If Music Could Talk

Still216 wrote:

All in all, I was energized and motivated by my frugal living. I recognize that this experiment is unsustainable for a long period of time

This is the smoking gun that proves a) this is an Onion-style subtle satire, as SM suggests or b) she and the editor who "printed" this on HP are fucking out of their minds.

I've been poking around the blog on her site. The whole company must be satire, then. It's loaded with batshit advice for middle- and upper middle-class bozos to "live frugally" without giving up their sense of entitlement. Example: http://blog.learnvest.com/on_the_news/h ... you-money/

Dr. Medulla wrote:

Still216 wrote:

All in all, I was energized and motivated by my frugal living. I recognize that this experiment is unsustainable for a long period of time

This is the smoking gun that proves a) this is an Onion-style subtle satire, as SM suggests or b) she and the editor who "printed" this on HP are fucking out of their minds.

I've been poking around the blog on her site. The whole company must be satire, then. It's loaded with batshit advice for middle- and upper middle-class bozos to "live frugally" without giving up their sense of entitlement. Example: http://blog.learnvest.com/on_the_news/h ... you-money/

Oh, so she's basically subverting the "simple living" meme. Kind of like Real Simple magazine did, way back when. The entire point of the "simple living" principle WAS that it was truly sustainable, and here's this writer, a supposed expert in the field, throwing out a quote like "this experiment is unsustainable for a long period of time". In my sleep, I could pull up ten documented stories online proving that it's sustainable as hell, and well beyond just packing lunch instead of paying $22 for it. Which brings up the point - who is her audience? Upper-middle class baby boomers hit with ennui but unwilling to sacrifice anything for more than a day? Hey, that's as profitable an audience as any. More so than people who actually do practice simple living, for sure.

Still216 wrote:Which brings up the point - who is her audience? Upper-middle class baby boomers hit with ennui but unwilling to sacrifice anything for more than a day? Hey, that's as profitable an audience as any. More so than people who actually do practice simple living, for sure.

Yeah, my guess is that her target is Boomer and Xer yuppies who want to pretend that they're also socially conscious and responsible. Oprah viewers. Fashionable liberals. Female Sex and the City obsessives (I'm blanking on a male equivalent).

Not to prolong this unnecessarily, but I just re-read it to tell the missuz, and she's edited the piece, lowering some of her initial cited expenses—from $32.50 to $22.50 for the take out, from $80 to $60 for incidental expenses—and removed the ending where she says that it'd be impossible to do this regularly to something about changing her routine. She also removed all the criticism from the comments. No way this was satire.

Dr. Medulla wrote:Not to prolong this unnecessarily, but I just re-read it to tell the missuz and she's edited the piece, lowering some of her initial cited expenses—from $32.50 to $22.50 for the take out, from $80 to $60 for incidental expenses—and removed the ending where she says that it'd be impossible to do this regularly to something about changing her routine. She also removed all the criticism from the comments. No way this was satire.

Is offensively blinkered ignorance reason enough to wish someone ends up scrambling on the street trying to find dumpster change?

Earlier today I had the same thought as SM, but the editing makes me suspicious.

re: Still--Upper upper middle class, maybe. Even rich doctors wouldn't be so shameless. Stinks of the bourgeoisie to me.

eumaas wrote:re: Still--Upper upper middle class, maybe. Even rich doctors wouldn't be so shameless. Stinks of the bourgeoisie to me.

It's just another form of slumming—taking the circumstances of most and turning it into something for the well-to-do to pat themselves on the back for imitating. Bragging that you made breakfast for yourself? Walking a mile to work rather than take a cab? How oblivious do you have to be to announce to the world that this is some kind of revelation that others need to be aware of?

Dr. Medulla wrote:

eumaas wrote:re: Still--Upper upper middle class, maybe. Even rich doctors wouldn't be so shameless. Stinks of the bourgeoisie to me.

It's just another form of slumming—taking the circumstances of most and turning it into something for the well-to-do to pat themselves on the back for imitating. Bragging that you made breakfast for yourself? Walking a mile to work rather than take a cab? How oblivious do you have to be to announce to the world that this is some kind of revelation that others need to be aware of?

I could understand if it was a blog, but someone at Huff Post signed off on this being published on their site? Maybe that's the real satire - someone there saw this and said "No way. We HAVE to get this brilliant obliviousness out there." Probably I'm overthinking it.

Eumaas - yeah, if there's anyone flying the flag for shamelessness, it's someone in investment banking.

Still216 wrote:I could understand if it was a blog, but someone at Huff Post signed off on this being published on their site? Maybe that's the real satire - someone there saw this and said "No way. We HAVE to get this brilliant obliviousness out there." Probably I'm overthinking it.

I'm actually a little unclear on the editorial policies of HuffPo. Does someone actually approve each piece which gets published on the site? I thought a lot of writers were given more leeway to post whatever the hell they wanted.

I guess it still is kinda goofy that this person is even a writer there, regardless.

I know it's like shooting fish in a barrel, but a takedown of Thomas Friedman always just feels so right: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_ ... index.html

Flex wrote:I know it's like shooting fish in a barrel, but a takedown of Thomas Friedman always just feels so right: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_ ... index.html

Agreed. Possibly 103%

Has the IDF ever done anything vaguely improper, according mainstream American media figures? I can't recall where I read this (Greenwald, maybe?), but re-read the events of Monday, but this time substitute Iran for Israel and imagine how the story would be played out.

Wolter wrote:

Flex wrote:I know it's like shooting fish in a barrel, but a takedown of Thomas Friedman always just feels so right: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_ ... index.html

Agreed. Possibly 103%

And this putz won the Pulitzer? Must have been an off year. Someone gave me "The World Is Flat" - or whatever it's called - for Christmas one year. I didn't make it past page twenty before I threw up in my mouth and returned it for a couple of lesser Martin Amis novels.

If there's another event that serves as a better metaphor, I don't know it:
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn ... index.html

eumaas wrote:If there's another event that serves as a better metaphor, I don't know it:
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn ... index.html

Oh yeah, I read that. Jesus, fuck our reporter corp.