the more i consume of modern media, the more i generally want to go play in traffic. seriously, the obsequious, mealy-mouther, fawning and, most importantly grotesquely flawed treatment of some of today's most controversial figures by the people who have taken it on themselves to work as cultural critics and investigators brings up many issues and, often, a couple of good meals.
i was reminded of this lately while reading an article on the late italian journalist oriana fallaci. over the course of her career, fallaci interviewed the most powerful men in the world without blinking. she asked the shah of iran if he would have her thrown in jail for her beliefs (he conceded he probably would have) and then confronted his successor, the ayatollah khomeni, with a barrage of questions on his crackdown on potential sources of opposition.
late in life, the fire in her belly seemed to become transmuted into vitriol, earning her condemnation from many, including umberto eco.
a probing question, looking at her later work, would have been whether her words were genuine or whether they reflected the desire of a person in the twilight of life to reclaim something of her former celebrity. pity no one asks probing questions any more.