Here’s a case for print media for you: the world is a scary place.
Don’t believe me? Consider the following.
Nowadays, you’re probably less likely to be cudgeled to death by angry troglodytes, and I’m fairly certain you’re less likely to be mauled by a large animal in the woods. Alas, times were simpler back in the day. Today’s enemy is much more insidious and exists through the use of modern technology. You can be watched via your computer. Someone you have never seen can steal your identity. And, as demonstrated by Catfish and Manti T’eo, that relationship of yours may not be exactly what you think it is.
Look, that Orwellian notion of dystopia you learned about in ninth grade isn’t so much fiction as it is a simple reality. Big Brother is watching you. And, even when he isn’t, the troglodytes of the Internet’s comments sections will get you. They’ll beat you over the head, not with sticks, but with sheer written stupidity—the kind of brainless-but-offensive rubbish that makes being mauled a large animal sound like a tempting escape. Try as you might, you can never fully escape the wrath of technology.
So, where does print media fit into the equation? It is one of the seemingly few things in this world a human being can fully enjoy without having his or her face glued to a computer screen. You can read the Wire on a tangible, honest-to-goodness piece of newsprint without exposing yourself to the big, bad postmodern world.
Next week, I will make a major announcement regarding the Wire and technology, and it will be exciting. But what is most exciting to me, I think, is that we are able to print the Wire every week and continue the tradition of what most fear is a dying art. As long as I’m here, you can expect a physical copy of the Wire each and every week.
And hey, not only is it an important preservation of our craft’s past, but also an escape from the terror of the present. Maybe that’s the true responsibility of the Wire: to save you, dearest reader.
In that case, you’re welcome.