The Link Changes Everything

James Lileks, The Bleat
Oct. 7, 2002

A wire story consists of one voice pitched low and calm and full of institutional gravitas, blissfully unaware of its own biases or the gaping lacunae in its knowledge. Whereas blogs have a different format: Clever teaser headline that has little to do with the actual story, but sets the tone for this blog post. Breezy ad hominem slur containing the link to the entire story. Excerpt of said story, demonstrating its idiocy (or brilliance). Blogauthor’s remarks, varying from dismissive sniffs to a Tolstoi-length rebuttal. Seven comments from people piling on, disagreeing, adding a link, acting stupid, preaching to the choir, accusing choir of being Nazis, etc.

I’d say it’s a throwback to the old newspapers, the days when partisan slants covered everything from the play story to the radio listings, but this is different. The link changes everything. When someone derides or exalts a piece, the link lets you examine the thing itself without interference. TV can’t do that. Radio can’t do that. Newspapers and magazines don’t have the space. My time on the Internet resembles eight hours at a coffeeshop stocked with every periodical in the world — if someone says “I read something stupid” or “there was this wonderful piece in the Atlantic” then conversation stops while you read the piece and make up your own mind.

—James Lileks (quoted in An Army of Davids, pp. 117-18).

For more about James Lileks, see http://www.lileks.com/. In the spirit of linking ideas, let me semi-gratuitously link the title of this post ("The Link Changes Everything") to a quote from Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, as appreciated in Philip Roth's Operation Shylock, reprinted by this guy who apparently likes the quote too. UPDATE: well, in case that guy's website goes away, here it is:

In Operation Shylock Philip Roth says Dostoyevsky's greatest line is from Crime and Punishment. Svidrigailov lures Dunya to his apartment to forcibly seduce her. Just when he has her cornered she pulls a pistol from her purse and points it at his heart.

"this" says Svidrigailov "changes everything."

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