Free Media Exposure? Nah.
I just got an opportunity to play temporary radio pundit and blew it off. Out of the blue a radio station from Baltimore called me up and asked me to go on-air in my capacity as a political media consultant to discuss the effectiveness of attack ads.
I explained that my media consulting was more a pain in the ass than a business to me and that I was not the guy they wanted to talk to.
Another opportunity blown. Not my first, probably not my last. My friend (yes, singular) and my wife both think I sell myself short, don't take myself seriously enough in the political realm. But here's the thing: I don't believe in bullshit, and all bullshit begins with bullshitting people about yourself.
Insofar as I bring anything to the political table it's an instinct for recognizing bullshit. I'm a good critic, a good counterpuncher. In the zoology of the political world I'm a mosquito: terrific instinct for blood, excellent capacity for finding the unprotected spot, not easily scared off by swatting hands. But at the point where I start taking myself seriously, start trying to adopt that lordly, scornful Krauthammer-manque tone so many bloggers attempt, or else turn myself into some media-worthy barking partisan, I'll be so deep in my own bullshit I won't be able to smell anyone else's.
The media needs partisans, that's how they program. Rabid rightie vs. shrill leftie, arf, arf, arf. Mark out your turf and defend it. Politics as brand identity: always promote the brand. That's how the blogosphere works, too, which is why I'm a lousy blogger. I'm politically unreliable. I have no turf. I have no loyalties. I just float around, smell blood and leave behind an irritating rash.
I explained that my media consulting was more a pain in the ass than a business to me and that I was not the guy they wanted to talk to.
Another opportunity blown. Not my first, probably not my last. My friend (yes, singular) and my wife both think I sell myself short, don't take myself seriously enough in the political realm. But here's the thing: I don't believe in bullshit, and all bullshit begins with bullshitting people about yourself.
Insofar as I bring anything to the political table it's an instinct for recognizing bullshit. I'm a good critic, a good counterpuncher. In the zoology of the political world I'm a mosquito: terrific instinct for blood, excellent capacity for finding the unprotected spot, not easily scared off by swatting hands. But at the point where I start taking myself seriously, start trying to adopt that lordly, scornful Krauthammer-manque tone so many bloggers attempt, or else turn myself into some media-worthy barking partisan, I'll be so deep in my own bullshit I won't be able to smell anyone else's.
The media needs partisans, that's how they program. Rabid rightie vs. shrill leftie, arf, arf, arf. Mark out your turf and defend it. Politics as brand identity: always promote the brand. That's how the blogosphere works, too, which is why I'm a lousy blogger. I'm politically unreliable. I have no turf. I have no loyalties. I just float around, smell blood and leave behind an irritating rash.
This entry was posted by Michael Reynolds, on
Wednesday, September 27, 2006.
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10:40 AM
Boy, you took the words right out of my brain! That's exactly what I was thinking to myself this morning. Not that anyone's asked me to be a pundit lately, but sometimes I think to myself, "Oh, come on, Bruno, be a barking partisan! Your life will be so much easier."
The fact that you're not is why I go to your site. Usually, it's after I've been through a dozen others, because my bookmarks are alphabetical. So by the time I get here, I feel like a battered child trapped between two abusively narcissistic parents. Then I read your posts and I go "Thaaaank you! Sheesh, some common sense for a change!"
BTW, I have the name of a good dermatologist for the irritating rash.
P.S. Extra points for the use of the expression "Krauthammer-manque."
9:36 PM
On the flip side it would have given you something to do aside from waiting for that phone call.
Me personally I'd have done it only because I haven't (and most likely never will)done it before.