Snickering While Rome Burns

Michael Kinsley, in a piece entitled Like I Care in today's Washington Post, is still in denial. His chosen profession, journalism, has almost been a matter of faith for people in his demographic - boomers in the coastal centers. And in recent years journalism has been transformed (some would say destroyed) by the Internet.

Information flows differently now - it's decentralized, and everyone has the potential to have "a voice". Once upon a time notions like these would probably enthuse a Lefty ideologue who wants change, but for Kinsley and his peers, the shock is too much, and there's a sting that comes with the loss of power and it's vanities.

And so he indulges in the same tired device that we have seen since the late 90s from journalists with an edge of anger and a looming sense of their lessening relevance: He goes out to the Internet, he surfs around for some of the most pointless and silly examples of how it is being used, and he writes about it with snickering disdain and no real point. An asinine Myspace page, a time-waster website - his implication is that these are representative of what's out there, these days, what is coming to replace the saintly dignity of older media. His target audience, the fifty-something paper Post readership (who also doesn't quite grasp it) is supposed to titter and add the obligatory remark about how - goodness me - people expect this medium to replace real journalism?

Instead of bothering to respond thoughtfully, I'll think take the same glib tone - after all, the Internet is a silly place: Whatever you gotta tell yourself, Mike.

Tags: Michael Kinsley, Washington Post, Denial