''The callous frivolity that constitutes the default zone of Internet tabloids like TMZ.com.....'' -- B.J. Myers
R. Myers' letter to the Atlantic magazine recently hits the nail on the head and should be amplified
all over the Internet and in newsrooms worldwide.
RE: "A Lack of
Taste" -- On the contents page of the April 2010 issue of The Atlantic, one
finds the caption: “Cute, cuddly, and delicious with a Foster's
[Beer]: Australia cooks up its furry friends.” The force of the
English language, and of the word friends in particular, makes one
feel the wrongness of what is being talked about.
When George Bernard
Shaw famously said, “Animals are my friends, and I don’t eat my
friends,” he was in effect saying the same thing twice.
The caption
thus leads one to expect at least some discussion of humanitarian
objections to the unregulated mass killing of wild kangaroos. In
“Outback Steakhouse,” however, Marina Kamenev sees only the “sanitary”
problems involved, and even they are quickly glossed over.
So what is that caption for? It is clearly not meant to draw a laugh
or even a smile. EMPHASIS MINE: *The caption writer
has merely lapsed into the callous frivolity that constitutes the
default tone of Internet tabloids like TMZ.com.* It is one thing if a
contributor chooses to write like this, but captions are the voice of
a magazine—in this case, a magazine generally known for a much more
thoughtful use of language."
BLOC COMMENT: We do seem to have entered the default zone of caption writers
worldwide now with newspaper and magazine headline writers and caption
writers sometimes going for the tasteless and ungainly, when much
better words would do. Why is this? Why are young people writing such
awkward and tasteless headlines and captions.
So many young caption writers today lapse into the callous frivolity
that constitutes the default tone of Internet tabloids ...and it's not
good for the world of letters and the world of reading. Whoever wrote
that caption in the Atlantic should be identified and he or she should
come forth and explain his or her actions. Terrible. Dr Myers is
right on here, and his words should be heeded.
all over the Internet and in newsrooms worldwide.
RE: "A Lack of
Taste" -- On the contents page of the April 2010 issue of The Atlantic, one
finds the caption: “Cute, cuddly, and delicious with a Foster's
[Beer]: Australia cooks up its furry friends.” The force of the
English language, and of the word friends in particular, makes one
feel the wrongness of what is being talked about.
When George Bernard
Shaw famously said, “Animals are my friends, and I don’t eat my
friends,” he was in effect saying the same thing twice.
The caption
thus leads one to expect at least some discussion of humanitarian
objections to the unregulated mass killing of wild kangaroos. In
“Outback Steakhouse,” however, Marina Kamenev sees only the “sanitary”
problems involved, and even they are quickly glossed over.
So what is that caption for? It is clearly not meant to draw a laugh
or even a smile. EMPHASIS MINE: *The caption writer
has merely lapsed into the callous frivolity that constitutes the
default tone of Internet tabloids like TMZ.com.* It is one thing if a
contributor chooses to write like this, but captions are the voice of
a magazine—in this case, a magazine generally known for a much more
thoughtful use of language."
BLOC COMMENT: We do seem to have entered the default zone of caption writers
worldwide now with newspaper and magazine headline writers and caption
writers sometimes going for the tasteless and ungainly, when much
better words would do. Why is this? Why are young people writing such
awkward and tasteless headlines and captions.
So many young caption writers today lapse into the callous frivolity
that constitutes the default tone of Internet tabloids ...and it's not
good for the world of letters and the world of reading. Whoever wrote
that caption in the Atlantic should be identified and he or she should
come forth and explain his or her actions. Terrible. Dr Myers is
right on here, and his words should be heeded.
posted by dan at 8:50 PM
1 Comments:
Thanks, Danny, for the moral support!
I'm glad they printed the letter. That's the good thing about the AM, it really is more open to criticism and a range of views than other magazines are.
Not that my complaints will make much of a difference.
Take care, and thanks again -
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