Ghost writers

If you were among the privileged to hear someone like Abraham Lincoln give a speech in person, for that is the only you would have heard his voice in the pre-recording-device era, you would have been listening to a speech written by Abraham Lincoln.  This seems like a trifle bit of a pedantic observation, but not so much when one considers that when a speech is given by many culturally popular figures, including politicians, they are almost certainly written by a ghost…writer, that is, by someone else whose job it is to write impressive and compelling speeches.  This is why Hollywood stars seem so articulate, fluid, lucid and coherent on film (disregarding the hundreds of takes and edits) and sound like a middle-school pre-teen given their Grammy or Emmy speeches, which are more spontaneous and less prepared.  Many popular authors also have ghostwriters, and unfortunately some continue to publish under the guise of their alias after the author to whom they are the protégé dies.  To a degree, we all have ghostwriters; we’re just less ashamed of the fact than limelight figures.  Rather than writing a logical, coherent piece, even if it’s just a paragraph, we are fonder of posting articles written by others.  Scratch that – we are fonder of memes written by others.