Congratulations to @AlecMacGillis, Hacktastic Douchebag of the Day

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“Alec MacGillis, staff writer of the Washington Post, needs to leave journalism immediately to find a profession in which he is half-competent.”
— Brad DeLong, March 27, 2008

Alec MacGillis is a douchebag who has lately been busy carrying “phony scandals” water for the Obama administration. As was once said of Sidney Blumenthal, if MacGillis were hired by the White House tomorrow, his first assignment would be to collect his back pay.

None of that distinguishes MacGillis from dozens of others of partisan Democrat hacks, who seem to think doing steno work for Media Matters and the DNC is courageous and innovative journalism. What sets Alec MacGillis apart is his lack of self-awareness, his evident belief that nobody is ever going to notice what a pompous fraud he really is.

MacGillis is a former Washington Post reporter who is now employed by The New Republic, a magazine that was sold last year to Facebook gazillionaire Chris Hughes, so you might think MacGillis would have a clue about which way the media winds are blowing. Sadly, no:

Craigslist’s Craig Newmark has not bought the Post, thank goodness — that would be too much to bear. But Amazon’s Jeff Bezos as the white knight provokes only slightly less shock and dolor. We knew the other guys had won a long time ago . . .

(“The other guys” = the ones who make profits.)

. . . but it’s another thing when they can waltz in and, in the charmless guise of “Explore Holdings LLC,” drop $250 million in cash for a legendary paper (that’s a mere one percent of Bezos’s net worth), as flip and easy as plucking an Apollo rocket engine from the ocean or building a $42 million, 10,000-year clock in West Texas.

(But what about Chris Hughes waltzing in, huh?)

There are already hopeful noises coming out of the corner of 15th and L about Bezos as owner, compared with other possibilities. He is promising independence. He is, for now, keeping the leadership team in place (let’s hope in particular that he keeps editor Marty Baron, under whose leadership the paper has been doing some notably hard-edged and influential journalism). His politics are not visibly objectionable. . . .

(Please tell us, Mr. MacGillis, what sort of politics are “visibly objectionable” to a professional journalist like yourself?)

But let’s not kid ourselves here: The company that made him one of the richest men in the world has had a less than benign impact on our nation. It has devastated the publishing industry, from the big presses to the small booksellers. It has exacerbated the growth of the low-wage economy, to the point where the president feels the need to celebrate an increase in warehouse jobs that will pay barely more than minimum wage. . . .

(Hey, f–k you, Alec. What I consider “less than benign” is not that Amazon warehouse workers are paid so little, but rather that you are paid so much, you worthless dishonest hack.)

More generally, Amazon has embodied, more than any other of the giants that rule our new landscape, the faster-cheaper-further mindset that scratches away daily at our communal fabric: Why bother running down to the store around the block if you can buy it with a click? No risk of running into someone on the way and actually having to talk to them, and hey, can you beat that price? No thought given to the externalities that make that price possible –the workers being violently shocked every time they pull a book off the warehouse shelf, or losing a chunk of their lunch break to go through the security checkpoint set up by their oh-so-trusting employer. They’re Somewhere Else, working for a company that is Out There, in the cloud. . . .

(Shop now for big savings at Amazon!)

I avoid buying from Amazon as best I can, but I’ll keep subscribing to my old paper as long as they keep printing it . . .

And so much for your influence, you hacktastic douchebag. Nobody really likes you, and this is not their fault, Alec MacGillis.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

 

146 comments

  1. Yes. My book, published through Amazon’s CreateSpace, is doing quite nicely, thank you. It was rejected by several major publishers. I’m glad Amazon was t here when I needed a publisher.

  4. These guys on the left are always so upset that menial workers are paid a menial wage, as if someone should be paid more than their labor is worth, simply because they exist.

    This is but a half step removed from outright socialism.

    Total losers.

  8. I think you are enjoying this too much. These libtards, I realize, are a very tempting target, but you are wasting your talent on them.

    I’d offer you a Corona, but you already seem to be intoxicated by your enjoyment of taking down these tempting libtard targets and don’t want to be known as your enabler in intoxication as your saintly, over stressed wife might blame it on me.

    But, I can tell you are having fun.

  11. If he were interested in profits, he wouldn’t have bought a money-losing venture. I think the Grahams kept the parts of the company that made money.

  12. -“running down to the store” involves taking the approved mode of mass transit, yes? Or are we to walk? Doubtful that using a car does fits with the approved narrative.

    Mercantilist fallacies persist in the undercurrents of the article in a couple of places. –Those consumers are actually getting good value without being subjected to the controls of connected producers. We can’t have that!

    As if ordering news on pulp using ink delivered by trucks using liquid fuels (emitting CO2 among other things in the transport and in the production of the pulp, the ink, the fuels and vehicles not to mention the electricity for powering the presses) is somehow better than getting content from Amazon? How’s that for simultaneously holding conflicting ideas in one’s mind? [CO2 and pollution = bad, newspaper delivery using trucks and paper = good]

  13. He might try actually publishing a NEWSpaper rather than a propaganda sheet. Might make money that way.

  16. “It has devastated the publishing industry, from the big presses to the small booksellers.”
    No, the former customers that used to buy paper books did it to the publishing industry. Amazon merely gave them a better option that they have gleefully accepted. This is the same erronius argument that leftists use when they say that Wal Mart has killed small businesses. No, their former customers did.

  17. but the best part is when you are next in line and someone calls.
    someone who might come in and spend money.
    as opposed to the moron standing in line ready to give them money.
    glad my time has no value

  19. If you’re a TNR writer and you work for Chris Hughes and you complain about any Internet exec, let alone Jeff Bezos, buying The Post, you’re a throbbing, erect tool.

  20. Aren’t you the fellow who wrote “Secret Weapon” and some other stories in Analog back in the 1960s?

  23. “Mercantilist fallacies persist …”

    Exactly, in very much the same spirit of Democrat rhetoric about “outsourcing jobs overseas,” an appeal to angry resentments that diverts attention away from the question of why manufacturing in the United States has become unprofitable. Labor unions (and regulators and tort lawyers) have treated industry as a fixed target, as if they may impose costs upon these firms that have no other choice but to sit there and bear the profit-destroying burdens. Then the local plant shuts down and Democrats (controlled by union bosses and tort lawyers) begin to shout about “outsourcing” and “corporate greed,” as if the mere selfishness of fat-cat businessmen explained such decisions.

  24. “We knew the other guys had won a long time ago…” Yup. With Obama re-elected and all his signature policies eating away the foundations of our nation – with the entirety of the MSM running interference for him – the “other guys” won. And yet he bravely soldiers on, brave brave brave brave Sir Alec.

    Doofus.

  25. If you’ve ever dealt with Amazon (on ebooks, at least) you’ll know that the price is set by the authors is a misleading way of putting it.

    I recently decided to put a few things on Amazon, mainly because a book which I considered good was gaining very little traction at SmashwordsB&NAppleKoboDieselBaker&Taylor, etc. First, Amazon won’t let you offer a book for free, even if your marketing strategy is to treat the initial volume in a series as a come-on. Second, they offer a competitive roryatly only if the author agrees to sell his work exclusively through them.

    As if that weren’t sufficient disillusionment, my sales there have been even worse than previously at the other sites.

  26. Not my experience at all. I shop mostly online, and assiduously (whatever that means) search for the best deal. Amazon very rarely turns out the winner. Takes some patience, but I’m willing to spend time instead of money in most cases.

  29. At the risk of repeating myself, Amazon is generally NOT the cheapest/best online source of goods. I’ve had plenty of experience, and my advice is, search more, pay less.

  31. Competition is a good thing. Amazon has always treated me well, always been reliable, and I think the value is usually good, though there are many products where shopping around pays off. But there’s a reason Amazon is on top.

  32. Depends on what you mean by “best deal.” To me the best deal is where people have taken the time to review it and you can get it shipped as soon as possible, and the stupid online transaction works.

    I’ve save a few bucks on things by buying through other systems than Amazon’s, but it’s almost always much more of a hassle.

    ESPECIALLY when there’s a problem with the order.

  33. When I say best deal all factors pertinent to me are taken into consideration, although more time might be required than if I went immediately to, say, L L Bean. As an example, I recently took advantage of the onset of spring to buy some wool sweaters, purchasing them from no fewer than four outlets but getting what I wanted at bargain prices. In doing so I discovered Woolovers, who will be my future first choice for value, so the time was especially well spent.

    In fact, I suggest that Stacy become an associate, though their standards are high and might be difficult to meet.

  34. Yes. Haven’t been as successful lately. competition is stiff. But I’m working on a novel.

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