Writing for the L.A. Times, Joel Stein has unleashed a haymaker to those who worship blogs, social networking and message boards in his latest column, ‘Don’t E-mail Me.’
He writes:
“I get that you have opinions you want to share. That’s great. You’re the Person of the Year. I just don’t have any interest in them. First of all, I did a tiny bit of research for my column, so I’m already familiar with your brilliant argument. Second, I’ve already written my column, so I can’t even steal your ideas and get paid for them.”
Instead of e-mailing him, he tells people to rant on opinion.latimes.com and suggests that:
“…maybe on this site, one brave person will write about how I’m right to stand up against this world of false, easy community, where columnists pretend they think their essays are no more valuable than yours, and friendship is a stranger who thanks you for the MySpace add.”
I can practically hear the sounds of thousands of blog-hating editors tacking Stein’s column to their cubicle walls.
Ah, if only Joel Stein were original. He’s following in the grand tradition of Minnesotan Nick Coleman in 2004 (see Jay Rosen about that) and former CNN chief Eason Jordan (he of the “pajama-clad bloggers” line). Red meat for a dwindling species, I say.
Great links Bryan. I loved this particular line from Jay Rosen’s piece:
“This is Coleman’s fantasy. He wrote it to be insulting and to get insulted back. Of course it worked. That’s what so funny about it. It always works. Next time you see that phrase, ‘looks like I struck a nerve,’ think of Nick Coleman.”
Sounds like Joel Stein just wrote his own obituary. I hope he is happy working at Wal-Mart. Career changes can be rough, but old-think journalists have no other future.
Stein’s column particularly reminds me of the newsroom mantra, “if it pisses people off, it must be doing great.”
While that’s certainly one way to look at it, well, we’ve got page view metrics now…
Nevertheless, one has to wonder whether his whole column is just an antagonistic plug for the Times’ opinion section. My guess would be that all newspaper columnists are hard-wired to care very much about what people think of them.
I always thought that Stein’s was a “humor” column (I mean, have you seen his LA Times bio?), and took it in that vein. But hey, I’m new to this game, so I could be wrong.
I actually enjoyed his recent column in TIME detailing a jaunt through ‘Second Life.’ He’s a humorist, but not in the vein of my hero Dave Barry. He’s more of a snarky, urban version of Garrison Keillor.