One of the best editors I’ve ever worked with was Maer Roshan, who was at New York magazine at the time.
Maer has just launched a new magazine, Rader, and I have a bone to pick with something he wrote in his introductory editor’s note:
“Our goal is to make Radar broad enough to include both a cheeky expose on Disney’s demimonde and an incisive portrait of the everyday lives of American soldier’s in Iraq–and brave enough to take on right-wing hypocrisy as well as TV’s dumbest anchors.”
Brave enough to take on right-wing hypocrisy? Gimme a break. Have you ever met a chic New York journalist who *wasn’t* brave enough to take on the right wing?
I wish Radar well, and I expect them to take on the right wing–not because it’s brave but because it’s expected of them, because everybody does it, and because in New York there’s a huge market for taking on the right wing.
They will do it, in other words, because doing so is the *opposite* of brave.
In the same spirit, don’t miss the Weekly Standard’s hilarious parody of the typical graduation speech–“Let the Clich’s Commence.”