Here's a round-up of blogs taking on the braindead/corporate/idiotic elites in the so-called "journalism" field.
First, P-Lev pulverizes the Times' idiotic article about Harry Potter and literacy. Basically, the Times is all like "hey guess what? JK Rowling has not singlehandedly reduced the rate of illiteracy even though she sold more copies than any Times writer ever will. Nyah Nyah Nyah."
Please.
First of all, it's typical of the Times to take an issue that's really a problem with the powers that be (No Child Left Behind, my ass) and all but blame it on a "popular" (read: not "first-class") author. The disconnect is staggering.
Second of all, JK Rowling has done something that no ed-school spawned "literacy plan" or revamped curriculum has done yet: written something that manages to compete with the compelling and cutting-edge world of modern media. Having taught a bunch of "illiterate" kids myself, their ability to analyze and parse movies and music was astounding. Their only issue was with the actual mechanics of reading. But despite their trouble with the medium, they loved Harry Potter. Part of it is because HP is better than most other books out there. Part of it is because HP is "cool." Part of it was because YA novels in general have a lot to offer that "classics" don't.
*****
On to more Times-bashing (so fun!). Glenn Greenwald and ThinkProgress tackle my recent vitriol-target, David Brooks, for his sycophantic ramblings about dear president Bush's "confidence."
Oy. Can we stop playing the "macho man admirer" game already, Times? You're effete. Be proud of it and cool it with the self-hate.
****
Greenwald also points out that this unbecoming manly-man-man-maniness obsession in the MSM is a big problem at icky Politico, which has inflicted damage enough on Edwards with the haircut fracas and has moved on to Mitt's Makeup Madness.
ENOUGH! Let's get back to the issues, puh-lease.
No comments:
Post a Comment