I.F. Stone

[pecunium]

When I was a whelp, Stone was still around. I recall reading a magazine article by him, this was when I was a journalism student. I'd seen the name, but not read any of his stuff.

So when a copy of, "The Trial of Socrates" came into my folks store (where I spent 15-20 hours a week), I snagged it. Man, that was one hell of a book. It showed Stone in all his glory.

How, he wondered, did so strong a bastion of free speech as Athens, come to condemn a man for speaking? His conclusions (in short, Socrates used the Athenian courts to commit suicide) were solid. Why? Because he dug into the material, looked into the primary sources.

There's a lot more in that book (my lack of sympathy for Plato comes out of it).

Dan Froomkin opened a recent column like this, The best blogger ever died in 1989 at the age of 81.

He was, if you hadn't guessed, talking about I.F. Stone.

It's a solid piece, and worth reading, as is the biography Froomkin refers to.

Better yet, get one of Stone's books, and read that. Find a copy of Stone's Weekly, and read that.

If you really want to take it to heart, find some document dump, or a hearing transcript, and do what Stone did them, read it.

Then write.

Comments

[supergee.livejournal.com]

I am old enough to think of I.F. Stone as a ziner, rather than a blogger. He and Paul Krassner were my first two zining role models.

I met him once; I was 10 at the time and hardly remember him. My father was fired by the New York City school system for refusing to answer nosy & irrelevant questions from the McCarthy committee, and Stone wrote an excellent excoriation of the stupidity of the whole business.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I am old enough to think in terms of zines too, but for those who don't have that context, this is as good a way as any to introduce it.

I'm jealous.

TK

[tenderberry.livejournal.com]

tried to follow the link but apparenty one needs a user name and password - and I'm still lightheaded enough from the fasting blood test this am to not be able to figure it out on my own - help