Free Ross!
Scene regular Freddie has an excellent post up, which you should very much read, which asks to “Free Douthat!”, i.e. let him have his blog at the New York Times, written in response to our own Conor’s post at True Slant.
Freddie makes an excellent argument, which is that weekly columns carry much more weight than daily blog posts, especially for a conservatice New York Times columnist, and therefore shackle the author into carefully staking out each position lest he be misperceived or misinterpreted, whereas a frequently updated blog can allow for a much clearer picture.
This is quite true.
But here’s my argument: Ross is such a fantastic blogger it’s a shame to have him not blog. Free Douthat!
I’m sure this is in the works. It would just be bizarre if it weren’t.
— Noah Millman · Oct 28, 12:22 PM · #
Blogging has advantages over writing a column, but the fact it requires and produces less careful thought and analysis of an issue is damn sure not one of them. The idea that Ross Douthat or anyone is “shackled” because there observations have to be accurate and their opinions have to be well-grounded is silly.
Mike
— MBunge · Oct 28, 12:52 PM · #
And here I’ve never really thought Douthat was an interesting thinker or writer. Reihan Salam, absolutely, but not Douthat. He’s always kind of been Chuck D. to Salam’s Flava Flav, only in that pairing Flav is the one worth checking out.
— Erik Vanderhoff · Oct 28, 12:56 PM · #
I think I speak for everyone when I say: The professor beard does not take will to iconography.
Douthat’s not a bad-looking guy, but that looks like a picture of a mime wearing his face.
— Bo · Oct 28, 12:57 PM · #
The point, Mike, isn’t that Ross is confined by accuracy by his column, but rather by the peculiar politics of a dissident conservative writing for the New York Times. This is exacerbated by the weekly nature of his column, because he has to try to pick his way through those weeds with only own piece of writing a week.
— Freddie · Oct 28, 01:05 PM · #
ross is much more fluid in long form essays or laser-focused blog posts. at this point i’m exasperated by the idea of the column. the good ones are few and far between and the bad ones are the undead zombies that show up in my google reader every day. i’m pretty sure david broder died 30 years ago.
so i’m all for unshackling all the “new media kidz.TM” and letting them wile out.
— ron · Oct 28, 01:27 PM · #
I just disagree entirely. You check the boxes on your way up or not at all. But once you’re on top? Why care about fitting into these vulgar categories? As a wise man said, there’s no reason to play mirror mirror on the wall once you’ve been given the crown.
Ross made it. He is free to be free, or he is free to quit and retain success. The freedom to be thorough and studied, concise and clear, elegant and interesting, widely published and persuasively elite — that should be exactly what he wants out of this gig. It’s also what he got.
— Kristoffer V. Sargent · Oct 28, 03:32 PM · #
And Conor, don’t you have a picture where you’re not leaning back and to the left? Leave aside the symbolism. You deserve better on purely aesthetic grounds.
— Kristoffer V. Sargent · Oct 28, 03:39 PM · #
I was an avid reader of his blog but haven’t even bothered to check out his Times column. I would have sought it out on the basis of how much I liked his blog, if I hadn’t become convinced years ago that it’s impossible—no matter who you are—to write anything insightful in the format of a short-ish semi-weekly newspaper column. There’s a reason glib buzz-word mongers like Dowd, Friedman and Brooks are the ones who tend to thrive in that format.
I applaud Douthat for getting the job, but it seems like getting the job, and not the job itself, is the prize. I hope he uses it as a stepping stone to something where he can actually write insightfully and at length (his blog posts were notable for being much longer and more carefully considered than average).
Also—for the love of God find another photo for the Free Ross image. That one makes him look like the love child of Hector Elizondo and late-period Steven Seagal.
— Charlie · Oct 28, 03:40 PM · #
re: it’s impossible—no matter who you are—to write anything insightful in the format of a short-ish semi-weekly newspaper column.
It might be difficult given the market bias of the editors. But writing an insightful editorial, one you have time to revisit and to reduce to its essence, is not even that hard — if you actually have something insightful to say. Of course.
If you do have something insightful to say, then you say it and try to get it past the editors. If it doesn’t work, you quit. Any other mindset, any softening of the spine at all, and you end up selling your soul and diluting your brand. Which will happen to Ross unless he has an emergency reevaluation.
— Kristoffer V. Sargent · Oct 28, 03:55 PM · #
And Ross has plenty of insightful things to say about policy, outlook and strategy. Even culture sometimes, though he’s handicapped by his premises.
— Kristoffer V. Sargent · Oct 28, 03:59 PM · #