Local blogs, websites, newspapers, and all media: please stop celebrating mediocrity

January 20, 2012
By

One of the good things about Google Plus is the ability to limit your audience for certain posts; for example, there was something that was getting a lot of coverage and praise in this area that seemed to excite certain people whose feelings I didn’t want to hurt by pointing out that it was…well, kind of lame and not interesting at all. In fact, it was a bit forced and a little irritating.

I run into this a lot and, more often than not, write it off as me being a negative nancy or unnecessarily cynical. Which I am and I am. More and more often, though, I’m sharing this with the limited circle on Google Plus and finding that…well, I’m far from alone in this sentiment.

A friend of mine who has since moved from the area (much to my dismay) shared his thoughts on the matter and was good enough to put into words what I’ve been feeling for a long, long time:

“I want to be different, just like all of the other different people.” It is a critical truism in the Capital Region that local media is WAY too forgiving of the limitations of many local artists and performers. This is one such item: “s/he is one of us, so we must talk about how wonderful s/he is!” Problem with that approach is that it damns the legitimately talented locals to faint praise in comparison to the lauded mediocrities.

I want us all to really, really think about this, because I see it a lot and it’s unnecessary. We’re a tertiary market (if that), but that doesn’t mean we have to be and act small-town and do backflips just because someone local is trying to make something go viral (like that fucking awful Saratoga lip dub video from a few months ago).

Local media: just because something is happening doesn’t make it worthy of praise. Just because it’s local doesn’t mean it’s off limits from critique. Just because a band is from the Albany area doesn’t mean you have to pretend they’re good and grit out teeth through performances and hold our noses while posting about them. The important aspect of my friend’s thoughts isn’t that the bad and the mundane gets unwarranted attention and praise, it’s that there’s enough good in this area to make that unnecessary.

Let’s focus on that. Please.

  • Roger Green

    OK.  Green blast Marshall for typo in his title on “medicority”

    • http://twitter.com/WendyTrue54 Wendy Voelker

      And now it’s “mediocority”! When in doubt, add some O’s!

      • Roger Green

        Marshall finally responds to criticism.

      • Anonymous

        It’s been a day.

  • http://www.ridiculousfoodsociety.net/ dave

    I celebrate mediocrity (my own and that of others) and I consider myself a connoisseur of the droll and the banal. I take the opposite tack as you, I will tolerate the mediocre that is familiar at the expense of the superlative that is outside of my small (self-imposed) realm of life.

  • Sébastien Barré

    Yeah, I didn’t get that Hajek thing either :)

  • Jessica Pasko

    I feel this way about a certain local poet…among others. 

    A friend once had the “audacity” to bring this exact topic up after a now-defunct local arts group said they wanted actual input from the community, and yet he was raked over the coals for it. He was accused of not only being unsupportive of local artists, but also of being a moron. 

  • Jessica Pasko

    At the same time, to play devil’s advocate — while there were a number of people who didn’t like or get the thing you’re referring to, there also was a significant number of people who legitimately did. I think if a media outlet or blog legitimately thinks something is good and/or creative, than they should point it out. What shouldn’t happen is that just because a band/artist/writer/comedian is local, there’s this sort of unspoken belief that they are untouchable and immune to criticism – with the implicit suggestion that anyone who thinks otherwise is a total moron. But don’t get me started on the 518 rap scene…..

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