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September 9, 2005

it is over between me and the blade, and clint black too

I just read my last issue of DC's gay/lez/bi/trans/whatever newspaper The Washington Blade. Like our past media/activism icons The Advocate and The Human Rights Campaign, The Blade's value is clearly waning, especially with what appears to be a regular commentary section by Jeff/Jim Gannon/Guckert/Whatever flathering about the warped illusions in his mind. That was the last nail in the coffin for me, as was the apologetic and generally bizarro article stating that "Tina is not such a bitch." I'll have to disagree: crystal meth is a bitch, and you can't be very accountable when you are addicted. Count your blessings that you could walk away from Tina, Mickey. A lot of people can't.

Anyhow, I get more value and timely news from blogs these days, and I don't need to be coaxed into reading a newspaper featuring polar, incendiary "writers" like Gannon/Guckert/Whatever and Weems. I'll stick with blogs and the far more coherent Metro Weekly, even though it's mainly entertainment news - at least its not outright incendiary and stupid. Good articles and entertainment reviews too. In fact the quality of MW has become really good the past couple of years, while the Blade has been rapidly going the way of my last bowel movement. The scant few Blade writers with cogent, concise and well-written articles like Peter Rosenstein, might spend their time more efficiently by posting their work in their own blogs.

The obscene 9/11 "Fredom Walk" and concert is this Sunday on the National Mall, but don't count on watching it if you aren't REGISTERED ONLINE BY 4:30PM TODAY (or should I say 1630 hours?). It is not easily accessible for the general public, and any clueless tourists accidentally wandering too close to the parade will be shot on sight by members of the U.S. Armed Forces (just kidding - this time). And they are not even trying to hide any fabricated link between 9/11 (the event) and Iraq either. Yet again we see the media censorship typical of this foul administration:

One restricted group will be the media, whose members will not be allowed to walk along the march route. Reporters and cameras are restricted to three enclosed areas along the route but are not permitted to walk alongside participants walking from the Pentagon, across the Memorial Bridge to the Mall.
While I realize most of the purchase orders for the event were probably in place before Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and the money already spent, couldn't we do something more valuable with all this security, personnel, pomp and prestidigitation? Because in addition to a steady supply of corpses from overseas, we are still finding corpses down south. I'm sure anyone marching would feel their time would be better spent helping others rather than helping shore up the current administration's propaganda.

Posted by jimbo at September 9, 2005 9:58 AM

Comments

I think the best thing the press could do is not cover this blatant piece of shi -- er, propaganda. True, it would still appear on Fox News, but that's a given.

I'll be sending them a refund request for the portion of my tax dollars that went to fund this.

Posted by: Jeffrey at September 9, 2005 12:09 PM

I like the TA Daa pic. I'm sorry to here the Blade has gone downhill. It used to be a good paper with excellent writing. Oh well, just proves my point that DC is changing for the worst.

Posted by: TonkaManOR at September 9, 2005 1:11 PM

I stopped reading the Blade the moment an issue was first introduced to me 5 years ago.

I remember a couple of years back a writer for the Baltimore City paper made fun of the writing style and wordings used by most of the Staff of the Washington Blade. The author used terms like " Baltimore's Openly heterosexual Mayor Martin O'Mally" or "The Straight themed movie , staring the Openly Straight Actor/Actress".
The article was funny and made its point about over labeling people or mislabeling people.

Rob has discovered that the Baltimore Version of the Blade is not only more informative but also has wider spectrum regarding viewpoints.

Posted by: Dax at September 9, 2005 1:12 PM

N.B.:
4:30 PM would be 1630 hours, so you have a few extra minutes to sign up.....

Posted by: ZZ at September 9, 2005 2:32 PM

I don't know that the Baltimore City Paper article is funny so much as sad.

You don't have to label people as "openly heterosexual" because most people assume everyone is. It's the same to me as those "Straight Pride" shirts some kids were wearing, by mocking the importance of being openly gay.

Posted by: chrisafer at September 9, 2005 3:46 PM

I can't remember the last time i picked up a paper newspaper. I find the process dirty, clumsy, and reminds me of cheap, too recently-applied cologne, too creamy coffee, human-body-humidity, stale heat, the too faint sound of multiple headphones turned up too loud, all jammed into the packed quarters of a subway carriage in hazy morning commute. You can't get more old-school-clumsy-wasteful than the whole newspaper addiction, imo. Yuck, all those dirty, stinky newspaper addicts.

It's time we tax these addicts into digital submission and reveal them for the techno-throwbacks that they are.

But, the whole blog thingy is not without its problems. Accountability being foremost. And the pathology of "Ideological Myopia" isn't far behind. Blogs tend to attract people of like-mind, resulting in pathetic "Oh, you are *so* right! Go girl!" comments oft re-enforcing the untested mettle of the blog's author, and any dissent is either deleted or harangued by the GoGirl! factions into future silence. The KhmerRouge would be pleased.

Newspapers editorials are kind of like a meeting point for various perspectives, and in a very public town-crier sort of way. You open the newspaper's *website* and are often subjected to perspective that try, test, and prod untested assumptions and incomplete personal, annecdotal observations, all alone, without being denounced or affirmed by its cadres.

I value that difference of opinion and that internal, silent confrontation. In fact, that's why i still read newspapers. The KhmerRouge hates that, and fears that.

rob@egoz.org

Posted by: rob adams at September 10, 2005 6:38 AM