This afternoon I got the news alert about the poor millionaire who had the foolishness to stick up his head just when Dick Cheney fired his shotgun the other day on a hunting trip. Thanks to Al Tompkins, Poynter's man on the cyberstreet, for the link.
A simple case of pockmarking of the face and neck seemed to be the first
description that emerged after it was reported -- 24 hours after the incident.
I learned the latest--the millionaire got it even worse, a pellet from the Veep's shotgun, did more than do cosmetic surgery; it lodged in his heart leading to what doctors called "a silent heart attack."
Cheney and the President inherited Ronald Reagan's Teflon, so I don't expect much to come from it.
What was more interesting and useful to me was the source of the alert: USaToday's blog of breaking news and "must read stories."
What I especially like about this news alert service are the comments appended from readers, many of them with apparently authoritative takes on the news, such as the two brothers who are doctors and are confused by the diagnosis to the self-described "life long Republican" and declares:
I am embarrassed by how light heartedly everyone is taking this "accident." It was not only serious but it was irresponsible. I don't know if I can trust the judgment of a person that just turns and fires a gun. Cheney shot a person all be it by accident, and this person is suffering from it. Maybe Cheney should consider tendering his "retirement."
Another interesting take comes from from slate.com,which reports that take on the case from friends of the victim, Harry Whittington.
"If there is anything that Harry's friends at the Vaughn Building are angry about, it is not the shooting itself but the attempt by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan to place the blame on the victim. It's the shooter's duty to know what he is shooting at and where his companions are. A shooting accident is always the fault of the shooter. Always."
Anybody know what kind of shotgun Cheney wields? As the rule established by Gene Miller, the late and great Miami Herald legend, dictates: always get the name, whether it's a dog, an ice cream or a hunter's weapon of choice. They represent what Tom Wolfe called status details, a key device the so-called "New Journalists" borrowed from the literary realists of the previous century.
It's "the recording of everyday gestures, habits, manners, customs, styles of furniture, clothing, decoration, styles of traveling, eating, keeping house, modes of behaving towards children, servants, superiors, inferiors, peers, plus the various looks, glances, poses, styles of walking and other symbolic details that might exist within a scene. Symbolic of what? Symbolic, generally, of people's status in life, using that term in the broad sense of the entire pattern of behavior and possessions through which people express their position in the world or what they think it is or what they hope it to be. The recording of such details is not mere embroidery in prose. It lies as close to the center of the power of realism as any other device in literature."
Chip, forgive me, where does this fantastic quote on "status details" come from? Is it Wolfe talking? Where? Thanks, H.
Posted by: Harris Salat | February 21, 2006 at 12:18 PM
Harris, it's from a long introduction by Wolfe in "The New Journalism," an anthology edited by Wolfe and E.W. Johnson, published in 1973. There are used copies on Amazon.com
Posted by: Chip Scanlan | February 22, 2006 at 07:49 PM
oh! what a great writing style..i really appreciate your blog..well done
Posted by: Furniture | September 10, 2008 at 04:22 AM