Self-promoting bullshit?

by Chris Bertram on September 22, 2004

The Observer, the Guardian’s Sunday-stablemate — and so the liberal paper of record for that day of the week — carried an account by one Sebastian Horsley of his “1000+ encounters with prostitutes”:http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1306267,00.html . This now features as one of today’s items on “A&L Daily”:http://www.aldaily.com/. Now Horsley’s tale may be true, but any reader savvy enough “to feed his name into Google”:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&q=%22Sebastian+Horsley%22&btnG=Search will find that the very same Observer carried a feature on “the same guy and his struggle with heroin”:http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1241264,00.html and another on how, as “a performance artist, he crucified himself”:http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,722216,00.html . Seeing the various stories together certainly affects the epistemic situation of the reader, shall we say.

{ 8 comments }

1

john b 09.22.04 at 10:42 am

Your A&L Daily link is knackered [fixed now, thanks CB].

The Philippines crucifixion story seems to be genuine, or at least well-documented by respectable news sources (even outside the Observer); can’t comment on his junkie and whoring habits, although they’re hardly mutually exclusive.

2

belle waring 09.22.04 at 11:28 am

what a jerk. and I must say that while the early stages of herion additction are compatible with getting your rocks off (even if it might take a few hours), the latter stages decidedly are not. I incline to skepticism.

3

Extinct Tory 09.22.04 at 3:52 pm

Anyone ever listen to a Radio 4 programme, sometimes repeated on BBC7, called The Sunday Format? The one skit, Homeless/Unemployed/etc For a Day?

4

Karen Eliot 09.22.04 at 4:38 pm

Maybe Sebastian Horsley is the new Karen Eliot?

5

fyreflye 09.22.04 at 7:56 pm

Is anyone ready yet to concede that A & L Daily has become a joke?

6

William 09.22.04 at 11:00 pm

I suspect it’s a joke, like the Barefoot Doctor.

7

David Tiley 09.23.04 at 9:47 am

A&L used to be very useful, but it has staggered glumly towards every reactionary fathead it can find who is actually in print.

I miss it.

8

Steve13 09.28.04 at 1:37 pm

the whores, the drugs and the crucifixion…all true, believe me…he used to be a mate. What is however far more extraordinary is how so many people are still shocked by any of this. Am I the only one to have lived through the past four decades outside of a monastic order or as a guest of Her Majesty (sic)…

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