i am an unabashed stephen fry fan. he has been a complete, and self-confessed, tit at various moments of his life … most notable being the most recent when he maligned poland because auschwitz was within its borders.
on his blog, the new adventures of mr stephen fry, he just posted an entry that is not only an unabashed apology for that piece of verbal diarrhoea, but also then goes into a beautifully expressed opinion on twitter, journalism and the influence of one on the other.
Perhaps the foregoing is the most fatuous and maddening aspect of the press’s (perfectly understandable) fear, fascination and dread of Twitter: the insulting notion that twitterers are wavy reeds that can be blown this way or that by the urgings of a few prominent ‘opinion formers’. It is hooey, it is insulting hooey and it is wicked hooey. The press dreads Twitter for all kinds of reasons. Celebrities (whose doings sell even broadsheet newspapers these days) can cut them out of the loop and speak direct to their fans which is of course most humiliating and undermining. But also perhaps the deadwood press loathes Twitter because it is like looking in a time mirror. Twitter is to the public arena what the press itself was two hundred and fifty years ago — a new and potent force in democracy, a thorn in side of the established order of things.
there’s pages more, all the kind of writing and thinking that i would give my left breast to be able to create. read it. go on, you know you want to.
October 20, 2009 at 7:50 PM
Isn’t it a fabulous post by the rather lovely Mr Fry? I read it and was delighted and awestruck and humbled all in one big old go.
Despite his ability to jam his foot in his mouth at times, he’s also one of the most articulate and eloquent writers and speakers out there. I tip my hat to him.
Actually, his ability to jam his foot in his mouth at times gives me hope for myself, *giggle*!
October 21, 2009 at 11:43 AM
exactly right. if the genii can do it, then i dont feel so bad when i do it too.