Shepard misleads the flock.

One of the down sides of being a blogger ( and, in fact, there are not too many) is dealing with resentful dime store journalists. I long ago got over the idea that I was:

A. Trying to get an A in High School journalism class.
and/or
B. That as a blogger this site (on any blog site) is in any way comparable to a newspaper. Or that it should attempt to be one. Ms. Huffington, having attempted to force her gay husband into a Senate seat and failing, and attempting, hilariously, to force herself into the California governor's mansion and failing - seems to have succeeded in forcing many to believe she runs an online newspaper.

At any rate, knowing that a blog is, in fact, not a cigar, has freed me up to opine, rant, rave, make fun of, and generally hold forth on subjects that interest me without too much care.

An oddity in the big blogger world (of which this site does NOT qualify) is the pissing contest between "legit" news sites and, say, adolescent whiners playing dress up trying to get a ticket to the Big Show - (I am thinking the word "cheetos" here.) Huff and Kos acted as kiddy club houses for Clinton haters all last year. Now, God Bless 'em, they are stuck with both Obama and their humorless egos.

The "real" media is no better. Grabbing crap from big blogs, promoting it, and then screaming that blogs can't be trusted is psycho. But alas, can we expect more from places like MSNBC that are run by amoral bridge trolls?

Nevertheless - I do like it when a big time media outlet reflects an opinion I recently stated on this blog. I am as susceptible to "smug" as any Pod. I just don't think "smug" is a lifestyle choice as Huffington, Kos, Sullivan and the rest clearly do.

I railed on Shepard Fairey after he was arrested in Boston for tagging. Most of my rant that night had to do with the odd - and smug - liberties "artists" like Fairey take with copyrighted material. But I ended by declaiming that he was not an "artist" in any real sense. I still believe this.

Oh, and I loath that "Hope" poster for all the right reasons. It is cheap, creepy, Orwellian and unconsciously ironic. It is not art. It is commentary. These are not mutually exclusive. I know. I've been to the Sistine chapel. Still, grabbing an AP photo, then watering down the stupidity, pain, and delusions of millions into a one word marketing coup is shrewd - but that's about it. AMC has a show called Mad Men in which doing the above activity is dramatized weekly.

Imagine my happiness when the New Yorker ripped Shepard a new one.

Ah, validation.