In an article on Andrew Sullivan, The New Republic’s Literary Editor Leon Wieseltier writes: “He is the master, and the prisoner, of the technology of sickly obsession: blogging–and the divine right of bloggers to exempt themselves from the interrogations of editors–is also a method of hounding.”
That’s funny. Leon Wieseltier has long been the The New Republic writer most resistant to editing. He had a sweet deal with the former owner of the magazine, Marty Peretz, so that he could not be edited. When Michael Kinsley ran The New Republic and wanted to edit him in his first issue, Wieseltier went over Kinsley’s head to Peretz and secured for himself a no-editing privilege.
And what’s with calling “blogging” the technology of sickly obsession? Why is it more sickly obsessive than cell phones? What is sick obsession? When are you dogged and I am obsessed?
A lot of people have called me obsessed in my blogging. I know then that they lack arguments and can only use cheap put-downs.
A Google search could not turn up Leon Wieseltier’s email address. I guess he doesn’t want to be questioned. It’s so much more comfortable just to pronounce.
