ART (Aesthetically Rejected Thing): Alexis C. Madrigal, Angry and Just !Refusing! to Take It Any More

More self-righteous blather from the The Atlantic, not realizing that the correct response to deliberately putting one's foot in a nest of pissed-off journalists is to run away fast, not to eagerly shove the other foot, both hands, and face in after.

"These are my people. These are my colors. This is my institution, my connection to a legacy and a lineage. And if you come after one of us, if you come after it, I am not going to take it lying down."

TRANSLATION:  "I like being paid to do work that I solicit other people to do for free."

Love the ungainly mash-up of raging Chuck Palahniuk-meets-Hunter short staccato sentences and dollops of New Media Economy blather ("You want to become a node. And to become a node, you need to do things that inculcate trust from your readers, and you need to keep doing that over and over. In the digital world, we build the distribution networks day by day...")

Also, question, how does politely asking to be paid for original work suddenly constitute "coming after" anyone?  Strange how The Atlantic's inexplicably whiny paid staff have spun a writer saying, in public, "Thanks, but I'd prefer not to work for free, and am actually kind of offended that you asked," into a fantasy of disrespecting the legacies of John Muir, Ida Tarball, & etc.

Best case scenario: The Atlantic.com blows up (because it is obviously of no use to anyone in the real world, the protestations of its paid staff notwithstanding) and Alexis goes back to blogging about football or his old hedge fund job, and we never hear from him, ever again.

(Above, Mr. Madrigal.  A real-life Louis Green!)
- posted by cjb @ 5:52 PM