Chris Jones on Jason Whitlock

If Canucks carried guns, they would be a lot more decisive.

 

I don't think Jones has damaged The Esquire brand but he has damaged "The Jones" brand. He has fast become the "Warren Cromartie" of long form journalists.

 

I enjoy Jones' stories, his blog and, for the most part, whatever else he writes. His little pissing match with himself about Whitlock hasn't changed that. It's been entertaining if nothing else. Then again, I never think of Jones as "The Jones Brand", whatever that means. He's just a writer I enjoy reading.

 

Jesus, did you really just compare Jonesy to Gore Vidal, Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe?

His ego's going to have an erection bigger than Canada...

 

No, he hasn't. If for no other reasons than 1. a lot of people will agree with his opinion of Whitlock and 2. most people — including most journalists — have no idea he even wrote those words on his blog.

 

Whitlock on Twitter

Hah hah

 

Just be happy I didn't include AJ Jacobs' fight with Joe Queenan.

Also left off the list, for those who read his memoir: Gay Talese vs. John Wayne Bobbit's penis.

 

Nice! Which leads in splendidly to my next point:

(Sidebar: Sorry to be so late to the party, but I just got pointed to this thread today.)

Here's the deal: Jones may not have damaged his brand with people who were already rabid fans of his. But when he came after Whitlock, most of my journalism friends who were like, "Who the fuck is Chris Jones?" He's not as famous as he thinks he is.

So their first impression when they looked him up? It's a hard truth: They remembered that Ebert photo that ran with his Esquire story. That image was unforgettable. Then they read his work for the first time and were like, yeah, the kid can write. His work's good and I've used it in journalism workshops, but the truth (sorry, Chris)? A lot of people in our circle can write at the level Jones does.

Unfortunately, he's now being discussed by Those Who Matter as a phony: He creates a blog where he purports to want to inspire young journalists and hold himself up as a mentor, but then goes and publicly shits all over another journalist (twice!) for some secret transgression that I would speculate wouldn't be all that shocking to those of us like myself who've been in the business for a long time and have thicker skin.

We certainly don't need to teach more impressionable young journalists that personal attacks on the internet are a way to settle what ails them - a lesson both Jones and Whitlock could benefit from.

Jones isn't famous enough yet for just his work and could be gone from memory tomorrow as the next level of good writers takes his place, so everything he does - like his unfortunate blog - is carving out his legacy, which right now goes something like this: Great writer. Not so classy guy.

This certainly wasn't (with apologies to Esquire) Chris At His Best.

 

Oooh, Whitlock used another "The Wire" metaphor. How deliciously fresh and groundbreaking from Proposition Jason. Shit, now I'VE done it.

 

I'm not sure CJ thinks he's famous at all. And I'm even less sure he cares. If he really cared about publicity, he would have done this on his My Second Empire blog on Esquire, not on a Wordpress site he just started

OH NOES! Not "Those Who Matter"!

:'(

 

Those Who Matter?

/captain picard face