- Quote: “And there you have blogs. The universe of blogs is a universe of rumors, and the tribe likes it that way. Blogs are an advance guard to the rear. For example, only a primitive would believe a word of Wikipedia
(which, though not strictly a blog, shares the characteristics of the
genre). The entry under my name says that in 2003 “major news media”
broadcast reports of my death and that I telephoned Larry King and
said, “I ain’t dead yet, give me a little more time and no doubt it
will become true.” –Tom WolfeNote: Some interesting observations from a variety of folk on what effect blogs have had. Guess I’m primitive…
– post by willrich
The quote by Tom Wolfe is quite ironic. If “the universe of blogs is a universe of rumors,” what on earth was New Journalism, the movement Wolfe founded (or, more accurately, observed)in the late 1950s and 60s? Like blogging, New Journalism allowed the writer to become a subjective observer of content. Further, it allowed for missing pieces of non-fiction topics to be imagined by the writer. “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test,” which Wolfe wrote about psychedelic experimenter and author Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters is filled with narrative extrapolated from a few letters that Kesey wrote while on the lam in Mexico. At least the better blogs and wikis offer references for their statements. I would think Wolfe would be embracing these new media instead of disparaging them.
Wolfe has clearly lost his way in the wood of error, but he is too blind to ask for help. Clueless, infirm, unreadable and unprincipled–Wolfe is the poster child for trolls everywhere.
There’s reasonable disagreement about the age of blogging. Read here. Who do you believe?