Press Action Hero of the Week: GILLES D'AYMERY
"Are you about yourself or are you about an idea?" That's the question
Gilles d'Aymery asks people who want to contribute articles to Swans, the
online magazine (www.swans.com) that he founded and edits. He may not ask
it to their face or in email correspondence. But it's a question he's
determined to answer as he reads the essays people send him. If he notices
a contributor is straying from the magazine's commitment to ideas, d'Aymery
isn't afraid to cut that person loose from the Swans family.
If he could get away with it, d'Aymery would address the dilemma by
publishing Swans without any bylines. It's a policy that would quickly
suppress all egos. As an egalitarian, d'Aymery would also erase his name as
editor from the masthead, stripping any semblance of lineage from the ideas
presented in the publication.
The idea � the thoughtful presentation of an argument � is paramount, not
the person behind it. As someone who grew up immersed in France's social
democratic tradition, d'Aymery, who now lives in the San Francisco Bay
area, casts an outsider's eye on the individualistic spirit in the United
States.
It's a clich� but still true. Rugged individualism, not necessarily the
type of individualism hyped in U.S. history books and Hollywood movies, is
still alive in America and d'Aymery wants it extinguished. Get rid of the
ego. The Economist, the London-based newsweekly, doesn't give its writers
bylines. And it's viewed by many as the best news magazine in the world, in
a snarky sort of way. Why should d'Aymery throw his principles out the
window? Swans is his magazine and he should be able to do what he wants
with it.
But he's not clueless. D'Aymery understands he couldn't publish his online
magazine if he instituted the no-name policy. People want credit for their
ideas, especially when they're not getting paid for them, as is the case at
Swans.
If he did adopt the no-name approach, d'Aymery would lose his contributors,
turning Swans into a little blog. And what is more "me" than our current
age of blogging? Our opinions are vitally important, or so many of us think
they are as evidenced in the hundreds of thousands of people keeping an
online diary of their opinions and observations for the entire world to
read � if only the world could find their address in the blogosphere.
full: http://www.pressaction.com/pablog/archives/001288.html#001288
Louis Proyect
Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
