Production versus Paper Credentials
Glenn Greenwald of Unclaimed Territory looks at the internet as a “meritocracy.” The essay’s comments on “credentialism” remind me of a conversation I had almost two decades ago with a successful author who told me he had missed out on a university opportunity because he lacked a graduate degree. He was ticked, too, because his publishing track record was far superior to that of his competition.
Greenwald really smacks The New Republic’s new blog, as an example of “old journalism” wrestling (rather nakedly) with the impact of web logs.
The blog over at The New Republic, called The Plank, provides countless examples of establishment journalists’ embittered, self-loving thought processes at work. In some ways, The Plank is the national headquarters for petty journalistic elitism and the fallacy of credentialism. At The Plank, those who are properly credentialed are entitled to an immediate presumption of the rightness of their opinions (regardless of the substantive merit), and opinions expressed by those who are without these TNR-recognized credentials are presumptively worthless…
Here’s a link to The Plank. The site strikes me as an imitation of National Review’s “The Corner.”
Read Greenwald’s post, and scan the comments.
Living proof that some people can be educated to the point of stupidity. In the Media, there seems to be an inverse ratio between credentials and evidence.
Comment by stehpinkeln — 1/18/2006 @ 12:17 pm