4 ms·

No, I have to agree with the parent, it was overly verbose with no up front defined and consistent thesis or hypothesis. It's hard to read what feels like the m

by theg2 13y ago

No, I have to agree with the parent, it was overly verbose with no up front defined and consistent thesis or hypothesis. It's hard to read what feels like the meanderings of the authors mind when the central thesis that you thought you were reading about gets quickly diverted. I know that a lot of people shy away from large pages of print, but the imagery and format of this article is pretty inconsistent. That said, after reading it all, I think I agree with the author but it's hard to tell.

patrickk 13y ago
Absolutely. He leaps from topic to topic, often with a weak link between each one. For example: "A hundred years ago, at a time very like ours, a small group of journalists did just that. And the person who takes you back to that time is Tamara Mellon's ex-husband - Matthew Mellon." "At the end of the 19th century, Matthew Mellon's great great uncle - Andrew Mellon - was one of the most powerful and richest men in the world. He was part of a small group of bankers and industrialists who not only dominated America - but were using the power of money to undermine, corrupt and control politicians, judges and the whole system of democracy." He goes from talking about hacking, spying and intrusive tabloid journalism in the modern era to the turn of the century Robber Barons, and the only link is a coincidental blood relationship between the characters that he flits between. I feel the author has something important to say, even if it's difficult to grasp exactly what it is. He would perhaps benefit from splitting the article into several pieces (surprising to say, as so many online publications abuse this in order to artificially drive page views) in order to focus on one topic at a time, and then bringing the narrative together at the end.
- purephase 13y ago
  "This is a website expressing my personal views – through a selection of opinionated observations and arguments." It's Adam Curtis. This is what he does.
  - gph 13y ago
    Exactly. I can sort of see what the parent comments mean, but having read and watched a lot of Adam's work I was able to follow along perfectly. Even read it in his voice. His segues weren't all perfectly relevant this time, but it's just his style.
- ecocentrik 13y ago
  I've encountered the use of this narrative technique before, using loose and wholly inconsequential connections to link together the points of a logical argument. I'm not sure where it originated but it's defiantly more popular in GB than the US. The late 70s BBC series Connections with James Burke used this narrative technique for all of its episodes.

by theg2 13y ago

patrickk 13y ago

Absolutely. He leaps from topic to topic, often with a weak link between each one. For example: "A hundred years ago, at a time very like ours, a small group of journalists did just that. And the person who takes you back to that time is Tamara Mellon's ex-husband - Matthew Mellon." "At the end of the 19th century, Matthew Mellon's great great uncle - Andrew Mellon - was one of the most powerful and richest men in the world. He was part of a small group of bankers and industrialists who not only dominated America - but were using the power of money to undermine, corrupt and control politicians, judges and the whole system of democracy." He goes from talking about hacking, spying and intrusive tabloid journalism in the modern era to the turn of the century Robber Barons, and the only link is a coincidental blood relationship between the characters that he flits between. I feel the author has something important to say, even if it's difficult to grasp exactly what it is. He would perhaps benefit from splitting the article into several pieces (surprising to say, as so many online publications abuse this in order to artificially drive page views) in order to focus on one topic at a time, and then bringing the narrative together at the end.

purephase 13y ago
"This is a website expressing my personal views – through a selection of opinionated observations and arguments." It's Adam Curtis. This is what he does.
- gph 13y ago
  Exactly. I can sort of see what the parent comments mean, but having read and watched a lot of Adam's work I was able to follow along perfectly. Even read it in his voice. His segues weren't all perfectly relevant this time, but it's just his style.
ecocentrik 13y ago
I've encountered the use of this narrative technique before, using loose and wholly inconsequential connections to link together the points of a logical argument. I'm not sure where it originated but it's defiantly more popular in GB than the US. The late 70s BBC series Connections with James Burke used this narrative technique for all of its episodes.