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Sunday, April 06, 2008

Bartow Alert

From today's story in the New York Times about the "emotional stress" of round-the-clock blogging, here's the cut-line under a photo of a blogger at work: "Matt Buchanan shows blogs may be a young man's game."

P.S.  I don't mean this sarcastically.  Writers are not responsible for photo cut-lines, and headlines and cut-lines are made to fit in small spaces.  But there was plenty of room for "person," wasn't there?  Or there somewhat more circuitous "a game for the young?"

P.P.S.  That said, I agree that constant blogging is stressful -- which is perhaps the reason why I've been remiss lately (that and the rising conviction, contary to blog culture, that if you have nothing to say, you shouldn't say anything).  But much of the story is, of course, hyperbole, as if the writer could not have justified the story absent a set of overstated claims.  Or implied claims, as the case may be: "To be sure, there is no official diagnosis of death by blogging, and the premature demise of two people obviously does not qualify as an epidemic...." 

Posted by Paul Horwitz on April 6, 2008 at 01:43 PM in Gender | Permalink

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Comments

Does "Bartow Alert" mean "I'm about to point out some sexism, but lest one think that *I* could ever notice or be troubled by sexism, let me make a back-handed swipe at someone else's concerns about the same?" Until I read Paul's post a second time, I actually thought his headline might express compassion and maybe even a scintilla of admiration for a fellow blogger whose energy far surpasses my own.

Posted by: Bridget Crawford | Apr 9, 2008 9:36:19 PM

In answer to your question: No, actually. It wasn't a swipe. [edited by author]

Posted by: Paul Horwitz | Apr 9, 2008 10:23:06 PM

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