Mellow on Monday I am, so much so that it’s now Tuesday. No dutiful dysphemistic metaphors today, merely a congeries of nerve pluckers. Unlike nerve twitchers, which continue their spasmodic meandering through the psyche for some time, making them a significant and serious annoyance, a nerve plucker is merely an external itch. Once scratched, easily forgotten.
John made note of this new WAPO contest last week. Today, having received the email all subscribers get, reminding me that I could be America’s Next Pundit , I sighed. I asked why, to no one in particular, as I was alone in a Panera Bread in Chevy Chase, sucking up free wireless while waiting for a friend. I suspected the gentleman sitting at the next table in his Brooks Brothers suit, looking sheepishly from side to side as he typed, was answering WAPO’s plea. I hope for his sake he was applying for a job at some conservative think tank.
We need more pundits? WAPO is replete with them. Are they not willing to pay real journalist any longer, or is it that Americans don’t want real news? Don’t know what real news is? Is this a desperate attempt to get readers? And more than this, would anyone with an opinion of worth — backed with experience and working knowledge of any given subject — want to give that opinion for $200 per column? I don’t think so.
“Blogger Payola” news. (source, FTC Votes to End “Blogger Payola). I just love that term don’t you?
Stemming from the unintentional shoddy ethics of what some call “Mommy Bloggers” who pretend to use and love products in order to receive free products, or for a paycheck, there are some new rules being instituted in December by the one and only FTC. The full pdf offered at the CJR site is available here. Some bloggers complained they couldn’t trust their long time reads any longer. So now it’s about transparency.
I resign myself to transparency, and promise that when I tell you to read a post by Blogger A or Blogger B it’s because the post is worthy and the blogger is prime. It will never be because they pay me. How do I know this? Because I’ve asked them to pay me. They said no.
Not a nerve pluck, but a recommendation. From the Washington Post, believe it or not. An Op-Ed by Steven F. Hayward, a bit of an expert in conservatism, and not one of my favorite people, but still a worthy read. He asks, Is Conservatism Brain-Dead?
A worthwhile read, even if you already know the answer, and most of you do of course, know the answer.
I want to pass on good thoughts to someone I’ve never met. I’ve read about him often enough over the last 4 years, at Pia Savages Courting Destiny. She calls him Rafe, though I know not his real name. He is part of her life, and part of her writing, and for that I thank him. Consequently I have a bit of an attachment to his character, if not the real life entity.
Rafe suffered a ruptured cerebral aneurysm while lifting a treadmill and has undergone surgical correction, evacuation of the blood, and repair of the aneurysm. He is thus far doing well, but it is touch and go. My vibes are out there, so feel free to send your vibes along to Rafe. We are all characters in someone’s story, and we may all need someone’s thoughts some day.
peace
Cooper…So many good lines in this…I resign myself to transparency…We are all characters in someone’s story, and we may all need someone’s thoughts some day.
I’m sending Pia my thoughts and attempting to resign myself to transparency, too. It’s been tough lately. Hard to balance. I feel a constant need to write something meaningful, something important to someone else other than myself. And so I don’t write at all. Then again, maybe that’s just a symptom of too much reading to do.
Hope all is well.
Tristan || the almost right word´s last blog ..The September Commute Mix
As well as it is with you I expect.
Love the nerve plucks. I love the dysphemistic metaphors as well, so don’t disregard their power or shock value.
I saw that pundit thing, and thought I could hear my long passed great grandmother using some old Italian Phrase of exasperation.
If wearing a BB suit he was definitly looking for the conservative think tanker postion.
I haven’t read Harvey’s piece but the title asks the right question.
Thoughts go out to Rafe. That character line, so true.
One can only take so many dysphemistic metaphors.
Hell, if you wanted me to pay you to read my blog, Miss Cooper, I would.
Can a blog have such a thing as a favorite reader? Hmm.
mojo shivers´s last blog ..This Is Why Events Unnerve Me, They Find It All, A Different Story, Notice Whom For Wheels Are Turning, Turn Again And Turn Towards This Time
I think you can have anything you want, as your birthday is coming up.
Hayward, I think, answers his own question when he concludes people like Glenn Beck and fat boy Jonah Goldberg are intellectuals adding serious substance to their so-called movement. No one in their right mind would ever call Glenn Beck serious or Goldberg smart.
When your leading opposition platform is built around death panels and socialist takeovers, do you even need to write an oped asking such a question?
Chris´s last blog ..GOP: Democrats Refer to Proffessional Woman as “Young Lady”!! Booo!
God knows he has reason to be concerned.
I have a couple of nice BB seersucker suits but I’ll be damned if I will ever allow myself to turn into a conservitard.
Thoughts and well wishes to Pia’s friend.
sauerkraut´s last blog ..National Parks at great risk from climate change
uh oh The BB suit is a sure sign sk.
Well, on the plus side, I am over my tighty-whitey stage.
sauerkraut´s last blog ..Meleanie Hain: gun-toting soccer mom shot in murder-suicide
I can see where the Baltimore Sun might need a pundit but the Post? God no.
Funny that the FTC making policy about bloggers now. No surprise bloggers are just as unethical as most people.
Like the title to Harvey’s post I’m going to skim over it.
So BB means conservative?
Good vibes going out to rafe.
jake´s last blog ..Maryland Passes Stupid Texting Law
BB, the clothing of frat boys.
I’m not going to lie. I would love to be a pundit. I might even enter that contest.
But really, it seems like they’re trying to pull some bloggers into their “legitimate media” umbrella, as if that fucking means anything anymore. The next generation of pundits will own their own work, market it collectively, and integrate with hard news journalists on their own terms. They (we?) don’t need old media
EsotericWombat´s last blog ..Only in the United States Senate
Well, you should enter.
I’d settle for more investigative journalists. Opinions are read usually only by those with similar ones. I’d love to read yours though.
Thank you Cooper and everybody I am touched. And freaking as they found another aneurysm that will be taken out next week
I always want to write about the cult of mommy bloggers and how in many ways they have taken over the blogosphere and infected many bloggers. Good writing and unique thinking used to “sell“and in some cases still does but most posts seem to be 20 pictures with oh-so-stupidly-clever captions
I’ve seen ads for bloggers for “legitimate jobs” but they have to have 500 Twitter followers. What does that have to do with talent? If I focused on that it could probably be as easy as uh being every 3rd blog on a certain blog thing but I want to bring my writing back to life
I hope the Wombat is right but am not sure. I think pundit as celebrity has overtaken MSM as mommy bloggers and the people who want to be like them have taken over the blogosphere
pia´s last blog ..A grey and dreary day but I get over my hatred of days like this for today because….
You’re right of course. There is some horrible stuff out there.
I am still thinking thoughts for Rafe.
I’m all for the best new journalist, but not in the least interested in another pundit. We all have opinions, few of us know what we are talking about, and that includes a lot of the WAPO punidts.
Sports pundtis, those we need more of.
Vibes for Rafe.
I like the thought of being a character in someone’s life. Makes me feels better.
g ´s last blog ..Working on the Weekend
exactly. Oh yea, I’m just dying for anew sports pundit.
That’s some good nerve plucking there, Cooper. Loved that last line!
Please, no more pundits. What happened to reading the news? Now it’s thirty seconds of news, if that, and thirty minutes of what these eight “experts” think about it.
I don’t think there are that many product placement opportunities for uncle bloggers. Or General Hospital bloggers. Or Seinfeld bloggers. Maybe if it was still 1997.
Bone´s last blog ..Twenty-seven days hath Blogtober
I’m not so sure. “Uncle bloggers” sounds like a brand to me.
We need more Panera Breads. I love that place.
Love this plucked post. We don’t need more pundits, that is for sure. It’s not just WAPO replete with them, the world, at least this country, is saturated with people who should just go do something and shut up.
I have a couple of BB suits. I don’t think thaey are made all that well.
The last line is perfect and I wish Rafe all the best.
A golf pundit maybe.….
I like their black bean soup and Mediterranean vegetarian sandwich.
Totally beside the point, but I am obessed with spelling words from the three partial posts below your main post on the front page.
Thoughts go out to Rafe.
kait´s last blog ..Reasonable Priced Option in White and Black
I will have to pay attention to that from now on and intentionally make words. You are so observant.
Just saw your mention of Courting Destiny… THANKYOU! I used to read her, and she somehow got dropped from my blogroll (yes, I am an idiot)
Yes indeed a .…how do they say it in Yiddish? Putz, or is it Shlemiel?
Though I could never lose Pia, we all lose bloggers here and there, and sometimes come upon them at a later time and go. Woa…thank goodness.
Oh, and I’m all for more sports pundits! Gotta have something to do between the games.
Also, could be do eyebrow plucks next time. I’ve got this one long blond one that sticks out amongst its brown brethren over my right eye. Well, it’s either blond or gray. I prefer to not analyze too closely and just go with blond.
And very cool of you to mention Pia’s friend.
Bone´s last blog ..As autumn stirs
Oh bone just get an eyebrow pencil, color it, and tame it down with an eyebrow brush.
Thank you Cooper. You have made a horrible week a lot more tolerable as has that person, just above, who brings up the weirdest subjects, and unfortunately probably does spend hours analyzing one errant eyebrow
pia´s last blog ..Backward world