Brendan Wolfe is a writer & editor (Kirkus, San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, Colorado Review, et al.) who has edited two alternative weekly newspapers, worked on the copy desk of a daily newspaper, and taught. He is working on a book. Readers who have been moved to respond in print to his journalism have attested the following:
He is maniacally vacillating, politically correct, disingenuous, puerile, self-righteous, foppish, talentless, irksome, unfunny, stupid, embarrassing, and pretentious.
He is a purveyor of journalistic garbage.
He is a scum-suckin’ creep. A single, bloated ego.
He has horribly abdicated his moral responsibility to cultivate the conditions for free and intelligent debate.
He is deserving of a raspberry.
His writing is poorly written, poorly researched, annoying, mistaken, absurd, absolutely absurd, insulting, extremely insulting, tacky, unprofessional, distorted psychotic gibberish, inane, and intellectually and journalistically dishonest.
His writing is also detrimental to the quality of life and public affairs in Iowa City. It misses the boat, lacks integrity and accuracy, is offensive, glib, banal, counterproductive, and off-base. It is marked by political grandstanding, quasi-highbrow grandstanding, and bloated egomania.
He engages in naked exercises of power.
He engages in questionable journalistic tactics.
He engages in politically correct snobbery and incompetent research.
In addition, he is known for his rhetorical sleights of hand, his gross generalizations, his non-talented bias, and his self-puffery. Also, his stereotyping and simplifying. His cut-and-paste editorial style, his intellectualizing, his self-congratulation, his jaundiced eye.
His gigantic stretches into the voids of dumb.
He engages in mental masturbation.
He participates in intellectual circle jerks.
When he's not glossing over, ignoring, or suppressing unpleasant facts, he is climbing into the God-spot.
He has been accused of Brendanian, moralistic logic, as well as Brendanian artfulness: i.e., he rambles and misconstrues but doesn’t research.
It has been implied that he is a Nazi, a homophobe, a sexist, and a racist.
It has been said: “I can’t believe your editor is that big an idiot.” “Deliver us from such evil witch-hunting.” “Fie on Brendan’s conclusions.” “You insult my intelligence, Sir.”
And his favorite: “Put down the Vaseline, button your fly, and pick up a pen.”
