Severely disappointed.

[badstar]

On the way to work this evening, I stopped at Rite Aid. In line I saw US News & World Report on Display with "Sacred places" emblazoned on the front cover. I picked it up and glanced at the table of contents. Saw Delphi listed as one of the places and decided to go ahead and buy the magazine. There was a long line behind me, so it seemed rude to flip through the magazine and waste time.

I got on the train and found the article, which is about 3/4 page long. I read the article.

If I didn't know better, from the article, I would swear that Delphi is just some old ruined building with geological fault lines running under it that collected some sweet-smelling gas that makes people go funny. Oh, and there were a couple of Plutarch references.

Okay. HOW do you write a an article about Delphi, however short, and completely fail to mention Apollo's name- even once? There was no mention of spirituality in the article or Delphi being a sacred place.

Seriously thinking about writing letter to editor.

Comments

[kissdbysunlight.livejournal.com]

Was this the same article?

Explaining the Oracle's Visions
Delphi, Greece
By Kent Garber -- Posted November 16, 2007
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/sacred-places/2007/11/16/explaining-the-oracles-visions.html

It's part of their Sacred Places thing:http://www.usnews.com/features/news/sacred-places/sacred-places.html

I just think it's the type of magazine. They seem more factual, news, business-like. I don't read it exactly, so I really wouldn't know--just my impression from what I've seen.

National Geographic on the other hand has mentioned mythology of Delphi and other places. I just read an old copy that went into the mythology of the Mayans at a burial site. They'd be the magazine (or an archaeological one) to get for good articles.

Though, if they're covered sacred sites around the world, why not mention WHY it's sacred? Or who it was sacred to or dedicated to? Or the spirituality behind it. It just seemed like they were rambling on about the fumes-- which isn't new. I watched a show about it ages ago.

They did for Karnak:
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/sacred-places/2007/11/16/a-towering-tribute-to-the-gods.html
Why not Delphi?

[fuego.livejournal.com]

yeah, the other articles did gloss over the sanctity of the place they were covering- they were all pretty short articles, the Delphi one is longer than most. Yeah, US News & World Distort Report is a news magazine, but this makes no sense.

[sherarara.livejournal.com]

I don't find anything really wrong with the article (other than that it's written like the usual entertainment magazine trash); it seems to me that discussion of the cult at Delphi is just outside the scope of the article. They don't mention any of the buildings, nor do they really even talk about the importance of the site in general - stuff you would expect in an article that was talking about the site. I think the author is just counting on the reader understanding something already about Delphi, which I think the average person these days does (I get more questions about Delphi than you would believe from students).

I don't think it was any sort of intentional oversight on the part of the magazine that they didn't say that Delphi was an important cultic center in the Greek world. I just think that they figured the average readership knew that already.

As for the content, pretty much every single article (even academic ones) for the past ten years like to mention this. I always thought it was kinda neat.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

I find the archaeological and geological details fascinating...I recently read a book on the whole process of discovery of all that. I just don't see how you can write an article about a sacred site and not even bother to mention why it's a sacred site. I wouldn't expect massive detail about the religion, but some mention would make sense.

(And I swear, I'm not just thinking this cause OMG it's Delphi :-P If any of the other articles had come across like this, I'd be wondering the same.)

[resident-geek.livejournal.com]

I didn't think that you were just saying it because it's Delphi - I totally see your point. I'm just trying to explain why they might have not mentioned it. *shrug*

[fuego.livejournal.com]

It's cool...I didn't really think you were but I had suddenly realized where it could very easily come across that I was.

[sherarara.livejournal.com]

Crap. I totally posted that as Steve.

That wasn't Steve. That was Rebecca :)

[fuego.livejournal.com]

Sure thing, Steve.

:-P

[resident-geek.livejournal.com]

Gah! Bad Sidhe! (Hi, Renee :)

[sunneyone.livejournal.com]

Seriously thinking about writing letter to editor.
Do it.

[unprotoize.livejournal.com]

Hey! Call Fred Merrill ASAP - for some reason, a package has arrived at his house for you.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

I talked to him yesterday and today. It seems that I never deleted the old address from my paypal account, and clicked on it by mistake when paying for something on ebay...but he's already taken it to the post office to forward it to me. Thanks.

[erl-queen.livejournal.com]

I think you should write that letter. It couldn't hurt. Make it brief and not too angry, just pointing out *why* it's a sacred site, and maybe even that it's still sacred to followers of the Greek gods. You never know, they might print it (if only for novelty's sake) and then you've done something small to spread the word about us. :)

[fuego.livejournal.com]

I have no angry plans...I'm not angry over the article, just...confounded that they wouldn't even mention why it's sacred if that's the point of it? But yeah, I'm thinking I'm going to. I didn't get to it last night.


Heh...I had a letter to the editor printed once in a newspaper oh geez, I think it was in semi-rural Illinois or something in that area.