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David Plotz

David Plotz Biography

Journalist

David Plotz is an American journalist born on January 31, 1970. He is known for his work at Slate magazine, where he served as an editor and columnist. Plotz has extensive experience in the news industry, particularly in the areas of technology, culture, and politics.

David Plotz is an American journalist born on January 31, 1970. He is known for his work at Slate magazine, where he served as an editor and columnist. Plotz has extensive experience in the news industry, particularly in the areas of technology, culture, and politics.

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“It's much easier to hire really great people like that in New York and in Brooklyn in particular, than it is in Washington.”

People New York Particular Easier Really Great Brooklyn Great People

Author:David Plotz

“And my wife is - you know my wife, Hanna Rosin - it's hard, there's no doubt. We have three kids, and it's a pain. I'm away a lot and it's hard on her, but she's been very generous about it and my kids have been very good about it, too. It also allows me when I'm Washington to be more intent with them.”

Knows Has Beens Hard Kids Pain Three Doubt Wife Very Good My Wife Generous No Doubt

Author:David Plotz

“I have blocks of time where I'm working intently on something.”

Author:David Plotz

“What is Atlas Obscura? So, it was a small digital media company. It's an atlas, it's literally like, an atlas of places, wonderful, unusual places.”

Company Wonderful Media Digital Unusual Atlas Digital Media

Author:David Plotz

“The New York Times is the greatest media company around, arguably, and the people at the New York Times know a lot more about making a giant successful media company than I do.”

People Knows Company Successful Media New York Giants New York Times

Author:David Plotz

“I think I did 97 pitch meetings, and even at the 97th meeting, there were questions I was getting that I hadn't had in the - you know, any of the 96 preceding ones.”

Thinking Knows Meetings

Author:David Plotz

“I should say, the one thing you run into is, if you're trying to raise a round you have to decide, well, how much money are you trying to raise? And then you have to justify that to your investors, because they want to know why you [are] raising that much? Why aren't you raising either twice as much or half as much?”

Ifs Knows Want Should Trying Wells Running Half One Thing Raises Rounds Justify Investors

Author:David Plotz

“People who tend to invest are either going to invest in something where you're raising $5 million or they're going to invest in something where you're raising $1 million, but if you're trying to raise $2.5 million it's kind of a weird amount.”

People Ifs Trying Kind Millions Amount Raises

Author:David Plotz

“My buddy Alex Blumberg learned - he was very public about his learning process, and I know for a fact because we sat next to each other for many years, that he knew nothing about venture capital or seed rounds or "A" rounds or whatever you call them, and he had to really learn, like, pitch by pitch. He just screwed pitches up.”

Knows Years Facts Next Process Rounds Seeds Sat Venture Buddy Alex Learning Process Venture Capital

Author:David Plotz

“You're talking to investors - and investors, they look at you and they realize, you know, not every business they invest in are the founders or the people running it going to have every bit of skill - and I think they looked at me and realized, OK, this is a guy who's got a lot - I'm much older than the usual run of people they fund.”

People Thinking Knows Looks Running Guy Bits Realizing Talking Skills Fund Investors Usual Founders

Author:David Plotz

“The process of just being in front of people, having to stand up for your ideas, and ask - and then ask people for money, which is a very hard thing to do.”

People Ideas Hard Asks Process Fronts Things To Do Just Being Hard Things

Author:David Plotz

“People found it unusual to leave a job where you're the boss.”

People Jobs Found Boss Unusual

Author:David Plotz

“I sound like an evangelist or something.”

Sound Evangelists

Author:David Plotz

“Slate is not a political magazine but a lot of what it does is politics.”

Doe Political Magazines Slate

Author:David Plotz

“That economics and finance are often covered as technical subjects, sort of boring subjects, and either you already know a lot about it and you follow it, or you don't know much about it and you don't want to know.”

Knows Want Subjects Economics Boring Finance Covered

Author:David Plotz

“Writing a column, a weekly column for the New York Times, is really tough, and I wasn't prepared for the demands that that involved.”

Writing New York Involved Demand Tough Prepared Columns New York Times

Author:David Plotz

“When you're writing for the New York Times someone reading it knows the topic better than you do and knows when you've messed up.”

Knows Writing Reading New York Topics New York Times Better Than You Messed Up

Author:David Plotz

“А weekly column is really tough.”

Author:David Plotz

“Here was a period where I was particularly attacked, and in untrue ways, some people online said some things that were not true about me - but it was very hurtful. And there was like, a period of time that it was very panicky, I was very upset. And my son at the time was, I guess seven, eight months old, and I would wake up early with him and let my wife sleep.”

People Way Said Sleep Wife Son Months Periods Wake Up Seven Eight My Wife Upset Online My Son Untrue Hurtful Up Early

Author:David Plotz

“I made one choice, for example, which is I'm just going to confine work to working hours. I'm not going to work on the weekend. I'm not going to be working while I'm with my son in the morning and in the evening.”

Made Choices Hours Morning Example Son Evening My Son Weekend Going To Work

Author:David Plotz

“I want to have enough space to, I don't know, think thoughts. I mean, I just - I don't know that I'm capable of having an exciting, profound thought every week that's worth a column.”

Thinking Knows Want Mean Enough Space Week Capable Exciting Profound Columns Profound Thoughts

Author:David Plotz

“I'm so grateful to Hugo Lindgren, Jon Kelly, and the people who gave me the opportunity to write a weekly column. It's an amazing thing to do, and when I started they both said, you know, the problem with columns is they just exist forever.”

People Knows Writing Said Problem Opportunity Forever Grateful Things To Do Columns Amazing Things So Grateful

Author:David Plotz

“I think I developed a culture of healthy skepticism of claims of certainty on any side of the aisle. A sort of boldness in using economics no matter where it leads you in political circles, you know, rather than worrying about being left-wing or right-wing or biased or this or that.”

Thinking Knows Matter Political Culture Left Sides Worry Healthy Economics Claims Wings Circles Certainty Skepticism Boldness Right Wing Biased Left Wing Aisle

Author:David Plotz

“I'm very lucky to be able to work in print and radio. I'm very lucky to be able to work at a time when finance and economics are really important. And the number of people who tell finance and economic stories in a kind of accessible storytelling way, there's much more demand than there is supply.”

People Way Kind Important Stories Able Numbers Economic Lucky Demand Economics Radio Storytelling Finance Print

Author:David Plotz

“I feel like there's lot of people who know finance and economics better than I do. There are lots of people who are better storytellers than I am. But the space that I occupy of storytelling about finance and economics is - more people want it than can do it.”

People Knows Want Feels Can Do Space Economics Storytelling Finance Storyteller

Author:David Plotz

“I'm going to have a project-based life rather than a job-based life.”

Author:David Plotz

“On one project I was hanging out with Brad Pitt, and Ryan Gosling, and Steve Carrel, and Christian Bale, and trying to explain economics to them for a movie I'm an advisor on.”

Trying Christian Projects Economics Hanging Out Brad Advisors

Author:David Plotz

“Having good relations with lots of lots of different people helps a lot.”

People Different Helping Relation Different Peoples

Author:David Plotz

“I do think there will be winners and losers in the 21st century economy.”

Thinking Economy Century Winner Loser 21st Century Winner And Loser

Author:David Plotz

“My mother - both my mother and father had very successful careers. My mother's an English professor and my father is a scientist and physician. They worked at the same jobs for their entire life, 50 years each.”

Years Jobs Mother Father Careers Successful Scientist Professors Physicians Mother And Father Successful Career

Author:David Plotz

“My mother is somebody who I think of as having just an intense close focus. She's somebody who really can pay very, very close attention to the thing she's focusing on for a very long period of time, and that has served her incredibly well in her professional career. She knows - the things she knows, she knows them just so deeply.”

Thinking Knows Wells Long Mother Pay Attention Careers Focus Periods Intense Long Periods Of Time Professional Career

Author:David Plotz

“I do think students in public school (and private) should be required to study the Bible. [...] As a matter of pure education, it's shocking that we [the americans] are not compelled to learn the book, which is the source of our language, our common stories, our political structure, our conflicts.”

Thinking Should Book Matter Stories School Political Language Common Study Students Source Pure Conflict Structure Shocking Compelled Public School

Author:David Plotz

“I wasn't reading it [the Bible] as literature. I was reading it as literature, and as history, and as a moral guide, and as anthropology and law and culture.”

Law Culture Reading Literature Moral Guides Anthropology

Author:David Plotz

“One problem with how we think about the Bible is that people tend to jam it into narrower categories, when in fact it is many things all at once.”

People Thinking Facts Problem Categories Jam

Author:David Plotz

“You live in a society that is shaped in every possible way by the Bible. The language you use, the laws you obey (and disobey), the founding principles of your nation, the disputes about abortion, homosexuality, adultery - these and so much else in your world are rooted in the Bible. You don't have to read it for its truth value. You should read it to understand how your world got the way it is, the way you would read the constitution or Shakespeare.”

World Way Should Use Law Values Language Nations Principles Constitution Abortion Rooted Homosexuality Founding Disputes Adultery

Author:David Plotz

“When you have spent too much time with something, you may lose sight of what's marvelous about it.”

May Loses Too Much Sight Marvelous

Author:David Plotz

“The Christians think I am making a mistake by not trying the New Testament and meeting Jesus. The Jews tend to think I am making a mistake by reading without support from educated people. After all, there is 2,000 years of scholarship about the book, they say, so it's perverse of me to ignore it.”

People Thinking Trying Years Book Christian Reading Jesus Mistake Support Meetings Jew Educated Making Mistakes Testament New Testament Scholarship

Author:David Plotz

“God is erratic, sometimes vindictive, sometimes merciful. The people I was taught were heroes - Jacob or Moses or David - were ambivalent figures, or worse. But that messiness was joyful, and challenging. I loved having a Bible that I could argue with.”

People Sometimes Challenges Figures Taught Hero Arguing Joyful Moses Merciful Jacob Vindictive Erratic Ambivalent Messiness

Author:David Plotz

“I seem to have three categories of readers. The first is nonbelievers who are glad that I am reading the Bible so they don't have to bother. The second group, which is quite large, is very Biblically literate Jews. And the third, which is also very large, is Christians, most of them evangelical. The evangelical readers and the Jewish readers have generally been very encouraging, because they appreciate someone taking the book they love so seriously, and actually reading it and grappling with it.”

Firsts Book Seems Christian Three Reading Groups Reader Appreciate Thirds Jew Glad Bother Categories Evangelical Grappling Reading The Bible

Author:David Plotz

“Perhaps the most remarkable thing I found about the Bible was how flexible it is. Here we have a book written 3,000 years ago, with bizarre stories, peculiar laws, erratic deity, and yet we are able - through argument, selective reading, and desire - to find a powerful framework of laws and moral reasoning that have built a very successful society. So this Bible, for all its oddities and flaws, serves us beautifully after all these years.”

“The Bible is forbidding when you start to read it. The language is odd. The stories start and stop herkily-jerkily. The characters behave in inexplicable ways. It takes a little bit of time to get into the rhythm of the book. I found reading the first 15 chapters of Genesis very very difficult. Once I got past there, I loved reading, and found it very easy. When you get used to the Bible, it becomes thrilling to read (like any great book - I just had exactly the same experience with the Odyssey).”

Way Firsts Littles Book Character Stories Past Used Reading Found Language Easy Bits Difficult Little Bit Rhythm Odd Behave Chapters Thrilling Genesis Great Book Inexplicable Odyssey

Author:David Plotz

“I know I would have learned a huge amount had I read the bible with my rabbi. But I also would have missed a huge amount, and I would have been guided down the narrow paths where the rabbi led me, not the paths that I chose for myself.”

Knows Has Beens Path Huge Amount Rabbi Narrow Path

Author:David Plotz

“Changing the way we talk is not political correctness run amok. It reflects an admirable willingness to acknowledge others who once were barely visible to the dominant culture, and to recognize that something that may seem innocent to you may be painful to others.”

Way May Seems Running Political Culture Painful Innocent Acknowledge Visible Willingness Dominant Admirable Political Correctness Correctness Dominant Culture

Author:David Plotz

“So while the name Redskins is only a bit offensive, it’s extremely tacky and dated—like an old aunt who still talks about ‘colored people’ or limps her wrist to suggest someone’s gay.”

People Stills Names Bits Gay Offensive Aunt Wrists Tacky Redskins

Author:David Plotz

“Any suggestion that Mexicans are fundamentally different from Americans should be taken as racist on its face; America, after all, is a pluralistic society, and Mexico is hardly the alien civilization that some (really, just Samuel Huntington) would suggest.”

Should Different America Faces Taken Civilization Aliens Racist Mexico Suggestions

Author:David Plotz

About the Author

Born: January 31, 1970
Known for: Journalist
Quotes: 45

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