Phil Johnson at PyroManiac continues his roast and toast of bloggers who write about him. I previously compared him to Rush Limbaugh: brash, entertaining, and likely to draw a crowd to God bloggers who follow his lead. I'm thinking I was a bit off on that one.
Johnson has become more like a young David Letterman washed in eight shades of Calvinism. I've always considered Letterman to be the anti-TV host, regularly turning the camera on regular people who will do stupid things to, well, just get on TV. Regular people are more entertaining than the celebrities TV execs crave because regular people aren't bound by the behaviorial constraints of celebrity. Letterman recognized the irony of it. Johnson has, in turn, become the anti-blogger, regularly turning his pulpit the other way around for the masses before pulling it back to wryly point out their silliness. It's all wink-wink stuff and very funny to those he's not picking out of the crowd.
What I see on Letterman's "stupid human tricks" is the same phenomenon I'm seeing among Johnson's pet bloggers. Excluding IMonk, who might be headed for the Wellbutrin as we speak (and I really do feel badly for the man), everyone else seems to enjoy this post-postmodern (neopostmodern?) repartee. As the audience, we're not supposed to be able to discern if people are really this hungry for attention or if they all are in on the joke together. It's not so ironic as it is ... morosely entertaining. Whose pride is he going to gracefully shred next with their own words?
I say this fully recognizing he might discover Technorati and target me in his next "Blogspotting" post. But then you'll be left to wonder if I'm the butt of the joke or in on it. I guess that's the fun of it all. Besides, I wouldn't be the dumbest celebrity out there, so I have that going for me.
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