Batya’s message about the failure of modern “journalism” is focused on Experiential Education. She tirelessly repeats that journalism was previously a TRADE, learned on the job. Since the Watergate Coup journalism has been a THEORETICAL ABSTRACTION learned in grad school.

I’ve been tirelessly repeating the same historical switch in the field of science. The change happened earlier in science. Before the switchover, scientists and inventors worked in real life, trying to solve real problems systematically. After the switch, scientists became competitive theorists, developing crazier and crazier GENOCIDAL abstractions to serve the purposes of lunatic imperialist GENOCIDAL governments.

The career of Alphia Hart illustrated the earlier style of journalism. He started work at 14 as a printers devil on a local paper, and soon moved up to editing the paper, then moved to bigger papers.

Damon Runyan, who I finally looked up last week, also fits the old model. He quit school after the 4th grade and started working at newspapers. His literary inventiveness was famous. He didn’t become inventive in grad school, he became inventive by WRITING.

This shouldn’t be a fucking mystery. It’s simple arithmetic. People who start work at 14 have a 10-year head start on people who start work at 24. The late starters aren’t learning anything useful in high school or college; often they’re DELEARNING even on the factual level. They’re just losing a decade of REAL learning.

One possible bright spot: Substack is trying to resume OJT in literature. Substack is explicitly a training site for writers. Most of their resources are aimed at the needs of new writers, not the needs of readers. Initially I was annoyed at the hidden ‘masthead’ and the difficulty of finding subjects. After reading the ‘masthead’ for a while, I can see the purpose so I’m less frustrated.

THEORY KILLS. EXPERIENCE SURVIVES.