Bye-Bye Blogger
Q: As one of the country?s most eloquent and acid-tongued cultural critics, what is it like to be so sharply criticized in public yourself? Your blog for The New Republic was terminated this month after you deceived readers, using a pseudonym to post comments in which you belittled your enemies and praised yourself as ?brave, brilliant and wittier than [Jon] Stewart will ever be.?
Of course it was wrong, and I am sorry I did it. I lost my footing and foolishly answered my anonymous detractors with misplaced satire.
You took as your pseudonym Sprezzatura, which means what exactly?
It?s the art of doing something difficult with the appearance of no effort. [...]
Anonymous bloggers are also saddled with obscurity, which I doubt you would similarly glorify.
That?s right. In their case, anonymity is obscurity?s rash. At least for those who practice incessant character assassination, which represents a good portion of the blogosphere, they vent out of the pain of being unacknowledged.
