Registers of conversation

Great article by Danny O'Brien on why satire alone doesn't make an argument and why people hate blogs.

The great secret of satire is that it can be applied to anyone, good or bad. The British have bad teeth, Americans have giant chins. Rednecks drawl, toffs stutter, New Yorker's shout. Sub-cultural foibles are a universal weapons…

It's not enough. You have to have a good reason to attack who you do with those tricks. You have to justify it, otherwise you're just playing to the crowd's prejudices without giving them a bone of a new idea…

This is why, incidentally, why[sic] people hate blogs so much. My God, people say, how can Livejournallers be so self-obsessed? Oh, Christ, is Xeni talking about LA art again? Why won't they all shut up?

The answer why they won't shut up is – they're not talking to you. They're talking in the private register of blogs, that confidential style between secret-and-public. And you found them via Google. They're having a bad day. They're writing for friends who are interested in their hobbies and their life. Meanwhile, you're standing fifty yards away with a sneer, a telephoto lens and a directional microphone. Who's obsessed now?