Gawker
N+1 founder and sad young literary man Keith Gessen sat down for a Big Think interview last week. He touched on everything from "Dating as a Historical Phenomenon" to "Is political writing political activism?" But the only bit I was curious enough to watch was his response to the question, "Why does Gawker hate you?" According to Gessen, it's because Gawker types once read a lot of books, then we gave up on the value system of books, but we're wrong and we will lose! I don't know, man; I just think it's annoying how much you talk about Harvard. The full clip of this latest volley in New York's most frivolous cultural clash, below:
Comments
What does he know about us? He's just Gessen.
I hate people who post stuff on Big Think.
@Bell County: Keep Gessen, Keith Gessen.
i hate you because i'm bored at work and its fun to hate things.
I hate people who over use vocal fillers!
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I prefer to think of Gawker as the Greenman.
Who's the "we"? Watch your fucking pronouns, Dingus!
Also, am I the only one surprised by the fact that this supposedly hot writer is not at all well-spoken?
I think it has something to do with a long, dark night of the soul.
Whiner. He deserves not to make any money.
@DorothyMantooth: he passed not well spoken at the 5th ummmm.
What do I have to read to figure out how big thought to put into this?
@KarenUhOh: I dunno, probably Perez or Fark or something.
I...well, you know...I think...maybe...I don't know...well, maybe...we...just...fucking hate him...you know...because...he...um, you know...like...um...has douchebag...sort of...well...written all up and down him.
I do not like him in a box.
I do not like him with a fox.
I do not like him in a house.
I do not like him with a mouse.
I do not like him here or there.
I do not like him anywhere.
I do not like Keith Gessen the man.
I do not like him, Balky-I-am.
Yep, books taught me not to like him.
@DorothyMantooth: In all fairness, the Big Think remote-camera setup sounds annoying, partcularly if you're not used to media. Which, I think it's safe to assume, fiction writers are not.
@IHateNewYork: I can't make the connection but I will watch Green Man clips every day and night and counter with Day Man:
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@jackvinyl: I don't hate Keith Gessen but I wish he'd write more about It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia... maybe if it was n+2?
Well, Keith, I still believe in books. But somehow I just don't think your agonizing tale of a life totally sequestered from anything beyond the Ivy League and the brilliant rich people you met there interwoven with asides about all women you couldn't give a fuck about is quite the answer. Hope I cleared that up for ya, pal.
@jackvinyl:
Maybe it's just the dump in the trash can.
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All the Sad Young Literary Straw Men, Gessen.
I've never hated this guy, I just think he's the poor man's Danza.
He's less vile than his counterparts. I say we spare his life, just pluck him bald
His mouth is terrifying. I think that's why I hate him.
um, um, make it stop!
i sent this snip of a L magazine review of "All the Sad, Literary Men" to Nick Denton in April and I suppose it's appropriate to share it now with everyone else:
"But the sad trick of this snark/wonder binary is its shared terror of the serious. The former cannot show weakness for fear of being eaten by its children, the mocking commentariat; the latter, though able to take its own nostalgia seriously, does not want to grow up and deal with grown-up issues, as grown-ups do."
He really really should've done anthropology 101 at Havard and learned a little about the whole kinship/economics nexus, and then he probably wouldn't have made such dumb remarks about dating.
some people have a face for radio, and some people have a voice for silent movies.
@ian spiegelman: See what you did there, Gessen? You delayed our weekend Gawker wrapup.
What's with the "We will bury them!" at the end? I haven't read his book and I'm not overly familiar with any of his other work so I try not to pass judgment no matter how many persuasive second-hand accounts I read, but people who don't welcome, or at least respect, dissent lose my respect.
Although ultimately I think that last little belligerent line gives away a lot regarding how threatened he feels. Can't sad literary people and snarky literary people and hip literary people and fatuous literary people all coexist? We can hate you and you can hate us and together we can sometimes bond together to hate them and then splinter apart again when we start feeling like we look too much alike?
After seeing that interview I think I get a bit more why people hand down a verdict of "ivory tower" on this guy. He doesn't seem to have any inkling of an understanding of people who are inherently "not like me" and rather than question or explore that his impulse is to silence it.
People who don't like him are people who were like him but then lost their way. Yeah, it's insulting.
I am also terrified by his mouth. But i am more terrified by the lifestylieness of those horrid clips. And his "us vs. them" scenario is so McSweeney's. But that doesn't stop n+1 from hating on McSweeney's* now does it? Hypocritical shower-sac!
*By invoking same i do not defend either "it's us against the world" group of self important group joiners.
I still believe in books, I just don't believe he speaks for the books. It appears he thinks literature is a system solely within himself that only he divines and defines, like McCain and Patriotism. A solipsism disingenuously covered up by the corrupt and inaccurate use of "we." Also he looks like the kind of muppet who would wear a turtleneck to Big Bird's funeral. Or an orgy.
No, it's true. I don't believe in the value system of books. I used to believe in the value system of books, until I was seven and learned that the value system of books was just my grandma's excuse to get me to go to bed early once a year and fucking stay there so she could hit the scotch bottle and criticize my mom's sex life.
I don't particularly hate him.
I just really disliked his douchy, fratty Harpers' friends that were outside Odessa cackling that they're the future of journalism.
And how they kept name-dropping him to anyone that would listen, while he was using a fucking toilet.
So, I hate his friends more.
@mackintosh-toffee: ew, that smile just oozes self-importance. the way it looks and the shit that just came out of it. G-R-O-S-S GROSS.
It was nice of him to concoct that bit of highfalutin bullshittery instead of just saying the truth, which is that we're a bunch of soulless harpy-people whose only joy is inspired by the suffering of others.
But then, said concoction of highfalutin bullshittery is exactly why we hate him, actually. So, PARADOX.
@lolsamz: Yes. His lips look like they could suffocate you.
@ian spiegelman: I actually do not believe in books. Say what you will about your precious "science" and "technology," but I know that God shoots all information directly into our brains.
At least that's what it says in the Bible.
@Zorica:
I don't mind the "quelling dissent" as much as the smug projections, narcissistic false premises, and the shitty reasoning.
This does not reflect well on Harvard education, if that's supposed to involve knowing how to formulate an argument, or demonstrating minimal honesty in a debate.
@moff:
So, PARADOX!
It is because I believe in the value system of books that I hate (actually, disdain) him.
We hate him because we are all well-read enough to realize that it is depressing that the future of literacy is in as talentless, inept, inarticulate hands as his. I was willing to fall for the beautiful-young-literary-boy phenomenon as anyone, trust. Then I read his writing and heaved a heavy sigh, as well as my lunch.
He would be fine if he didn't believe he were the protector of all things literary, and just admit that he and his friends are the Michael Crichton/Danielle Steeles of modern publishing. But as long as they believe that the lazy lint they pull out of their navels reveals something about people, society, the human condition or anything other than their glorified "Dear Diary" pseudo-sensitive ramblings, they are wasting our fucking time.
Um... fuck books?
@StrawBerryShortCake: @StrawBerryShortCake: @Adminitraitor: @BottomOnTop: @ElleChin:
He has a face for radio, yes, but not the speech patterns for radio!!! Let's hope he sticks to video and never hooks up with NPR. I don't think I could listen to that!
@cassandra: Ie, they are not fit to carry Zadie Smith's bags. Let someone with talent give the same speech as him, and then I'll take it seriously.
@ElleChin,@ShoplifterOfTheWorld: Careful, that kind of talk can get you executionized around these parts.
@rosaluxembourgeoise: Exactly. It's been weighing heavy on my mind since my great-great-grandson tried to kill me this morning.
@moff: Those are government satellites shooting thoughts into your brain, sucka.
Hate? Gawker never treated Gessen to true Gawker Hate. They should have Rudy Giuliani on Big Think if they want to know about Gawker Hate.
Keith Gessen spoke at one of my writing classes in college; he spent half an hour talking about his literary magazine, and the other half recounting his health crises, all related to the fact that he's a klutz with no health insurance. One touching story involved him smashing his finger in the park playing football and deciding not to have surgery to repair it because it would have set him back about $3000. This was supposed to encourage us to become impoverished freelancers, like him, and fight it out with our immune systems. He of course also showed us the knarly finger.