This one is so ironic as to almost deserve the word hubris. David Talbot, the founder of Salon, on the occasion of Slate’s tenth anniversary:
overall I find it shrill and superficial, a function of the triumph of the blog.
Shrill? This, from the founder of the far-left online magazine, Salon?
If you read the full link, you end up wondering if someone stole Talbot’s email and send in an article bound to make him look like an absolute moron.
Honestly, David Talbot has the balls to call others shrill? His remarks on Slate are imbecilic in the extreme–George Clooney is his “hero”? Good God.
Oddly, it appears as though Talbot’s brainchild, Salon, has actually gone downhill *since* he stopped editing it. In 1999/2000, it was one of the most exciting, and ideologically diverse journals on the net. Alongside a coterie of leftist and liberal writers, who ranged from the brilliant to the grotesque, Salon featured regular columns from the likes of Camille Paglia (whom I adore) and David Horowitz (whom I can’t stand.) It also used to be free–big plus in my book.
Now, the thing’s almost a stereotypical joke–an echo chamber for mediocre writers (Laura Miller excepted) of the flamingly self-righteous leftist variety. SO very boring. I doubt if anyone on its editorial board would be pleased to hear that the only article I’ve found even readable in the last three years was a profile of Whitney “Crack is Whack” Houston.