You Ain't Seen Gloatin' Yet

I had a new idea just now thanks to Shannon Byrne, an Atlanta-based publicist for Little, Brown.  As part of the shrill chorus that's been gathering and whining for weeks over at the Critical Mass blog, she wrote a nice little piece about, you guessed it, bloggers, a favorite subject for too long now on the BLOG of the NBCC.   In her post (on a BLOG), Ms. Byrne acknowledges that we bloggers serve a useful purpose, even if she doesn't quite see the usefulness in the same way that I do.  Here, let me quote her:

Seriously, though, blogs are kind of like parasitic microorganisms which feed off of a primary host. For the sake of this discussion, the host is clearly print media. Some are the good bacteria and some are transient and viral. Or maybe I can upgrade blogs to the status of some sort of interstitial or synovial fluid, buffering the vital organs of the media (newspaper, television, radio, the Internet)? But, c’mon, if newspapers are dying, then blogs are the maggots come to feast upon their corpses.

Now let me ask you, could you imagine a world without maggots?  Think of all the piles of decaying corpses and rotten trash that would sit for days smelling up the very air we breathe, making it difficult to read the newsp--...ah, computer screens in front of us.  Maybe to her, maggots have a negative connotation, but to someone like me who appreciates a tidy planet in which all things run efficiently and in which the dead can be disposed of by creatures who demand no pay and complain very little until the corpses--in this case, "the host"--start calling them dirty names, well, I'm a fan of the maggot. 

So back to my idea.  I'm still looking for a way to make a few extra bucks and my cafepress thing didn't go over so well, so I've come up with this:

Keep in mind, this is just a prototype.  I also have hats and bibs and little rainproof covers for your newsp--...ah, laptops.

Let me know if you're interested.  Remember, these Totebags! really do a good job keeping your petitions organized.  If I can get them manufactured in time, I might send a batch up to New York in time for BEA, where the corpses and maggots will mingle.

Comments

[Bill Ectric]

Hehehe...oh, how nasty.

But, you are correct. All creatures, great and small & whatnot.
I like it. I like it a lot.

[Pete]

Never mind that maggots survive by feeding from their hosts, while most litbloggers don't earn even a penny from their efforts -- so it's a pretty weak metaphor. However, I do like the image of print media being a decaying corpse, a comparison which is pretty hard to disagree with these days.

[Jimmy Beck]

How much do I have to give my NPR station to get one of those bad boys?

[Matthew Tiffany]

I'll buy one, if you buy one from my ill-conceived CafePress store (inspired in large part by your efforts, Mr. Bryant)

[bdr]

Seems to me the main stream press is feeding pretty frequently on the maggots rather than visa versa.

I want a bag!

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