Combative, Influential
NYT respectfully obits Mr. Gilliard, “combative and influential blogger on the left,” who informed his readers with a “blunt and passionate take on the events of the day.”
Passionately profane, puerile, and often pointless. I like this part:
“Most of the family didn’t know what he was doing on the Web site,” said his cousin, Ms. Smith, who said his parents did not own computers.
Good thing. They might be shocked by his use of the F-bomb as his primary tool of political rhetoric.* NYT tastefully avoids mention. Not, as they say, fit to print.
Interesting claim that he supported himself blogging. Apparently flipped birds and pottymouth sell, although the obit is a tad vague on work history and whether blogging was supporting him in a cardboard box under the overpass or a brownstone and whether, like many freelancers, he was formally addressed, “Hey, bartender.” Says he worked in print journalism but neglects to say where. Apparently also not fit to print.
Obits are a fascinating thing and considered an artform at papers like the New York Times. I’d call this one an artful dodge. It’ll will be interesting to see what kind of treatment “combative and influential” bloggers of the right get from the NYT when they kick the bucket.
* It is unclear whether Mr. Gilliard was influential in this department in his half of the blogosphere, or simply following the predominant trend. Newsbuckit’s groundbreaking work this subject here. Frequency of profanity on major left blogs here. Right blogs, here. Despite the alleged prominence of Mr. Gilliard’s blog cited in leftie hagiographies and the claim that it supported him, it was not on Newsbuckit’s radar and many other conservative bloggers seem to have been unaware of it.
Regarding the claim that the blog supported him, hard to verify how well it did that. At Blogads.com, he had two adstrips, one priced at $300 a week for a standard ad, the other $200. One ad in each at present, so that’s a $500 week. Sites get more some weeks, less others. He’s got a PayPal donate icon, but its impossible to know what that paid him. His weekly page views are listed at Blogads in the mid-60,000s, which is respectable but not huge, however, I can’t see where he’s tucked away his sitemeter, and seeing as he’s no longer posting, it’s unclear whether that’s a bump from all the publicity or a drop due to inactivity. Those prices would tend to suggest he was drawing at least twice as many page views per week, but I don’t know, maybe liberal advertisers are very liberal.
(A note re my own use of profanity: Frequent in conversation with adults with whom I have a “swearing” relationship. Occasionally blurted out inappropriately, such as while using hammers and other equipment or tools around children. Generally restrained in print/blog, largely but not exclusively limited to relevant quotes. A noteable exception is in accounts of combat, where strong language is evocative of emotions, situations. I also sometimes make reference to arguably naughty subject matter, such as boobs, in discussions of various cultural phenomena.)
Topics: blogs
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:42 am on Wednesday, June 6, 2007
14 Responses to “Combative, Influential”
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June 6th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Will there be a moment of silence at Yearly Kos?
June 6th, 2007 at 10:34 am
[...] other touching obit from the [...]
June 6th, 2007 at 10:52 am
Wasn’t he famous for putting blackface on some candidate? Did they mention that?
All’s fair in politics, I suppose, but I don’t know that I’d be proud to leave the legacy of being one of the guys who made a bar too loud and obnoxious for regular folks. That’s basically what the slash-and-burn school of blogging has accomplished (on any side).
June 6th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
[...] Jules Crittenden noticed the Times‘ “artful dodge” didn’t mention how “blunt and passionate” Gilliard was. The Grey Lady wanted to play nice and not unleash the rath of the netroots. First the Democratic Party and now the NY Times. The online Left is on a roll. [...]
June 6th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Tacky post Jules.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Tacky post Jules.
Tacky people earn tacky eulogies. [reference recent Falwell demise]
June 6th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Him again. Like I said before, never heard of him, and at this point, pretty glad I didn’t.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
I like tacky. I feel at home there.
June 6th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Anyone who wants to get high and mighty about references to the late Mr. Gilliard better be ready to prove that they didn’t make nasty cracks about the late Rev. Falwell, Cheney’s hunting accident, or Bush choking on a pretzel.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
I make nasty cracks about almost everyone, so at least I’m in the clear.
June 8th, 2007 at 9:42 am
[...] death, takes it further, as he takes the type of in-depth look at Gilliard in his blog “Combative, Influential,” that you could expect from the [...]
June 8th, 2007 at 9:44 am
[...] death, takes it further, as he takes the type of in-depth look at Gilliard in his blog “Combative, Influential,” that you could expect from the [...]
June 14th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
[...] Crittendon, who for various reasons is quickly becoming my choice for biggest asshole on the planet, is unable to discern the [...]
June 14th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
[...] Shakes has the details. Cowardice here. [...]