2/3/2009, 12:25 am
{Out of karakter}
In Olympia, there is a cute little collectivist rag called "Works in Progress" which I read every month to get a chuckle. Well, lately they have gotten very, very boring and predictable, and as a reader, I wrote them to tell them what I thought of their little paper.
The email exchange follows. Very amusing!
Honestly anymore I pick up WIP, glance at it, and put it back. Same stuff, different spin. Using my special powers I can predict WIP will complain about The Olympian the City Council, and Triway. In addition to the usual reliable space fillers mentioned above, Palestine and Israel will get spread about, as needed to take up room, and there will be the usual assortment of breathless writings that pretend to be news, but are really poorly written op-ed pieces.
News has sources, doesn't rely on buzzwords, catchphrases, or innendo, and is presented as news. Opinion pieces may have factual data in them, but are presented as opinion, and not disguised as news.
Sadly WIP still hasn't risen above the level of crude samzidat.
For an example of true, quality "alternative" media, look to The Stranger, The Seattle Weekly, Everday Olympia, hell even The Onion.
Odd, the rest of the exchange got cut off...
Anyhow they wound up accusing me of going around destroying stacks of their product, and told me I could quit "monitoring" their paper as they weren't going to change.
I countered and told them that as a reader it is my place to criticize, but if I wasn't part of their target audience, fair enough. I then told them to produce proof I was destroying stacks of their product.
Clearly this is how the collective mind deals with dissent. Ignore it, tell it to go away, and then challenge it in a fashion that suggests the non supporter is out to destroy it. Which in turn justifies their existence, and places the blame back on the non collectivist.
In Olympia, there is a cute little collectivist rag called "Works in Progress" which I read every month to get a chuckle. Well, lately they have gotten very, very boring and predictable, and as a reader, I wrote them to tell them what I thought of their little paper.
The email exchange follows. Very amusing!
Honestly anymore I pick up WIP, glance at it, and put it back. Same stuff, different spin. Using my special powers I can predict WIP will complain about The Olympian the City Council, and Triway. In addition to the usual reliable space fillers mentioned above, Palestine and Israel will get spread about, as needed to take up room, and there will be the usual assortment of breathless writings that pretend to be news, but are really poorly written op-ed pieces.
News has sources, doesn't rely on buzzwords, catchphrases, or innendo, and is presented as news. Opinion pieces may have factual data in them, but are presented as opinion, and not disguised as news.
Sadly WIP still hasn't risen above the level of crude samzidat.
For an example of true, quality "alternative" media, look to The Stranger, The Seattle Weekly, Everday Olympia, hell even The Onion.
Odd, the rest of the exchange got cut off...
Anyhow they wound up accusing me of going around destroying stacks of their product, and told me I could quit "monitoring" their paper as they weren't going to change.
I countered and told them that as a reader it is my place to criticize, but if I wasn't part of their target audience, fair enough. I then told them to produce proof I was destroying stacks of their product.
Clearly this is how the collective mind deals with dissent. Ignore it, tell it to go away, and then challenge it in a fashion that suggests the non supporter is out to destroy it. Which in turn justifies their existence, and places the blame back on the non collectivist.