Ranting And Raving about Past/Imperfect
I may have lost the argument. Or I may not have. But I'm still grumpy.
#PastImperfect, now with lots more sex and violence! #StillNoPoint http://bit.ly/pHq5rJ cc @zunguzungu #Africa- @Airminded The whole #PastImperfect project is like this: sensationalistic, unselfconcious, journalistic. Wasted opportunities. @zunguzungu
@grumpyhistorian I don't see that post as any of those things (and there's almost no sex at all, contrary to your previous) @zunguzungu- @Airminded You thought it was balanced, purposeful, culturally sensitive and didn't reek of Freudian sex/death? Same article? @zunguzungu
- @grumpyhistorian Unbalanced how? Culturally insensitive how? Death crops up quite often in military history. @zunguzungu
- @grumpyhistorian I don't see any particular link between sex and death there, but then I'm not a Freudian.
- @grumpyhistorian Disclosure: I've corresponded with Mike a few times, we link to each other's blogs, I've been reading his stuff for years.
- @grumpyhistorian FWIW, he won the Cliopatria last year for best post, on an aspect of African history, as it happens. t.co/p4SMia03
- @grumpyhistorian But really, what I don't get is this idea that history blogging has to be 'purposeful'. Since when? Who says? why?
- @grumpyhistorian I've just been writing stuff that is interesting to me, without any thought of being 'purposeful'. Am I doing it wrong?
- @Airminded I'm no Freudian, but that French conclusion? "Allowed" themselves to be "seduced" then killed 'em w/ their own bayonets? C'mon.
- @Airminded Your blogging - which I do appreciate, which is why I never mention it - is miles closer to what historians do and care about
- @Airminded And your blog is your blog: your readers come there because your interests are shared, somehow. Solid stuff, IMO FWIW.
- @Airminded My problem with #PastImperfect is that it's a major publication-based blog presenting history as a series of curiousities
- @Airminded There's no sense of historians at work, most of the time, just novelties. Could ask interesting questions, talk about sources.
- @Airminded It's a wasted opportunity. Exposure, generating interest in history? Not really: it's infotainment.
- @grumpyhistorian Well, you might want to take that seduced/bayonet thing up with the French army. It was their rumour.
- @grumpyhistorian As for the way they're blogging, for a generalist blog for a big audience it *has* to be diverse & non-academic like that.
- @grumpyhistorian The post you cited does discuss historiography and weigh up competing theories, so there *is* a sense of historians at work
- @grumpyhistorian And check out another by Mike: t.co/74SfvjeG He sifts and the evidence, ponders theories, responds to readers.
- @grumpyhistorian I'd struggle to describe that post as 'purposeful' history but it's bloody fascinating, and the readers seem to agree.
- @grumpyhistorian A wasted opportunity? Perhaps it could be more, but it's more interesting than many blogs in a similar niche.
- @Airminded Unsolved murder mysteries? Sure, historians do that sort of thing all the time, really valuable work.... [snore]
