From a message board where I post
Jun. 2nd, 2008 07:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceebeegeeSomebody posted:
I don't think I can adequately express how much I hate reader comments, though. In my opinion, *that* is the story (and I'll read that Traister article as soon as I get a chance.) The mob mentality. The sheer unadulterated viciousness. I just absolutely hate it. I was reading a story on a newspaper website about a 29-year-old reporter who killed himself. Wouldn't you know that one of the first comments, like maybe within the first five, was someone talking about what an asshole coward he was?
This is why I really hold back on the piling on of the likes of Linday Lohan and Paris Hilton. The sheer nastiness that pervades so much public discourse now is poisonous and it bothers me. It really bothers me. I posted in reply:
I subscribe to New York Magazine which stopped running LTTE, which I really miss. I thoroughly enjoy a well-crafted LTTE; it's like a brief or a thesis to me, how can you argue your point elegantly? I've had a few LTTE printed myself and I've always been proud of that; now New York Magazine reports on the Comments section with quotations and summaries. Most of the comments are interesting--they must moderate it--but some of them make me sad. They had an article a couple of issues ago about a 15-year-old Russian girl whose millionaire father is pushing her as a fashion brand--her particular style is the basis for a chain. The girl was like any other 15-year-old--a little dizzy, naive, sweet, obsessed with pink, there was nothing objectionable about her. Some of the comments were pretty critical though and it just struck me as hitting a mosquito with a mallet. I mean, what is the point of saying nasty things about her nose? Or calling her a bimbo? She's just a kid. It's mean. She seemed very sweet nonetheless, and I just hoped she wasn't reading the comments.
Why is there so much gratuitous shittiness? So much pointless viciousness and tearing down? Why is so much of it directed toward women, and so much of it from women? Why are women so hard on starlets and why is appearance picked apart so badly? Why are women so proud of disliking other women and seem so eager to say "my best friends are all men" and "other women dislike me"? Why is it when a man cheats, he gets off easy and the "other woman" gets called a whore--and why are women so quick to use that term anyway? Why do women on the red carpet get slammed for the stupidest of things (again, usually by other women), but the men can show up in almost anything? Why is it no matter what weight a female celebrity is, it's the wrong one? Why do Paris and Lindsay get so much more attention of all kinds, but overwhelmingly negative kind, from the press? I mean, who are we kidding, there are tons of male stars out there who act just as foolishly (hello, Robert Iler, Charlie Sheen)--why do the women get so much more attention? Why did the media swarm all over Janet Jackson in the aftermath of the wardrobe malfunction, but leave Justin Timberlake mostly alone? It just all sickens me. People really depress me sometimes.
I'm glad I went to a women's college where female friendships were the norm, and not something to disavow. I'm glad that my mother and stepmother modeled healthy female friendships for me, and didn't habitually tear down other women. Sometimes I think I grew up in a charmed environment--I wasn't prepared for how nasty some women can habitually be to other women, how pointlessly competitive. I don't think it's the default setting (and it annoys me when people assume it is, "ooh, all women are catty"), but it's certainly assumed to be.
I don't think I can adequately express how much I hate reader comments, though. In my opinion, *that* is the story (and I'll read that Traister article as soon as I get a chance.) The mob mentality. The sheer unadulterated viciousness. I just absolutely hate it. I was reading a story on a newspaper website about a 29-year-old reporter who killed himself. Wouldn't you know that one of the first comments, like maybe within the first five, was someone talking about what an asshole coward he was?
This is why I really hold back on the piling on of the likes of Linday Lohan and Paris Hilton. The sheer nastiness that pervades so much public discourse now is poisonous and it bothers me. It really bothers me. I posted in reply:
I subscribe to New York Magazine which stopped running LTTE, which I really miss. I thoroughly enjoy a well-crafted LTTE; it's like a brief or a thesis to me, how can you argue your point elegantly? I've had a few LTTE printed myself and I've always been proud of that; now New York Magazine reports on the Comments section with quotations and summaries. Most of the comments are interesting--they must moderate it--but some of them make me sad. They had an article a couple of issues ago about a 15-year-old Russian girl whose millionaire father is pushing her as a fashion brand--her particular style is the basis for a chain. The girl was like any other 15-year-old--a little dizzy, naive, sweet, obsessed with pink, there was nothing objectionable about her. Some of the comments were pretty critical though and it just struck me as hitting a mosquito with a mallet. I mean, what is the point of saying nasty things about her nose? Or calling her a bimbo? She's just a kid. It's mean. She seemed very sweet nonetheless, and I just hoped she wasn't reading the comments.
Why is there so much gratuitous shittiness? So much pointless viciousness and tearing down? Why is so much of it directed toward women, and so much of it from women? Why are women so hard on starlets and why is appearance picked apart so badly? Why are women so proud of disliking other women and seem so eager to say "my best friends are all men" and "other women dislike me"? Why is it when a man cheats, he gets off easy and the "other woman" gets called a whore--and why are women so quick to use that term anyway? Why do women on the red carpet get slammed for the stupidest of things (again, usually by other women), but the men can show up in almost anything? Why is it no matter what weight a female celebrity is, it's the wrong one? Why do Paris and Lindsay get so much more attention of all kinds, but overwhelmingly negative kind, from the press? I mean, who are we kidding, there are tons of male stars out there who act just as foolishly (hello, Robert Iler, Charlie Sheen)--why do the women get so much more attention? Why did the media swarm all over Janet Jackson in the aftermath of the wardrobe malfunction, but leave Justin Timberlake mostly alone? It just all sickens me. People really depress me sometimes.
I'm glad I went to a women's college where female friendships were the norm, and not something to disavow. I'm glad that my mother and stepmother modeled healthy female friendships for me, and didn't habitually tear down other women. Sometimes I think I grew up in a charmed environment--I wasn't prepared for how nasty some women can habitually be to other women, how pointlessly competitive. I don't think it's the default setting (and it annoys me when people assume it is, "ooh, all women are catty"), but it's certainly assumed to be.
