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17th CENTURY PURITANS ONLINE
The London Times’ Simon Jenkins on bloggers:
These people claim to be the unofficial legislators of free opinion. They quake, rant, muckrake, scream like 17th-century Puritans. Most of the blog sites regurgitate and spin what the mainstream media (dismissively the “MSM”) has spent millions finding and checking. Most are fanatically conservative. All you need is a taste for exhibitionism and a fancy name: mediabistro, FishBowlDC, wonkette. One Yahoo blogger, Ted Rall, gives warning of the blogosphere: “A new sheriff’s in town. He’s drunk. He’s mean, and he works for the bad guys.” The web is the Bushites’ revenge on the liberal media establishment. A blog polarises or dies.
The web has undoubtedly honoured its claim to be the democracy of the air. Every columnist’s motto may be Milton’s “Opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making”. But to what end? On the web, opinion travels first class while facts go steerage. The opinion blogs that I occasionally read — one is formed every seven seconds — show scant respect for the disciplines of journalism.
“Respect for the disciplines of journalism” may have been useful for Jenkins, who is set straight by Scott Burgess.
UPDATE. Blue in comments:
He should have mentioned jackboots. Also pajamas.
Pajama wearing Puritans in jackboots.
That just makes me hot.
Sheesh, Ted Rall denouncing bloggers as “mean” and polarizing. The left really does have no sense of irony.
Posted by Bruce Rheinstein on 2005 03 11 at 02:02 PM • permalinkAnd when was the law passed making Mr. Jenjins an official legislator of opinion?
OK, besides McCain-Feingold?
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 03 11 at 03:15 PM • permalinkJenkins gets everything wrong. He was one of the backers of the infamous Millenium Dome, which flopped big time. He was advising that the American Government should do nothing at all after 9/11, he was warning that the Iraq invasion would herald a season of plagues - you get the idea. He’s not a leftie, just someone who’s been totally left behind by events.
They rant and they rave nd they scream and they shout
They talk abou things they know fuckall about19th century Irish bloggers
Posted by Jack from Montreal on 2005 03 11 at 04:20 PM • permalink“A blog polarises or dies.”
That’s cold.
Posted by Jim Treacher on 2005 03 11 at 04:56 PM • permalinkSonetka, you’re exactly right. It’s dismaying to watch the word “Puritan” slip into common and incorrect usage as a pejorative, though it was a pejorative from the start among certain parties in the 17th century.
It is an interesting comparison, however, between blogs and the furious pamphleteering that took place in the 17th century in England. Momentous civil, political and religious change came about, partly, because of those often anonymous tracts, many of which exceed most blogs in the pitch of their “ranting and muckraking”. There are a lot of them available in various places around the web, here’s one collection I found after a quick search. They’re fascinating.
hmm, that last link redirects to a generic page. Try this one.
And for those that might have trouble making out the 17th century typeface in that first link, it says:
A Reply as true as Steele,
To a Rusty, Rayling, Ridiculous, Lying,
Libell; which was lately written by an impudent
unsoder’d Ironmonger and called by the name
of An Answer to a foolish Pamphlet Enti-
tuled, A Swarme of Sectaries
and Schismatiques.By John Taylor
And to accompany the delightful illustration of the devil excreting said ironmonger (complete with broken bits of ironwork), is this little couplet:
The Divell is hard bound and did hardly straine,
to shit a Libeller a knave in graine.Top that one, muckrakers!
All you need is a taste for exhibitionism and a fancy name:
mediabistro
FishBowlDC
wonkette
One Yahoo blogger
Ted Rall
Gives warning of the blogosphere
A new sheriff’s in town
He’s drunk. He’s mean, and he works for the bad guys
The web is the Bushites
Revenge on the liberal media establishment
A blog polarises or dies
A few ideas for wannabe blogistas
Posted by Jack from Montreal on 2005 03 11 at 05:47 PM • permalinkGoldsmith: that pamphlet rocks.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2005 03 11 at 06:43 PM • permalinkJim Treacher — “A blog polarises or dies.�
Ahhhh… so that’s the secret…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 03 11 at 07:12 PM • permalinkBloggers are challenging the MSM ministry of truth on a daily basis.
The Bias of Dan Rather, Eason Jordan, Ward Churchill exposed by Bloggers is a firm step in the cleaning of the Aegean stables.
Better get used to it and stick to the long forgotten hippocratic oath of Journalism, MR Jenkins.
And stop shooting the messenger and address context. Even the likes of Michael Moore or Robert Fisk,who are revolting in my opinion, do occasionally make sense.Good Lord, if there is one thing—one damn thing—that have had learned *for sure* since Sept 11 is that the only thing you can count on in this world is that Simon Jenkins is a pompous English crap bag who is always—ALWAYS—as completely wrong as any person could possibly be.
Jesus, every time I read just one sentence I get the overpowering urge to get on my knees and THANK GOD for the Declaration of Independence.
Posted by NewSisyphus on 2005 03 11 at 11:35 PM • permalinkHere’s another fine collection of English Pamphleteering… The Single Source of All Filth…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 03 12 at 02:09 AM • permalinkMan, how would I ever get as fancy a name as the biggest blogger in Australia, Tim Blair? If only I could think of a name like that, everyone will start reading my work.
In fact, I wonder how poor little car companies with nondescript family names like Toyota, Chrysler or Ford manage to compete with huge juggernaugts with flashy names like, er, Lotus.
On a serious note, journalists over the last century have laid claim to “be the unofficial legislators of free opinion.”
And they definitely “quake, rant, muckrake, scream like 17th-century Puritans” and have done so before, ever since Ida Tarbell took on Standard Oil back at the turn of the century.
Now people are finally in a position to take down the press, and guess what. The press don’t like it. Boo hoo, poor widdle press. They can kiss my ass.
I’m glad you all enjoyed the pamphlet I linked above. aebrain’s comment about it being an early flamewar was spot-on, which is why the early English pamphlets remind me of blogs and the internet so much (and in a good way: the furious rise of the writing, printing and dissemination of these tracts was the beginning of what became our modern notion of free speech and free press, and led directly to the English Civil War, and indirectly to what became the United States).
The pamphlet I linked above was written by John Taylor, a very prolific writer of such pieces. It was a reply to a published criticism by Henry Walker (the ironmonger that Taylor mocks) of one of Taylor’s earlier works called A Swarme of Sectaries and Schismatiques (I’ve provided a ‘translation’ below). The wonderful thing about looking at these works (and there are a huge number of them) is how much this heritage still influences our discourse today.
A SWARME OF SECRARIES, AND SCHISMATIQUES: Wherein is discovered the strange preaching (or prating) of such as are by their trades Coblers, Tinkers, Pedlers, Weavers, Sow-gelders, and Chymney-Sweepers.
By John Taylor
The Cobler preaches, and his Audience are
As wise as Moffe was, when he caught his MarePrinted luckily, and may be read unhappily, betwixt hawke and buzzard, 1641.
(I have no idea who or what Moffe was, but I suspect he’s implying that they audience was unwise). The illustration that shows a man in a tub with the words “SAM HOW” over him depicts a cobbler preacher named Sam Howe, who was a leader of a group of Anabaptists, or ‘dippers’ as Taylor called them. Here’s a bit from A Swarme of Sectaries talking about (as shown in the illustration) Howe’s group met in a tavern:
This reverend translating brother (Howe)
Puts both his hands unto the spiritual-plow,
And the nag’s head, near the Coleman-Street,
A most pure crew of Brethren there did meet,
Where their devotions were so strong and ample,
To turn a sinful Tavern to a Temple,
They banished Bacchus then, and some small space
The drawers and the Bar-boy had some graceSorry for the history diversion, but this is a favorite subject of mine. I suspect that Simon Jenkins didn’t think about it much before he tossed off his 17th century Puritan comment, but it’s a comparison that is worth exploring. When I restart my weblog I’ll probably write about it.
(Insert Lefty Name Here) claims to be the unofficial legislator of free opinion. He quakes, rants, muckrakes, screams like a 17th-century Pampleteer. Most of his output regurgitates and spins what other frantic lefties have thrown up in their frenzy to attack western democracies and support anyone who will help tear them down. Most are fanatical. All you need is a taste for exhibitionism and a journalistic sinecure. One blogger, Tim Blair, gives warning of the leftysphere: “A new idiot’s in town. He’s drunk. He’s mean, he’s deluded, and he works for the lunatic fringe.� The web is the proscenium arch stage, and he’s bent on revenge for the shocking defeats imposed on the liberal media establishment. A lefty soliloquises or dies.
The web has undoubtedly burned into their consciousness its claim to be the democracy of the air. Every lefty columnist’s motto might be “Opinion in a column is money in the Bank�. But to what end? Newspaper opinion travels in slow boats on the surface while bloggers (are they all conservative? All my little ones? All my chicks?) are the U-Boat Wolf Packs. The opinion blogs that I occasionally read (it’s bad for my blood pressure)— show scant respect for the sacred cows of journalism.NewSisyphus is right. If one wishes to know the correct stance to take on a particular subject, all that is necessary is to read what Simon Jenkins thinks and then adopt the contrary position.
By the way, Jenkins is emphatically not a Lefty. He’s a deeply Tory old fogey.
Posted by David Gillies on 2005 03 12 at 01:26 PM • permalinkThe Tories in the UK are in the same position as the Democrats in the US. All they have to offer is blind, sullen reactionary bitterness. For good or ill, the affirmative, active initiatives are all in the hands of the Republicans and Labour.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 03 12 at 01:43 PM • permalinkMediabistro is a networking site for journalists and other media professionals. You know, those people Jenkins says are doing all the real work.
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Ted Rall’s a blogger?
Here I thought he was a piece of shit.