Heard of this guy? He's a professor of computer science at Yale. Apparently, he also considers himself to be a Voice of the Conservative Revolution. He's been published about once a week in the Los Angeles Times for about a month now, and his writing is so terrible. Well, on Friday, after reading his
column I literally flipped my lid and sent off a letter to the Editors.
I copied my good friend Josh on it, and the following conversation ensued:
From: "James Elliott"
Subject: Re: David Gelertner Date: Fri, April 29, 2005 12:47 pm
To: letters@latimes.com
Bcc: "Joshua"
To the Editors:
Please, please, please for the love all things holy and the sake of my
remaining brain cells stop giving a voice to David Gelertner! The man
cannot craft a well-thought out piece to save his life. Over the past
few weeks that I have been reading his columns, I have not seen Mr.
Gelertner express a thought that wasn't on the right-wing blogs earlier
that week (He so much as admits this in today's column. Michelle Malkin,
indeed!). There is nothing original in his writing; he merely parrots
conservative talking points or stereotypes on liberals. It's not even
good writing. His arguments are derivative and half-crafted.
Furthermore, where does a professor of computer science come off trying to
sound like Moses come down from the mountain, as though his broad
generalizations were the Gospel Truth inscribed in stone tablets? Is he
hiding a master's degree in sociology or a PhD in political science under his
hat? Is his career as a professor of computer science merely a sideline, a
change of pace from his past as a hard-writing investigative reporter on a
governmental affairs beat?
Every time the LA Times publishes a piece by Professor Gelertner, we are all
the dumber for it. He has nothing new to say that we could not get from
perusing a selection of blogs, Ann Coulter columns, and Sean Hannity rantings.
Unless your intention is to reveal the man for the caricature of a columnist
that he purports to be and laugh at him, the only other explanation I can come
up with for publishing him is that he flies to Chicago once a week to give your
owners a hand-job. I can just picture him underneath that executive boardroom
table lubing up his hands and cackling gleefully. Maybe he got the idea from
Jeff Guckert and White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan.
There are a number of intelligent and well-written men of letters with
conservative views that you could publish. Jonah Goldberg, Ramesh Ponnuru, and
even Andrew Sullivan all come to mind. Go talk to Mr. Jonathan Chait, whom you
publish regularly. I'm sure he can get you an introduction. I have no problem
with reading conservative viewpoints, but is it too much to ask that they be
intelligent as well?
Sincerely,
James Elliott
San Jose, Calif.
From: "Joshua"
Subject: Re: David Gelertner
Date: Fri, April 29, 2005 12:52 pm
Guckart is clearly having a homosexual relationship with somebody in
the White House. But who...?
Fucking worthless media. Don't they know a political sex scandal when
they see one? OH YEAH I FORGOT, BUSH ISN'T A DEMOCRAT. I should've learned
my lesson when Newt Gingrich was doing THE SAME THING AS CLINTON BUT WORSE
and the press said nothing.
-Josh
From: "James Elliott"
Subject: Re: David Gelertner
Date: Fri, April 29, 2005 12:57 pm
Indeed. Or what about Rudy Giuliani? He left his wife and moved in with
his mistress the same week she was diagnosed with breast cancer!
Or, how about this one: Remember the homosexual prostitution ring the
Reagan White House was caught up in? No? BECAUSE NO ONE FUCKING REPORTS
ANYTHING.
-Jim
From: "Joshua"
Subject: Re: David Gelertner
Date: Fri, April 29, 2005 1:04 pm
I read the Gelertner article. You're right; he has no business writing for the
Los Angeles times. He's a nutjob. My suspicion is that he's some right-wing blogger
who they gave a column to. You know, that's the current trendy thing for newspapers
and magazines to do; pretend that bloggers are somehow a legitimate voice,
especially the right wing, and treat them with the respect that they don't deserve.
-Joshua
From: "James Elliott"
Subject: Re: David Gelertner
Date: Fri, April 29, 2005 1:19 pm
Which is why I suggested Goldberg, Ponnuru, and Sullivan as alternatives. They all
blog, but are also professional writers. When not mentally masturbating and spraying
us in the face with the spewtum that is their thoughts (which is really what most
bloggers -myself included - do), they sit down and write thoughtful, reasoned pieces
for public consumption. Gerlertner merely cuts and pastes his blogs on to Microsoft
Word before sending them to the Times. Or at least, that's what he reads like...
-Jim
The rest of the conversation is ross-posted on Los Punditos.