The Week That Was?- Depends on your POV

10/8/09

“What are we coming to
No room for me, no fun for you
I think about a world to come
Where the books were found by the golden ones
Written in pain, written in awe
By a puzzled man who questioned
What we were here for
All the strangers came today
And it looks as though they’re here to stay”
- David Bowie

I’ve learned a few things in the past week, made a few mistakes and come to form a few more opinions. Where did it all begin? (The ontological question driving much of Western Philosophy and thought, along with “What do we do now?”)

It’s hard to know but I will begin with a big player in Australian Wine- Wine Business Magazine.

WBM were the one of the first to take aim at Felicty Carter’s Press Club address, largely dismissing it at as perpetuating a perceived negativity & pessimism pandering to current fashions of “Sinking the boot into the Australian Wine Industry”. WBM got their message out in public through a weekly email that anyone can choose to subscribe to should they wish. It is called “The Week that Was”.

Of course, power struggles were underlying this supposed debate, as they always seem to do. I was informed that, as Editor in Chief of “Meininger’s Wine Business International”, Felicity Carter was in direct competition with WBM. Of course, I should have picked this up, its suggestion is clear in WBM’s email. Steep learning curve, this politics of wine.

But back to last week. WBM decided to take aim at Wine Bloggers and Twitter this time. Twitter was dismissed as trivial, mocked and trashed as petty discussion that failed to address the fact that Global Wine World is in crisis (I thought WBM’s position was one of positive thinking, optimism at all costs? What crisis? Negativity has no place!). Pretty stupid thing for a “marketing” group to do really. Anyway, despite it’s “triviality”, WBM magazine noted that they percieved a clear sense of the death of the “traditional” wine writer being articulated on Twitter.

This sentiment was apparently set on destroying the Max Allens, Huon Hookes, Tyson Stelzers, James Hallidays etc of this world. I beg to differ. If such a generalised tone existed on Twitter, it was observing, in an empirical manner, that the nature of wine writing was undergoing evolution in the form of changing grids of power relations, new mediums and generational change. It did not seek to “kill the father” at all. WBM need to sit on a couch and air their fears of patricide to a trained professional methinks. Nothing wrong with therapy, it’s there to help people through tough times by acknowledging the past and looking at what needs to be done.

“Oh you pretty things
Don’t you know that you’re driving
your Mamas and Papas insane”

So who is this “Phantom Menace” seeking to displace the forementioned “traditional’ wine writer. One scary word really. BLOGGERS. That’s right, I’m out there at night with a bloody hatchet, hunting and killing “traditional” wine writers wherever I can find them, probably wearing an Ice Hockey mask or some such. Bullshit. I read Messrs Hooke, Allen, Halliday, Stelzer et al. I subscribe to the magazines that publish their thoughts, I buy their books. I learn from them and take my cue from them. But I don’t always agree.

“Look at my window what do I see?
A crack in the sky and a hand reaching down to me
All the nightmares came today
And it looks as though they’re here to stay”

Funny thing is, WBM even suggest to themselves (feeling defensive & frightened no doubt) that the “menace” is indeed largely unmenacing. “Ninety-five percent of wine blogs are wordy rubbish” they say. Well, I am verbose. I’ve often admitted to that. Whether or not I’m rubbish is up to each and every reader to decide for themselves. Just as readers of “traditional” wine writers are evaluated and either read or dismissed. So it should be.

What’s more, us BLOGGERS don’t get to sample enough wines for our opinions to have credibility, or so WBM say. So credibilty is established via volume of wine consumed? It’s as simple as that? All right, I’d best pour another glass, even though it’s only 5.40am in Brissy, Australia. I was looking for a reason, so if it adds to my “credibility” I’d best crack a bottle now eh? Or not.

Anyway, one reaches the end of WBM’s version of “The Week that Was” and can be forgiven for feeling a little confused. Max Allen’s implied fear of us BLOGGERS (I don’t get the impression Max Allen fears us at all, but I don’t know him, nor have I spoken to him. I just buy the media that publish his informed and worthwhile thoughts on wine) is assuaged by WBM who assure him he will not need to mow lawns for a living soon, as us “jealous” wine hacks just don’t have “the right stuff”. I’m sure Max, James Halliday et al are feeling much calmer now. So why the fear, defensiveness and attacks WBM? You’ve told yourself that you’ve nothing to worry about!

“Look at your children
See their faces in golden rays
Don’t kid yourself they belong to you
They’re the start of a coming race”

Indeed, BLOGGERS are the start of a coming race. That race’s future is arguably more uncertain that that of “traditional” wine writers. In fact the whole difference between “traditional” wine writers and BLOGGERS is becoming more and more difficult to establish as new forms of social media (such as Twitter) emerge. Things will move on, power grids will change, generations will prosper and fade. None of this is new. The trick is to not become fearful of the patterns of life as they play out in new and displaced ways. Play the hand that’s dealt you as best you can.

If one fails in this endeavour, one risks falling into the trap of Bowie’s Nietzschian inspired idealism, which voices itself at the end of the lyrics I have been quoting through-out this post.

“The earth is a bitch
we’ve finished our news
homosapiens have outgrown their use
…Let me make it plain
You gotta make way for the homo superior”

Bullshit. There is room and perhaps even a need for both voices, in as much as they can be seperated. The Oedipal complex is just that. A complex. Not a necessity.