Slate’s Jack Shafer asks what I often wonder: Why do people like Stanley McChrystal submit to profiles like the one in Rolling Stone that cost him his job?
For most players, there is no real reason to submit to an in-depth profile such as the one that Gen. Stanley McChrystal did for Rolling Stone, a profile that has cost him his command in Afghanistan. Was there any upside to agreeing to the profile? Had it contained none of the disparaging comments about the president, the vice president, their aides, and U.S. allies, McChrystal still wouldn’t have gained from the article’s publication. Magazine profiles don’t turn public opinion or influence Congress. They just don’t. So why bother?
