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Blogs, Harper's Magazine, internet, interview, Journalism, Lapham's Quarterly, Lewis Lapham, media, Meredith Bragg, Nick Gillespie, Poor Richard's Almanac, Reader's Digest, ReasonTV, Time Magazine, Tomdispatch, Truthdig, Truthout, Web, Website
Nick Gillespie: Put against the broad array of the internet and this explosion in access to text, do more people have more access to more of the past, or do they just get lost in the clutter?
Lewis Lapham: Well, that’s the reason for curators. Yes, I’m a curator here. I’m like a museum director. And a lot of people who run blogs are the same. I mean, if you go to Truthout or Truthdig or Tomdispatch, essentially these are curated compilations or anthologies. And there’s going to be more and more and more of that, because as the internet becomes so crowded, it eventually becomes incomprehensible. So you’re going to have to find some source you can trust. And this, of course, is the secret of all successful American journalism — that’s the Readers Digest, that’s Time Magazine, that’s Poor Richard’s Almanac.
__________
From the tail end of Nick Gillespie’s reason.com interview with Lewis Lapham, former Harper’s editor and current curator of Lapham’s Quarterly.
Biniam said:
Speaking of curators, you are a very good one.
jrbenjamin said:
Many thank you’s.
tedrey said:
Indeed. But did you ever think that you’d be compared to “Poor Richard’s Almanac?”
Good company, to which I’m sure that you will live up. (How do I NOT end that sentence with a preposition?)
jrbenjamin said:
Of course it’s not me being compared to it, and I think the comparison is flattering to blogs in general, not to mention my corner of the ‘sphere. Still, I think Lapham is on to something, as flawed as blogs, as a medium for conveying information and resources, are.
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navigator1965 said:
I subscribe to the notion of the Internet Reformation, in that the dialectic of independent opinions appears to have increased exponentially. I see blogging as a major part of this.
This must be frustrating for governments trying to control their social narratives.