The Internet has cheapened the written word.
We've all seen it at least once in our life. A down-on-his-luck person standing on a street corner holding a sign that reads "Will work for food." Since finding employment in the past has been difficult, that phrase has jovially translated to us wordsmiths in the freelance industry as "Will write for food."…
Article comments
26 - Alan Kurtz
Roger, I agree that staging a writers' strike at Blogcritics or any other website would be futile. However, I'm not sure labor walkouts were what BizarroGuy had in mind. He did write, "It's time to get up on that table - Norma Rae style - grab that bullhorn, and shout out to each and every writer that it's time to unite!" That sounds like old-style unionist agitation, alright. But writers demanding to get paid might not necessarily involve strikes. In any case, my criticism of him is for taking such a holier-than-thou stance at Blogcritics, of all places, and failing to even mention our plight here. BC is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Anyhow, Jordan may be on to something in comment #24, where he mentions that "many writers receive 'compensation' in the form of review materials (books, CDs, DVDs, whatever)." Roger, that's where you and I and so many others who write for BC's Politics section have been missing out. We need to explore the possibility of compensation in the form of "review materials."
And I don't mean just books, etc. When you write, as you recently did, "the British pound still stands," you deserve a shipment of those for "review" purposes. When I write, as I do in my latest BC Sci/Tech article, about jet engines, I should expect to receive one from aerospace giant McDonnell Douglas for "review" purposes.
Just what I need for my next yard sale, damnit.