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The Spectacle Blog
Let’s conduct a straw poll. Who has heard of Guns & Ammo magazine? That’s what I thought. Please don’t laugh at me. I know that it’s at every supermarket magazine aisle in the country. Never opened it, or cared to, but I’ve seen the cover, I don’t know, 7,880 times. “The World’s Most Widely Read Firearms Magazine,” right?
Apparently Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post is in the minority here:
The show is closed to the public and the mainstream press, though reporters from publications with names like Guns & Ammo and American Rifleman wander freely among the booths [bold mine — MW].
Horwitz is referring to the 35th annual Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show and Conference, which will be held in Las Vegas from January 18 to January 21.
While I more or less agree with Horwitz’s implicit point here (viz., that the conference organizers ought to keep the doors open to the press), I find her ostensible ignorance of a 50-year-old major trade publication astounding.
So what’s going on here? Has she really never seen or heard of this magazine? Somehow I doubt it. But I do think I know what’s she up to. It’s an old rhetorical wheeze. When you really feel the hauteur coming on and want to treat something or someone with a rare contempt, don’t just be dismissive: feign ignorance. Works well. I know because I’ve used it myself any number of times:
“Ever seen The Dark Knight?”
“Is that with Christopher Lambert? If so, no.”
“What do you think of David Baldacci?”
“Did I hear him as Tamino at the DSO? Pretty awful, I thought.”
“Like Lady Gaga?”
“Who?”
One wonders what other magazines, cigarette brands, casual dining chains, frat-boy comedies, Georgia congressmen Horwitz has never heard of.
View all comments (12) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Matthew Walther
http://spectator.org/blog/2013/01/16/guns-and-what
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Thom| 1.16.13 @ 12:22PM
There is no "press" outside the Washington Post , NYT to people of the left...
Pecos Pete| 1.16.13 @ 3:22PM
Santa Fe New Mexican
Mike W| 1.16.13 @ 12:34PM
No feigned ignorance here. I have neve heard of this child that writes for the Washington Post. Here opinion or input on the issue mean nothing to me. Children should be seen not heard.
SCPOret| 1.16.13 @ 1:18PM
Guns & Ammo, American Rifleman, in House magazines of the NRA. Hummm why would they be allowed into a Gun conference where new models will be introduced and discussed. Maybe even taken to a range and fired. Wow is that strange. *Sarcasm font*
spike59| 1.16.13 @ 1:43PM
"Washington Post?" Who???????
Slacker| 1.16.13 @ 1:50PM
We can say with certainty she's heard of a little publication called the Arizona Republic...
Maxwell| 1.16.13 @ 2:26PM
I really like American Handgunner. As a matter of fact, the most recent issue is out on my desk as I post this.
When I checked my law firm of Baer, Brown, Wilson & Springfield they too concur that the .45 ACP is the best side arm.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.16.13 @ 2:29PM
.45, because they don't make a .46 (though now they do).
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.16.13 @ 2:27PM
"One wonders what other magazines, cigarette brands, casual dining chains, frat-boy comedies, Georgia congressmen Horwitz has never heard of."
I read this sentence wondering how Sari Horwitz went from being a reporter for the Washington Post to being elected to the US House of Representatives from more than one district in Georgia.
Perhaps better use of punctuation and placement of conjunctions and prepositions might fix this problem.
acrossthedam| 1.16.13 @ 4:36PM
For one thing, "congressmen" is plural. For another, he's using asyndeton. Sheesh.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.16.13 @ 7:50PM
Yes, the use of the plural is what inspired me to use "from more than one district".
Thank you for asyndeton; TAS continues to expand my vocabulary.
snipelee25| 1.16.13 @ 6:44PM
Pretty secretive:
The National Shooting Sports Foundation credentialed more than 2,400 members of the media from the United States and 30 additional countries for the 2012 SHOT Show. Media covering the show represented the full spectrum of news outlets, demonstrating the broad interest that exists worldwide in the products and activities of the shooting, hunting and outdoor industry.
Attending were representatives ranging from trade publications such as SHOT Business, Shooting Industry, Shooting Sports Retailer, The Outdoor/Shooting Wire and Gun Trade World to hunting and shooting sports outlets such as Field & Stream and Guns & Ammo to military, business and lifestyle titles to mainstream news outlets that included CNBC, CBS Sunday Morning, ABC, The Wall Street Journal, Las Vegas Sun and Las Vegas Review-Journal. Bloggers and other new media reported on the show as well.