The Blog People!
It wasn't my fault. Somebody's blog made me read Balloon Juice (a conservative blog, which wasn't all that icky, actually), and there was this entry about a "…wretched mess of turgid prose written by Michael Gorman, the President[-Elect] of the American Library Association, then before you know it there I was reading this bit in his essay "Revenge of the Blog People" (apparently he'd had a run-in with some bloggers at some point, and hadn't resolved his personal issues), in the section headed "Who Are the Blog People? (the "Blog People"? Puh-lease!):
It is obvious that the Blog People read what they want to read rather than what is in front of them and judge me to be wrong on the basis of what they think rather than what I actually wrote. Given the quality of the writing in the blogs I have seen, I doubt that many of the Blog People are in the habit of sustained reading of complex texts. It is entirely possible that their intellectual needs are met by an accumulation of random facts and paragraphs.
Oh my. I suppose that, yes, there are many people who write in many blogs (as in many, many other venues) who are not quite so sensitive and respectful around written English as some of us try to be. To be honest, I wouldn't mind it if they paid more attention to their writing, although the fact that they don't does allow me, in my petty way, to feel superior.
But please! That thing about not many "…in the habit of sustained reading of complex texts." It reminds me of a story.
When I was in graduate school (physics, not library "science"), my best friend Andrea told me about an incident that she had experienced, and I think she was always hoping it would happen again. Anyway, she had been in a bar (the type unfamiliar to me, where men meet women, if you can imagine such a thing) when a not very interesting man started to chat her up. He set out to impress her by explaining to her how Einstein had gotten it wrong with the theory of relativity, and how his own theories could correct it. She let him play out just enough rope for a good hanging, then pointed out that she did [almost] have "a Ph.D. in physics, actually". It's a real conversation stopper, and I'm always looking for an opportunity to say it. Alas, the chances are all too rare in civilized discourse.
Nevertheless, I do take some umbrage at the assertion that I'm not in the habit of obtaining intellectual sustenance from a sustained reading of complex texts, as though to suggest that they might be beyond my Neanderthal comprehension. Not that I make a steady diet of complex texts (just as too much rich food can upset the tummy…) and I hate to get all macho about it since, generally speaking, I think any sort of reading is preferable to no reading at all and I like to encourage it whenever I can, but, well, I do have a Ph.D. in physics, actually.