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Post a Comment On: Steve Sailer: iSteve

"NYT: "When ‘Long-Form’ Is Bad Form""

25 Comments -

1 – 25 of 25
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Conmen/women is a noun.

1/25/14, 2:04 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

To paraphase the author of this schizoid essay, one - perhaps the main - purpose of "long form" journalism is to portray situations and persons in their full complexity. But the author then implicitly excoriates Grantland and Caleb Hannan for doing exactly this since one of the important complexities of this story is clearly the confused sexuality of the conman at its center.

And I think this is the first time I've ever run across the notion that a prerequisite for investigative journalists is "empathy" for the targets of their exposes. How differently Watergate might have played out were this in fact the case!

1/25/14, 5:28 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

No wonder Wall Street guys have been spared from real journalistic 'long form'investigation.

Who, whom.

It's just not right to look into those kind of people.

1/25/14, 5:43 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

More lunacy.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/11/22/roger-stone-nixon-thought-lbj-killed-kennedy/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FVsS2sDkpE

1/25/14, 5:49 AM

Blogger DCThrowback said...

A friend who a bureau chief/reporter for a Top 3 US Paper criticism of Hannan's piece was, to summarize:

1.) Reporters are a-holes, they build trust, then write what they write; Hannan didn't have to write about the TS stuff but chose to anyways

2.) But the audience is also filled with a-holes, who are looking to be offended by who/whom, and they are pretty awful too. The powerlessness of smart people w/ no $$ leads to a chorus of self-righteous BS that is poison

3.) Hannan could've used this as an expository piece on journalistic ethics, (which would've pleased my friend) but not necessarily pleased the readership of Grantland (i.e., me).

Note: He's not a fan of long-form.

But I am, and found the piece to be an excellent read and found the resulting sh*t-storm entertaining. The bottom line for me was what you just wrote and the piece's accusers have no answer for: assuming Vanderbilt killed herself for being exposed as a TS isn't as likely as her killing herself for being found out to be a fraud, just like ADM Mike Boorda did back in '96 w/ the Navy Medals.

1/25/14, 6:48 AM

Anonymous Piper said...

What, then, is the function — the purpose — of “long-form”? To allow a writer to delve into the true complexities of a story, and also to bring readers closer to the experience of other people.

Until those complexities and experiences involve mental illness manifesting as self-mutilation, cross-dressing, sexual perversion, compulsive mendacity, fraud, and finally suicide! When the story gets that complex and the experiences get that bizarre (and therefore interesting to readers-- "the proper study of Mankind is man"**) then that story must not be told! You may not bring readers closer to the experience of other people when that might help the reader understand what it's like to be deceived and disappointed by a mentally-ill con-man!

**Yeah, yeah, I know that isn't quite what the poet meant.

1/25/14, 6:53 AM

Anonymous David said...

Excellent post as usual.

1/25/14, 6:58 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

WWG against Russia is really a war on white America lest white Americans ask, like Buchanan, "Is Putin one of us?"

In the 90s, the oligarchs came close to taking over Russia and gaining control of most of the assets, buying up the politicians, and controlling the media.

Putin and nationalists took control and have been promoting Russian nationalism and tradition rooted in Christianity. Russian whites don't believe their lot is to serve the interest of NY globalists.

Well, what if the Putin bug spreads to white Americans?

So, the Liberal elite establishment and neocons in the GOP work overtime to fool white Americans that the 'gay rainbow' is the new red, white, and blue and that the fruitcake is the new American-as-apple-pie.

Alinskyism. Wrap the homo-globalist agenda pushed by the elites as the new patriotism.

It may work. After all, even white conservatives care more about Israel than their national/racial/cultural interests.

1/25/14, 7:05 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

The gender neutral term is "con artist". Get it right.

1/25/14, 7:59 AM

Anonymous Reg Cæsar said...

But this concerns sex, so isn't longer better?

1/25/14, 8:01 AM

Anonymous matt said...

Lost in the shuffle is the fact that Caleb Hannan is not some hack, but an incredible longform journalist. His profiles of 49-year-old knuckleballer Jamie Moyer and Dish Network's hated CEO are must-reads for anyone who likes the genre. The editor who greenlights his next piece will have done something wonderful, both for free speech, and for his publication.

1/25/14, 8:03 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Would donning a frock have saved Nixon?

1/25/14, 8:30 AM

Anonymous Dystopia Max said...

J. Edgar Hoover's only crime was being too far ahead of his time.

1/25/14, 9:12 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Long-form journalism is inherently dubious because it asks too many questions. All that matters in 2014 is: Who? Whom?"

And no further explanation for Twitter is needed. All the righteous indignation and zero analysis crammed into 140 characters.

1/25/14, 10:04 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Am I the only one who think that Dr. V's choice of V is significant?

1/25/14, 10:45 AM

Blogger Maguro said...

One unfortunate aspect of this is that other suicidal/mentally ill people will see how effectively Dr V was able to get back at his enemies by offing himself. Same deal with the way they prosecuted the roommate of the gay kid at Rutgers. It all amounts to society incentiving suicide.

1/25/14, 10:51 AM

Blogger James Hedman said...

John McPhee has always been the undisputed master of the long form of journalism/non-fiction science writing and many of his New Yorker articles (some spanning multiple issues of the magazine) have been later published as shortish books.

Never one to relate a useless divergent factoid he always keeps tightly focused on the main subject matter and often simultaneously from more than one point of view.

He's still alive so it's not too late for the Nobel Committee to act.

1/25/14, 11:43 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

What's also true is the the crimes of the Enron honchos (which WERE exposed by a woman write, and a woman whistleblower) were much more serious than the crimes of this confused creature, "Dr. V."

Does this figure into the equation?

1/25/14, 12:10 PM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116333/bad-answers-about-evolution?utm

1/25/14, 12:28 PM

Anonymous Glossy said...

All that matters in 2014 is: Who? Whom?

I don't think the world is much who-whomier now than it was 50, 100, or 500 years ago. People have always used general principles as fig leaves for specific likes and dislikes. Most do it subconsciously. Steve must be more cynical now than he was 10, 20 or 30 years ago though, so of course the world would seem who-whomier to him now than it did then.

1/25/14, 12:55 PM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Someone was a charlatan and a transexual. I don't have life to spare on millions of words on this.

Too bad. Shouldn't have been a charlatan. Being a transexual must be rough. The end.

1/25/14, 3:49 PM

Anonymous countenance said...

Anonymous at 1/25/14 5:49 AM

What matters here really isn't whether LBJ did or did not have JFK rubbed out. What matters is that the political class, including Richard Nixon, thinks that very well could have been the case. This is why Presidential nominee running mates ever since then have been people who really haven't had serious Presidential ambitions themselves, or at leas they didn't before they were chosen as a running mate.

But for JFK, LBJ probably would have been the Democrat nominee in 1960.


1/25/14, 7:54 PM

Anonymous Reg Cæsar said...

Someone was a charlatan and a transexual.

Those of us Steve's age and older can remember when "transsexuals" were still considered the victims of charlatans.

Dr Reuben called them "castrated, mutilated female impersonators". What kind of "doctor" would put someone in that state? Not Hippocrates!

1/25/14, 9:21 PM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Vanderbilt killed herself for being exposed as a TS isn't as likely as her killing herself for being found out to be a fraud

Uhh, isn't "TS" the ultimate in fraudulence?

1/26/14, 10:19 AM

Anonymous Fairway Frank said...

The original piece was pretty well done, and it is a shame Simmons felt the need to apologize. Although, he did try to explain and defend as much as apologize when compared to fellow SWPL-literary type.

I thought the identity of Vanderbilt was intrinsically linked to the overall story of this mysterious putter and the even more mysterious inventor.

I wish more people would take a Master's/Hootie Johnson-type stand to being bullied by these fringe groups. Remember that Augusta eventually admitted women, they just didn't feel like doing it at the point of a feminist bayonet, so they told all the advertisers to take a hike for a few years. It was the best televised sports that I have watched (and I'm not even a huge golf guy).

1/27/14, 1:19 PM

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