Over the past five years, I’ve noticed an exponential boom in showing off. Everyone’s at it. One friend tells me, every time I meet him, “You know what? I’m extremely good at my work.”
Having returned to an editing job, after a decade as a freelance journalist, I’m also struck by the new obligation to show off in pitches for articles.
A decade ago, someone would pitch a piece by saying, “I wonder if there’s any chance you might be interested in something on the history of slate-mining in the Haute-Savoie department of France.” Now they say, “I’ve written an extremely interesting article on slate-mining in the Haute-Savoie department of France. I’m delighted to offer it to you.”
