I think there is an unstated theme: saying what isn't said. Let's look at what people are saying. Let's stop and think about what they're notably not saying out loud. And let's take it upon ourselves to say it out loud. That's what I call "saying what isn't said," and that's what has always distinguished the Althouse blog from other blogs that are merely effective at saying the right things to please their audience. It's easy to look at what others are saying, pick the statements that appeal to us, and repeat them. We all do that sometimes. But those who do only that are missing something.
January 21, 2014
Does this blog have an unstated theme?
John says:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
27 comments:
Isn't it nice to be admired and respected, with the proper degree of reserve and scepticism, by your own children?
John knows Mom better than we do. From the perspective of this reader, I think his description of the theme of this blog is dead-on. It says what isn't being said. And it's less marginalia and more subtext.
(Oh geez, who was it who noted that "subtext" is an anagram of "buttsex"?)
Is it possible for a blog about the unstated to have an unstated theme for all of these years?
@tim in vermont: Maybe it's like Seinfeld, which was "a show about nothing." But it really wasn't about nothing, it was about something.
Or something.
I'm King of the obvious banal and mundane inane arcane and otherwise ... never mind.
Happy anniversary.
I came because the stated theme was law blog
No toleration for Bullshit would be another way to put it.
(He said, bullshitting.)
The fellow writes such a nice thing about his mother, and it takes her a week to notice? Oh well.
Agree with the Seinfeld connection that others have made too.
Some of the other blogs (like The Other McCain, Legal Insurrection) have regular guest posters - I think John would be a fine addition to the team here. Sometimes I feel that we skew a little "old" here - would be nice to hear from some younger people once in awhile.
That's certainly one theme of the blog--and probably the major reason I love it.
David,
Now that's interesting. Althouse often invokes the concept bullshit. But does bullshitting always/often imply something unstated?
I think you can make a case that it does?
Not paying attention here very long, but I thought the unstated theme was very Limbaugian, writing about what seems interesting to a quirky personality. If not, either I'm missing something or I'm projecting.
The fellow writes such a nice thing about his mother, and it takes her a week to notice? Oh well.
I felt like commenting over there, You, his mother.
But I've missed seeing my own daughter's blog entries for a couple days. Who am I to throw stones?
Althouse is very smart (not math-smart, but has flashes of common sense) for a girl. Reading her blog is a novelty like watching a cat fetch a stick.
Semi-Retired Betamax3000 says:
I Thought the Unspoken Theme of Every Post for Ten Years was "What Would Bob Dylan Reply" to This?
Random Example:
Althouse Post: ""The ceruse or white Lead, wherewith women use to paint themselves was, without doubt, brought in use by the divell, the capitall enemie of nature therwith to transforme humane creatures, of fair, making them ugly,"
Semi-Retired Naked Dylan Robot: Ahhhh: Obviously You Are Referring to 'Renaldo And Clara'. Rolling Thunder Revue in Context of 'Scorched Earth' OED: Of Course. Ha. Ask Joan Baez, She'd Know Better Than Me.
Real Bob Dylan, at New York’s Philharmonic Hall concert on Halloween night in 1964: "I’ve got my Bob Dylan mask on … I’m masquerading."
Real Bob Dylan Lyric:
We live in a political world
Under the microscope,
You can travel anywhere and hang yourself there
You always got more than enough rope.
To Re-Phrase: Sometimes it is What the Microscope Isn't Seeing.
Blogs, in saying what isn't said, are filling that gap in spades where the bigoted MSM wishes public attention not to go into it.
I confess that I am a lazy blog reader. I react to blog posts--but rarely follow through with posting comments. I found myself wishing for a "LIKE" button after reading this post about the underlying theme of the Althouse blog. I agree wholeheartedly. It's is also why I read Althouse and have stopped reading other blogs. It's not about an echo chamber where I read what I agree with but rather I read and am intrigued and think about things in a different way. Now I'm going to think about the fact that my desire for a "LIKE" button is a symptom of a Facebook infestation or something.
He's one smart kid. Must get it from somewhere.
But it really wasn't about nothing, it was about something.
It was the only show really about everything.
I don't think John captures it, though he is in the ballpark.
When I recommend this blog to people, I tell them the typical post is an analysis of a speech or statement that unpacks it, explores its various meanings, engages in a bit of word play when homonyms and the like are found.
This can be a fun exercise, often turning up surprising, obscure, or uncomfortable possible interpretations, but it's not "saying what was unsaid" because the intent of the speaker is not that important to the language analysis. Many of the avenues the professors explores are clearly not what the speaker had in mind.
Here we go for an example, from the Ta-Nihsi Coates post, above:
If I did stop to think about presumptions these days I'd have to concede that the writer might also have pictured female readers who had been married to other females and, despite the recency of gay marriage, had divorced.
There is not a snowball's chance in hell that that is what Coates had in mind, but his statement allows for the interpretation so the professor does as well. That is the unstated theme of this blog.
"I came because the stated theme was law blog"
Who stated that?!
You're hearing voices perhaps. A lawprof writes a blog so it must be a law blog. As a lawprof, I could say that it depends on what the meaning of "law" is, and if you look at it a certain way, that indeed is the them.
I think what I had in the subheading, under "Althouse," from almost the beginning and for a pretty long time was: "Law and law school, politics and the aversion to politics, high and low culture, and the way things look from Madison, Wisconsin."
No. I looked it up. It was: "Politics and the aversion to politics, law and law school, high and low culture, and the way things look from Madison, Wisconsin."
I always thought our leader Ann had an extremely well-tuned BICD (built-in crap detector). A tremendous skill to have.
"Now I'm going to think about the fact that my desire for a "LIKE" button is a symptom of a Facebook infestation or something."
I used to have those buttons but I went to some effort to get them to undisplay. Can't remember why I turned against them, but people didn't use them much. If I put them back, I'd probably remember.
Who stated that?!
You're hearing voices perhaps. A lawprof writes a blog so it must be a law blog. As a lawprof, I could say that it depends on what the meaning of "law" is, and if you look at it a certain way, that indeed is the them.
This might be the "voices" that the commenter was hearing.
Top 50 Law Blogs (Althouse #14)
Top Legal Blogs (Althouse #8)
Not that I think this is a "law" blog, but things like this might give someone that impression.
The blog to me is "Other Rooms" Meaning - people in other parts of the country geographically or politically are sitting around talking in their rooms and then one of them comments and we hear what people in "other rooms" or alt>houses are saying.
Well said. I like the Althouse practice of analyzing sentences and word choices; I almost always interpret the thing in a different way after her dissection. First time I have commented here.
Post a Comment