Bickering is Dull and Uninformative
Okay, to be honest, I haven't read any of David Shaw's wine columns. I have no idea of he's any good or not. I also know that he writes on more political topics, but no comment there either. This column, cherry-picking quotes from Shaw's columns, strikes me as pretty unfair though:
Wine is an expensive hobby. (But let me tell you, I'm so glad my hobby isn't flying planes! I've got a friend who's taking pilot classes, and he's spent over 6 grand in the last year. Ouch!) I can't afford what Shaw can put into his hobby, but if I could spend 60+ dollars on bottles on a regular basis, I would. And frankly, there's no shame in not being able to afford it either. Taking good care of yourself and having fun while living within your means is something that you can be proud of, no matter what your income. Also, can we get over the blogger/journalist feud already? (And this more far-reaching than just the wine blog community...) I read blogs all the time, I read papers all the time. I read them because I like information and commentary, not because I like infantile bickering about who's better. Reading the cranky scribblings of bloggers and journalists, journo-bloggers, and blogo-journalists, (all of whom I like) taking swings at each other has gotten pretty tiresome. How 'bout some substance instead?
I can't help but think the columnist is just picking on Shaw because of his own personal issues related to money and the blogger/journalist feud.
Wine is an expensive hobby. (But let me tell you, I'm so glad my hobby isn't flying planes! I've got a friend who's taking pilot classes, and he's spent over 6 grand in the last year. Ouch!) I can't afford what Shaw can put into his hobby, but if I could spend 60+ dollars on bottles on a regular basis, I would. And frankly, there's no shame in not being able to afford it either. Taking good care of yourself and having fun while living within your means is something that you can be proud of, no matter what your income. Also, can we get over the blogger/journalist feud already? (And this more far-reaching than just the wine blog community...) I read blogs all the time, I read papers all the time. I read them because I like information and commentary, not because I like infantile bickering about who's better. Reading the cranky scribblings of bloggers and journalists, journo-bloggers, and blogo-journalists, (all of whom I like) taking swings at each other has gotten pretty tiresome. How 'bout some substance instead?
I can't help but think the columnist is just picking on Shaw because of his own personal issues related to money and the blogger/journalist feud.
1 Comments:
Deena:
Pretty astute post! It's so easy to trash wine enthusiasts as self absorbed rich people praying over he alter of foolishness. And the article you point to does just this. Someone fascinated by food could have the same issues as Shaw, but it would be far less likely that they'd be made fun of.
As for the blog vs journalist thing, Shaw gets some things inexcusably wrong. But he gets a lot right too. Too many people with a blogger account and a few posts under their belt consider themselves journalists. Show points this out the foolishness of this position and points to the the generally low caliliber of most bloggers.
Good post.
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