The big mouth and small mind of Joe Hildebrand
October 22nd 2010 07:20
Elizabeth Gilbert
It's easy for the moderately talented and poorly informed to fall into the tall-poppy syndrome trap. Take any successful writer - one who touches sufficient hearts, minds and imaginations to soar up the book popularity lists - and watch the knives come out.
These critics have all the credibility of leeches. They are sad figures in the shadows of the publishing industry, feeding off the success of others.
Rarely, however, have I seen a bigger blood-sucking effort than the crazy, hate-filled rant published last week under the name Joe Hildebrand.
Here's an example (hold your nose): "... this deformed abomination of fertiliser-grade horseshit should be blasted back into the hellish furnace of retardation from whence it came". Not even Caroline Overington managed that much menace.
I used the word "crazy". It is justified, because of the first paragraph of Hildebrand's column. It was this: "I have not read the book Eat Pray Love, nor have I seen the movie Eat Pray Love." That being so, what follows can be nothing but self-serving. The column can be about nobody except its author. Or, as one commenter to the Hildebrand article said so well: "Having not read your article past the opening line I am in a unique position to say bollocks to you."
Here's another Hildebrand insight: "This is beyond rampant narcissicism (sic). This is verging on psychopathy." No, Joe, it's not. It's an insightful, frank and informative journey of discovery by a young woman who writes very well. As you may have discovered had you read it.
Towards the end of his harangue, Hildebrand writes: "Eat Pray Love is an assault on serious thought." Here, of course, he is talking about himself.
Joe Hildebrand calls himself a journalist. He's not. He's a brat.
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