In writing, ‘The main thing is to know what to leave out.’ I’m still working on that part…
I like it when writers offer explanatory notes to their readers. For instance, y’all know how obsessively fond I am of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin novels, and he frequently offers explanations about the history of his period, or about his writing process, before the opening of the work (here’s most of one of those). All add illumination and enjoyment to the story.
But my favorite might be this pair of notices from Huck Finn, facetious as they may be in part:
NOTICE.
Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.
BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR
PER G. G., CHIEF OF ORDNANCE.EXPLANATORY
In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary “Pike County” dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a haphazard fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech.
I make this explanation for the reason that without it many readers would suppose that all these characters were trying to talk alike and not succeeding.
THE AUTHOR.
Well, I’m no Twain or O’Brian, but I think it’s nice to pause and explain what I’m doing, if only to head off some of those “What the hell is going on here?” comments. I don’t want y’all developing calluses on your fingertips.
You may have noticed lately, as I’ve gotten rolling again after the holidays, that there’s been a change in what I write about — not a huge change, but noticeable.
I used to blog like a journalist (remember the Virtual Front Page?), and specifically like a journalist who’s dealt over the years with electoral politics more than any other subject. But you’re not going to see as much of that anymore.
There are a number of reasons for this. First, nobody’s paying me to keep people informed anymore. Second, I’ve realized people aren’t that interested in being informed in an era in which we have technology that enables them to be exposed only to what they want to hear. Third, journalism — and particularly political, opinion journalism — is based on the assumption that people are rational and persuadable, and therefore benefit mutually from some civil back-and-forth on the issues of the day, which makes all participants wiser, and better citizens. That is too seldom the case these days.
Then there are the personal reasons. Putting it briefly, I’m not interested in that stuff anymore. Or at least, I’m not interested in engaging with it when everyone’s consciousness is saturated in the ocean of nonsense that they get from media today. And no, I’m not just beefing again about the deleterious intellectual effects of social media. The MSM have in these rough seas lost their own ability to sort out what’s important to talk about.
I’ve told you over the last few years of my growing disgust with what is seen as “news,” and how it is presented, as the field of journalism has rapidly decayed. I am now holding myself back with both hands from offering examples of what’s wrong, because I’m trying to get back to my point (think like Twain! think like Hemingway!)
All of these harmful trends have accelerated in the past year. And for my part, I’ve gotten less patient in my eighth decade, and I prefer to spend what little time I can find to devote to this enterprise on things that interest me, and still seem worth the effort.
That includes such things as history, of course, and offshoots of history such as genealogy. And my love of popular culture (and even occasionally higher culture) has never waned. And there’s evolution, particularly of our own species, even as it seems to be collectively leaping off a developmental cliff.
And religion, of course. That one’s going to really chafe at some of you, both among the faithful and others who just don’t want to hear about it.
And if you don’t like any of this stuff, you can just go elsewhere. On some level you will be missed, but I don’t want to make you miserable, and despite recent developments, this is still a free country. At least until this coming Monday, and possibly beyond.
Note that, as that last sentence hints, current events — even political current events — will sometimes come up. (In keeping with my belief that everything, and I mean everything, is connected.) I’ll just be focusing on it from a different angle — one that interests me more, and perhaps will interest some of you.
As for the rest of you, I wish you not only a good day, but a wonderful life from here on. God bless you.
Related Posts
By the way, I was looking up some things to link to, and inadvertently ran across a post from 2006 headlined, “How stupid is the press?” So you might assume that I’ve been griping about the decline of the profession even that far back.
But not really. Then, I was just talking about the topics that journalists have been (collectively, in the aggregate) stupid about forever — or at least throughout my own career. Even at our best, we’ve always all had our flaws.
But the fatal flaws I allude to in this post today have generally developed since then…
If you click on that link, you’ll note that the post starts out with a mention of Herb Brasher, who added a lot of thoughtfulness to this blog in its early years.
I often wonder what happened to Herb. I miss him. I hope he’s OK. If you run across this, Herb, reach back out to us…
“I prefer to spend what little time I can find to devote to this enterprise on things that interest me”
There’s a word for eschewing the political for the personal, it’s
“inner emigration”
and we’ve seen it before.
Except, of course, I haven’t done that. I’m as enthusiastic about politics as ever, when there is a point worth making, and there’s some chance that reasonable words might help.
You’ll see me put my signs out next time around. And as I said here before, I had signs out for four candidates in November, and three of them won. I was reminded of that yesterday at the graveside services of Micah Caskey’s grandmother in Bennettsville, and when I introduced my mother to the representative, I noted that she had signs out for both him and Russell Ott, who is now our new state senator.
Micah allowed as how both of those were good choices. He and Russell have worked together for years in the House, and appreciate each other. As they should; they have represented their districts well.
But we’ve reached a time in which the national conversation has sunk to the point that if you try to reason with people, you immediately crash into a mass of insanity, from social media to MSM, with the consumers utterly unwilling to accept any reality beyond the version that fits their delusions. I have a mental picture to illustrate what that’s like. It’s kind of like when Biff and his boys crashed into that truck in “Back to the Future,” and the manure nearly smothers them.
When I see an opportunity to have a positive effect on that mess, you’ll hear from me. But it’s not where I choose to dwell. Like Joe Biden (but on a far humbler level), I’ve put in the time and done what I could. Life is broader than that. As I said, if that dissatisfies you, there are plenty of sites out there where you’ll be better pleased. Be sure to take your shovel with you…
Speaking of changing media…
A number of local news stations are in the process, as I write this, of firing their weather forecasters. I’m not speaking about locally in South Carolina as I have no such info at this time.
I am speaking regionally- across the South. They are firing their local talent and subscribing to a service from The Weather Channel that will provide them recorded weather forecasts from Atlanta. Breaking emergency weather forecasts from a local tv standpoint at these stations will no longer exist.
A very popular local meteorologist in – I think- Alabama was let go Friday- including his entire weather team at the local station.
I read from someone that would know that this is going to be happen a lot this year- likely in the next few months.