Once again I feel I have to screech to the heavens and beg for an answer why the best magazine in the world has such a lousy Web presence. As Mike Meyere s might say: this one is crraaap! Don’t David Remnick and Company get the Internet? Or are they playing some kind of teasing game with us, playfully holding back so we drool and gnash out teeth and finally PAY to get some kind of decent New Yorker Web site. Or worst of all, are they like Larry King? Oblivious to the internet and its possibilities to help them spread the word…nay, their obligation to do so…and by “Word, I mean that literally, since no one on the planet is better with the word than the New Yorker.
Well, whatever their reason (another possibility: being part of mega-magazine behemoth Conde Nast, for whom the online world is a cannibal in sheep’s clothing?), whatever the reason, I am sad because I read an article by George Packer in last week’s issue (or was it the one before? Holiday season, ya know. Hard to keep up) and it can’t be found online. George Packer writes on Lagos, the sprawling, hellish, bizarre, nauseating, but ultimately charming-in-its-own-sick-way MEGAcity in Nigeria. The article is one of the looong typical New Yorker pieces, but ultimately a delight to read. It’s far to complicated to go into much here, so try to get your hands on it. And if you happen to drum up the courage to go, well, by all means tell us about it.