Bob Hoover is an idiot

The above title is meant to be a snide ironic comment on the ridiculously ignorant assertions a supposed journalist named Bob Hoover made about blogs. Mr. Hoover blasts blogs and literary blogs in particular as unaccountable spreaders of gossip, rumor, and lies who write only for their mothers. I suppose this is true. I don’t know for a fact Bob Hoover is an idiot so perhaps I am spreading rumors, gossip, etc. On the other hand, I think I could make a strong argument in favor of that proposition using just this column alone. I don’t have any editors to keep me accountable, however, so I guess I should just keep these things to myself.

Listen folks, blogging is a process. It is a way to use certain types of software to communicate. Over generalizations of the type Mr. Hoover – and countless others – engages in is lazy and unhelpful. In this particular case it is absolutely counter-factual. The vast majority of literary bloggers I come across are well read, intelligent, and passionate about books and ideas. I may not always agree with them, but they are anything but sources of “rumor, mistakes, innuendo, obscenity, gossip and speculation.” For the most part they are full of news and notes about books, authors, ideas, and issues. The belief that these outlets are not to be taken seriously when compared to mainstream journalism is laughable. When was the last time you read serious book coverage in your local paper?

Mr. Hoover can whistle by the graveyard all he wants, but if he – and newspapers across the country – continues to churn out rubbish like this he will only fuel the growth of “alternative media.” I doubt Mr. Hoover sees the irony.

For more on this, see Ed for a satirical take and Bud Parr for a more straight up response.