Soccer Dad

Slate's 10th

I really used to enjoy reading Slate. Why I stopped, I can't really say. I suppose that I fell it became more political and less engaging after Michael Kinsley left. I don't think that anyone did Today's Papers as well as the late Scott Shuger.

Still I think of Slate as being an influence. Slate was one of the original bloggers. True it was always professionals not amateurs; but Slate did one thing that no one else did: it linked to sources. If you didn't agree with something in Slate, why there could very well be a link to a differing opinion at the end. Or if you liked the article you could research the subject at hand in greater detail.

I suppose the most memorable article I remember from Slate is from its very beginning. Judge Alex Kozinski wrote of his family's history and how they escaped the Holocaust. But there was a detail that I didn't remember that I just saw

Those my family left behind in the small Jewish community of Dzurov were awakened on the night of Dec. 7, 1941, by Nazi troops led by an Ukrainian named Zemjanjuk.

Interesting especially in light of the classic Sanhedrin II that Judge Kozinski wrote for the New Republic.

I also like a couple of the Human Guinea Pigs entries by Emily Yoffe: Great Balls of Matzo and Guinea Get Your Gun.

Finally if we're recalling what made Slate great, it's impossible to ignore Scott Shuger. But I'd argue that his greatest contribution to journalism was not Today's Papers but Making Excuses for Ramallah. It did not appear in Slate though, but in OpinionJournal. Still after nearly 6 years, it is an important critique of media coverage of Israel.

Technorati tags: Slate, Media, Scott Shuger, Alex Kozinski.

Posted by SoccerDad at June 25, 2006 6:50 AM