More Tribble bashing
Everyone has seen Tribble's asinine article by now (so I'm not even going to bother linking to it, because I'm lazy), and many, many people have chewed him up and spit him out (again, so many I'm not going to link, because of aforesaid laziness). But because I know that many of the folks I read out there share my ongoing frustration with the Chronicle's First Person columns in general,* I just wanted to make sure that people saw Evan Roberts's contribution to the debate over at Coffee Grounds: he offers the intriguing hypothesis that they're all just really written by the same person. They do all sound the same, don't they? Check it out!
*My old posts are showing up with wonky format. I have no idea why. Sorry.
You know, I always thought all the McSweeneys stuff was all written by the same person, probably Dave Eggers (note: I despised 'A heartbreaking work of staggering genius'). Why not the Chronicle too?
Posted by: wolfa | Tuesday, July 12, 2005 at 07:52 PM
I haven't hit your links yet and in fact, I just did read the Chronicle article. It's hard to tell though about them being the same person. More than likely, it's a few people male and female that they farm it out to.
Thomas Hart Benton is Bill Panneypacker (or something like that; I've forgotten how to spell his last name; He's at Hope University) and his voice is very distinct. Some of the latest that many of you guys have linked to sound really young to me. Their values, their sentiments...
And there's a gender dif.
Posted by: Michelle | Tuesday, July 12, 2005 at 11:25 PM
It will be interesting when the info leaks about who "Tribble" really is. Why didn't they write in their own name?
Posted by: witchyprof | Wednesday, July 13, 2005 at 12:22 AM
Well, at least that explains why they rejected my absolutely *brilliant* sample column back when I was going on the market... ;)
I do like THB quite a bit, but the other stuff is so boring and nondescript; perhaps its the heavy editorial hand that makes everyone sound alike?
Posted by: Dorcasina | Wednesday, July 13, 2005 at 10:53 AM
Ditto, Dorcasina, ditto. ;)
They do pay quite well for the ones they do publish, which makes this all the more interesting.
Posted by: Rana | Wednesday, July 13, 2005 at 01:15 PM
Ugh, the idea that Tribble got PAID for that tripe is quite depressing!!
Posted by: New Kid on the Hallway | Wednesday, July 13, 2005 at 01:18 PM
I suspect, actually, that what's most likely is not that all the anonymous Chronicle writers are the same person, but rather (and more depressingly) that the Chronicle tends to select people for this column who, like Dr. Tribble, are busy trying to fit in to what they perceive as being the mold of A Serious Academic.
Thus, they all end up sounding frighteningly similar.
Posted by: Ancrene Wiseass | Wednesday, July 13, 2005 at 02:30 PM