to be dealt the "stolen election" card will be JEB Bush.
If the Celebrity Gossip In Crowd gets a tip that JEB is trending "hot" on the political radar, then all the bloggers will (as they sometimes do in Congress) confirm that bit of news by a voice vote (that is as accurate a measure as is the throwing of spaghetti against a wall) and tossing in the word "acclamation." Until then, rogue columnists have to do the salmon going upstream imitation act and have faith that the old "nose for news" style of intuition is still a valid (albeit nostalgia laden) method for journalistic trend spotting.
Here's a question for those who think that the assertion that today's celebrity journalists are trapped inside a bubble: "What are the chances that this columnist can send the link to this column to Bill Keller or Arianna Huffington and get either one of them to read it?"
Not bloody well likely?
In a true capitalist country it is easier to manufacture propaganda than to encourage intellectual curiosity, which hold the danger that it could wind up biting a mogul on the ass. (Solidarity means everyone shouts "yes, sir!" in unison. [Remember the old axiom: "When I say "jump,' you jump and ask "How high?' on the way up!"]
Who is America's leading "counter culture" journalist these days? Is there no market for a modern "underground" voice of dissent? When Hunter S. Thompson was leading the charge against the establishment press, he got his efforts mentioned in Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times. When was the last time any of those publications made reference to a blog that was not written by a member of their own staff or by a celebrity?
BTW the three times that this columnist spoke with Andy Warhol, it was rather brief encounter but the one time we did ask if Warhol's visit to L. A. and a recent Truman Capote sighting in the Venice CA area, was sufficient evidence to do a trend-spotting article. Warhol quizzed us about the Capote sighting and left the trending possibilities un assessed.
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