Standing Athwart History 24/7
Writing by treason on Wednesday, 30 of November , 2005 at 5:28 pm
I’m paring down my magazine subscriptions again. Essentially, there are four reasons to do this:
1. Finances - One way to save a few bucks is to reduce the number of subscriptions coming to the house.
2. Taste - What sounded like a good magazine to subscribe to then isn’t necessarily good now.
3. Time - It’s not good to go to the mailbox and pull out a new issue when the previous one still hasn’t been read.
4. Clutter - I tend to hold on to magazines long after I’ve read them. I’m guessing I have several administrations worth of NR.
I do this periodically. No pun intended. The last time I did a major subscription reduction was back when I was forced to choose between National Review and The American Spectator. Tyrrell’s magazine was a hoot during the Clinton years and I always looked forward to reading Ben Stein. But I let it go and kept NR. Why? Simple. It’s consistency. The American Spectator changed its look a few times during my subscription period. I’d purchased two T-shirts from the publication and the designs are dramatically different. I have several NR T-shirts and sweatshirts, and the designs are identical. The look of NR has remained virtually unchanged. Sure, there has been some minor tweaking, but I think I can pull a fifteen year old issue out of a box and compare it to the current one and see very little difference cosmetically. I like that. Says that the magazine is confident, secure, and happy with its look. Why? Because it knows that what’s important is on the inside.
And let me tell you, what’s on the inside of the current (December 5) issue is pure gold.
I walk half a block to our community mailbox and when there’s an issue of NR, I’ll start reading it as soon as I take it out. Someday I’m going to be reading it as I’m walking back to the house and I’m either going to trip and injure myself, or I’m going to walk in front of a car. Actually, it wouldn’t be a bad way to go. Hopefully, I’ll have Rob Long’s page read before the car hits me.
I always recommend NR to liberal friends and acquaintances, but I don’t think any have subscribed. I support a couple gift subscriptions and if I had some real money I’d send subscriptions to schools and businesses around the world. Money well spent, I say.
One of the original links here at The V.O.T. was for NR. Love the quality of the magazine and its contributors, and I adore the humor. NR is a very amusing read. The line about Barbra Streisand in the current issue had me giggling for days. Subtle humor. But deadly, wickedly funny.
It’s not fair, really. Liberals tell me I should read one of their periodicals, and I’m up for anything. Years ago I even subscribed to a few, including The Atlantic Monthly and The Advocate. Some very good articles. Around that time I was subscribing to Drummer, too, but then my best friend Jack was very into leather. More about Jack later this week. (Tomorrow’s World AIDS Day, so I’m thinking a lot about my friend.)
Yes, my tastes are eclectic, but I’m also open to reading the other side. The problem is, I admit, that I’ve become less open recently. Two reasons: time and quality. There’s just too much to read out there. It’s not like you can pick up The Nation or The New Republic and be done. There are so many magazines and blogs to choose from. And that leads to the quality issue. Life is short. You only have so much time, so you’re forced to narrow it down.
So if tomorrow I was told that I could read only one magazine for the rest of my life, it would be NR. Consistency is the key. Anyone who lives with dogs or children or works at a business knows the importance - the value - of consistency. And National Review has been consistency good all these years. The magazine recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Here’s to the next fifty, Bill. Cheers.
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