Subbing for the Prof II

READER MAC THOMASON FOUND THIS ONE. Yet another smug, condescending column about blogging In today’s at bat, San Francisco Chronicle writer Laurel Wellman swings late at a slow curveball. Here’s a taste:

So before making this pitch [for a blog], I spent several minutes on research, and I figure that in order to compile a Weblog, the main thing I’d have to do is read a lot of other publications and write punchy, provocative precis of what I see. (“Did anyone else read Anne Analyst’s piece in the Nation about the Bush administration’s handling of the softwood lumber tariff issue? C’mon — was she high?”)

Then I’d sit back, let the reader e-mail roll in, and publish it, appending the occasional pithy comeback. I mean, it’s a beautiful concept; not only would this save me at least part of the trouble of doing all the writing myself — in the guise of “dialoguing with readers” — but I’d get to have the last word with those huffy people who write in to complain about something they didn’t understand, especially the ones who use the phrase, “I can’t believe they actually pay you for this stuff.” Look at MSNBC’s Eric Alterman; they even let him write replies beginning, “Dear Stupid.”

These Old Media blog bashing pieces have two things in common. They all try (and fail) to be funny, and they all have that faint whiff of desperation.

Your days are numbered, sister.

(Am I getting the Glenn thang down yet?)