But How Will It Play In Peoria?
Sometimes the reviews at Amazon can be quite eye opening. Even though there are currently only five for Hugh Hewitt's excellent book Blog, they are rather interesting.
There's a rave review from Joe Carter of the evangelical outpost. Hindrocket from Power Line attempts to reclaim his stolen identity. A reviewer named "The Small Punk" lives up to his moniker with an attack on Hugh's book that offers no substantive arguments:
...from one of the most myopic and partisan hacks on the airwaves. This book will, of course, provide no new insight or analysis to any serious thinker, but will puff up the already overblown egos of the "center-right blogosphere".
The odds that The Small Punk, obviously a "serious thinker", has actually read the book? About the same as Maureen Dowd penning a mash note to Rummy.
It's difficult to know where to begin with this soon-to-be-remaindered screed. The errors occur with a mind-bloggoling frequency. But then again, what can one expect from a card-carrying member of the "non-reality-based community". I encourage everyone to go to hughhewitt.com to get a load of the pseudo-Christian right-wing cant Mr. Hewitt is famous for.
It appears that it's so difficult for The Small Punk to know where to begin, that he doesn't even attempt it. If indeed, "the errors occur with a mind-bloggoling frequency", it would not seem to be asking too much to have TSP cite two or three of them for us. How about just one?
Apparently Mr. Hewitt didn't get the message from the New Testament that the blind pursuit of wealth is not what God has in mind for us...
And apparently Mr. Small Punk has not heard of another of Hugh's books called In, But Not Of : A Guide to Christian Ambition. Here's a novel idea for the size-challenged rebel. Actually read the book and know something about the author before you go off on a silly screed.
Finally, there's what appears to be a blatant case of plagiarism with the last review (rather ironically titled "The True Affects Of The 'Blogosphere'!!!") by a Roy Chan, submitted on December 28th. Roy closes his review with these words:
Mr. Hewitt is nothing, if not prolific, and we're fortunate to have a visionary thinker like Hewitt on our side. I would encourage anyone for this book who is interested in the blogosphere, and what it might look like in the future with all the "Blogs" we have today.
Hmmm....I thought to myself after reading the review. That sounds vaguely familiar. Probably because this is what I wrote about Hugh's book in a post on December 27th:
He's nothing if not prolific, and we're fortunate to have a visionary thinker like Hugh on our side. I would encourage anyone interested in the blogosphere and what it might look like in the future to order up a copy of "Blog" today.
A case of great minds thinking alike? I think not. Looks like we've found the Joe Biden of Amazon book reviewers. Here's more about Roy:
Hi, My name is Roy. For those who know me, I can be quite independent at times.
And at times, I can be quite dependent on what others write first.
Sometimes I see things that I'm not suppose to see.
Sometimes I steal things that I'm not suppose to steal.
I'm a born counselor, nonpartisan, and don't like relying on anyone else, so I never really accept help for my own problems.
Except if that problem happens to be writer's block, in which case I rely heavily on lifting material from other people.
If there's anything else I can say about myself, it is: 'I don't think the way most people thinks today.'
You know, the way that most people thinks stealing is wrong.
Anyways, I can go on and on with this....perhaps I'm starting to get a little bit too honest here, but oh well!
Too much honesty is not one of your many problems Roy.
I never really lie.
I just sorta represent the work of others as my own.
You gotta live life to the fullest, in order to gain the respect from others.
And if that requires me to toss away moral and ethical standards, then so be it.
Roy, I'm glad that you found my words useful, but I'm not getting paid enough to be getting ripped off by some hack who fancies himself a book reviewer. Next time try thinking (and writing) for yourself.
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