Abagist
By Mitch Berg
Little Miss Attila on Marcotte:
Actually, deep down I feel sorry for Amanda Marcotte—in the same way I felt sorry for Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s, and Washingtonienne two years ago or whenever: when I was young and did stupid things only a handful of people knew about them.
Now it seems that whenever a young woman behaves like an idiot, everyone knows about it. Forever.
It’s sympathy speaking, though…:
And of course I relate to young Marcotte: the shrill feminism, the all-yang-no-yin personality. The hyper-emotionalism, and its corrosive effect on her writing.
I was like that. Still am, in a lot of ways. But to the degree that I’ve grown up at all, I’m glad I was able to do it out of the public spotlight.
If blogging has done one thing, it’s given idiots, defectives and the grossly immature a forum for making those adolescent mistakes in front of millions.
Although I’d be amazed if Marcotte’s not north of 35.
February 13th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
I hold up my grossly immature content as a badge of honor!
February 13th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Oh, I heartily agree with this. There is a young ‘gal” writing for our small local paper. She started last summer after graduating from high school and is still submitting columns while attending the U of M. She was Valedictorian, so was already used to being praised by all and told for probably 13 years how wonderful and smart she is. She is smart, but “wonderful” you should earn. Anyway, her columns were pretty well-written, and I many times they were very funny, like when they stepped on the toes of some of the local “gods” (ie hockey). BUT, late summer they took a decidedly “leftish” turn and stayed there. Week after week we heard about “idiot Bush”, how we’re all a bunch of small-town ignorant red-necks and how we don’t appreciate culture, don’t know how to appreciate “diversity”, blah blah blah. She’d go on about how she couldn’t wait to get to the University where she’d be surrounded by those who appreciated her views and they could all revel in their superiority together (or words to that effect!). WELL. You can imagine how this went over with many people in town.
Thing is, we’ve all been 18 and KNEW EVERYTHING. BUT, thank goodness, my rantings from an undeveloped mind did not get published each week in a public forum! She got taken down a peg or two by a couple of Letters to the Editor. She still writes, but the tone is not nearly so “sure”….! There’s less politics. It’s fine to have political opinions, but learn to temper you’re self-righteousness with some knowledge before spouting off. Plus, my cousin’s conservative-leaning kid is now on board for some “balance”. He attends Hillsdale and is VERY irreverent (I think you’d like his writing and musical tastes, Mitch!).
February 13th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Holy crap for typos…and one of my biggest pet peeves: “you’re”. Oh, the humiliation.