I suppose as a blogger, I’m just as guilty as the next person. You know what I’m talking about. A writer discovers some off-the-beaten-path slice of nirvana and then promptly publishes a story for the whole world to learn about. In almost no time, that once-idyllic spot is overrun with tourists and souvenir stands and is now completely ruined. Damn!
Brad Melekian, an editor for Outside Magazine recently wrote about this phenomenon and the irresistible siren of journalism pressuring a writer to spill the beans. Melekian muses mostly about the impact such public exposure has upon the surfing world where great swells can go undiscovered for years but once they are written about, adios to owning your own wave there. The fine surf at Half Moon Bay in California is one such example which Melekian bemoans.
Balancing that sense of journalist obligation with a desire to protect the very places you’ve unearthed is the source of much cognitive dissonance amongst writers. We want to share them with our readers, but we also want to keep them to ourselves. Hmmm… what to do?