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Washington Post Article

Just wanted to alert members to an article appearing in the Style section of today's (6/13/01) Wash. Post.It is one of those articles that seems to be recycled every few years ridiculing the excesses of the audiophile community. As is typical it focusses on the bleeding edge fringe of the hobby, profiling a man who is at $140K and counting,is obssesed with stopping hum being produced by his fridge. The article includes some quotes from Deja Vu Audio pointing out to the reporter a $10k turntable and a pair of speakers with "magnet-suspended" tweeters. Just what we needed! My girlfriend described the article as a disturbing glimpse of what I might become. (My system is circa $10K in total.) Thanks again to the mainstream media for shining a light on the seedy underbelly of the audio community.
128x128jond
plato
1,543 posts
 
To tell the truth, I din't think the article was all that demeaning and it actually made some good points. I thought I could sense a sort of a minor sour grapes syndrome on the part of the author (a women who points out that very few women are into the hobby), but overall, I had to laugh because she did a pretty thorough job of nailing our idiosyncracies and explaining them in terms that the general public can understand. I'm laughing at myself (with no intention of changing) because if you can't recognize and laugh at yourself when looking in a mirror -- then you really are too far gone. :)
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
It is very rare today for me to read any newspaper story, or see a television news program, that comes close to reporting accurately. Now days they form a conclusion first, and then search for, or make up evidence to back it up.


I read an editorial yesterday by Richard Lindzen, professor of meteorology at MIT and board member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is one of the authors of that report on global warming that is getting all the press this week. He said the report does NOT support the Kyoto Treaty and the conclusions reported in the press over the last couple days are simply NOT true. And there is no consensus in the report about long term climate trends (warmer or colder).

This means every newe organization ignored the report because they did not like what it said and made up their own. I have more faith in the Star. At least we know it is fiction.

kthomas
911 posts
 
Plato - I agree that I didn't think it was demeaning, but in the course of describing our idiosyncracies, the author wrapped it all in a sense of, "What the hell are these crazy people doing?!?!" instead of, "Huh, now isn't that an interesting set of priorities". It's as though she is somewhat offended by this particular excess within the context, as you identified, of a bit of sour grapes about the whole thing. I certainly agree that if you don't see a certain amount of humor in this audiophile pursuit, something's wrong. -Kirk
sdcampbell
2,136 posts
 
I grew up in the Washington DC area (back in the late 1950's), and have many friends who still live there. Because of my DC contacts, I still read the Washington Post on occassion. The Post's forte is covering politics and the political/social scene, not writing objective articles about topics involving technology and technology-driven hobbies. So, in the case of this story, consider the source. Looking for intelligent articles on audio, video, etc., in the Post is like looking for objective articles on religion in the National Enquirer.
metaphysics
192 posts
 
Albert Porter, will you be inviting the reporter back to the big party?
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