Two random examples of what may be a new meme (to use that much abused word) have struck me in recent days.
The first was Kos's appearance on C-Span with Brain Lamb (of which I caught just a portion), in which Lamb brought up -- what? an accusation? -- that Kos was raking in the dough on his blog. Kos gave a mildly self-deprecating response that allowed as how, yes, he was making a living.
Then in today's New York Times Business section, an article by Daniel Terdiman about Kos' sports blogs contains this line: "After achieving enough success with Kos that he says he is able to live in costly Berkeley, Calif., entirely off its ad revenue...."
Is a new meme making its way through the MSM? To me, Lamb's question and Terdiman's editorializing seem to make a number of interrelated (not to mention irrelevant and unsubstantiated) points.
- Kos is getting rich off blogging and there is something suspect about that.
- Kos is making money far beyond the powers of mortal men, certainly far more than you (dear reader or viewer) make.
- The fact that Kos actually (gasp!) makes a living doing this makes his motivations and the purity of his convictions suspect.
If Kos is, indeed, getting rich, God bless him. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Both the Bush Administration and the Chinese Communist Party agree that "to grow rich is glorious." However, as someone who owns a web site or two himself, I suspect the truth is somewhat less Trump-like than this new meme (if that's what it is) would seem to suggest.
I wish Kos had responded to Lamb by saying something like, "Yeah, Brian, if things keep up like this, in five or tens years I'll be making almost as much money as you."
And Terdiman's formulation strikes me as laughable. Would a Times copy editor (if they still have such things) let pass a construction like, "After achieving enough success as a sanitation worker that he says he is able to live in costly Manhattan entirely off his salary..."?
And when was the last time an interviewer asked Ann Coulter, "Now you make a ton of money doing this, don't you?"
Two instances do not a trend make, of course. Also, I am not a voracious consumer of the media, so maybe I coincidentally happened on the only two times that Kos's purported income has been used as am excuse to raise red flags and I'm making far too much of this. I suspect, however, that these are not the only examples that could be cited.
Anyone?