[SIGCIS-Members] Should we aspire to be featured in or write for the New Yorker?

Joshua Weiss josh.z.weiss at gmail.com
Tue Oct 14 09:44:43 PDT 2014


B

On Tue, Oct 14, 2014 at 9:34 AM, Thomas Haigh <thaigh at computer.org> wrote:

> Hello everyone,
>  
> I'd like to thank Ian and Bernard for their thoughtful contributions.
>  
> Here's a bigger question that comes to mind as I ponder all the issues
> raised over the last few days in this stimulating conversation. Just for the
> moment, let's assume that whatever outrage anyone might be feeling is just a
> product of submersion in an unworldly academic culture. Let's assume that
> Evgeny Morozov and Janet Browne are entirely correct. That this is just how
> highbrow journalism works. The New Yorker does things in a particular way.
> Call it editorial determinism. There could only be one mention of Eden
> Medina, "entertaining" was just the right word, and it had to come in the
> tenth paragraph. The New Yorker prose aesthetic provided no alternatives.
> The Tumblr and twitter responses from Morozov resolved the matter. There
> will be no apology. There should be no apology. 
>  
> Let's assume that these are indeed the only terms on which the work of an
> award winning scholar can be popularized in the New Yorker. That these are
> the only terms on which a pugilistic public intellectual who is also a
> Harvard graduate student can or should engage with the work of an award
> winning scholar on the pages of the New Yorker. Take it or leave it.
>  
> I'd bet that many historians dream of one day having their work profiled at
> length in the New Yorker, or, even less plausibly, of themselves being
> invited to contribute to its hallowed pages. Having that happen might seem
> like winning the lottery. But if nothing at all went wrong here, perhaps it
> shouldn't. Maybe the dream is more of a nightmare. Perhaps the New Yorker
> and scholarship are best kept apart.
>  
> Best wishes,
>  
> Tom
>  
>  
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