![]() TWILIGHT OF THE PRESS CORPS GODS! Lady Collins made us think of Carol Leifers old joke: // link // print // previous // next //
THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2010 No Howler on Friday: Were off on a mission of national import; it takes us to Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Federal functioning will perhaps be enhanced. But there will be no HOWLER on Friday. TWILIGHT OF THE PRESS CORPS GODS (permalink): We were considering several topics for todays hurried, get-away HOWLER. We considered discussing Michael Winerips interesting report about the state of Teach for America. We still plan to discuss this meta piece from Tuesdays Science Timesa piece which attempts to determine if gravity is real. (Or is it an illusion?) Yesterday, the Washington Post reported on the citys 2010 test scores. And in this editorial, the editors made a half-hearted attempt to discuss Senator Kyls recent remarks on the deficit. (Senator McConnells remarks werent discussed.) We still plan to discuss Ezra Kleins recent work (one Sunday column, two blog posts) about the way election results can be predicted on the basis of rising disposable income. As Roseanne Roseannadanna said, Its always something! But then, we read Gail Collins latest column, found in this mornings New York Times. Why is our society in such a world of hurt? Why are we stuck in a headlong decline? Its hard to overlook the continuing work of this well-known columnist, a pillar of the press establishment for lo, these many years. Back in 1999, Collins was snarking and sneering and playing the snide at the expense of Candidate Gore, just like the rest of her cohort. By now, she has lowered her sights a great deal. Today, she discusses Levi Johnston, as she did in last Thursdays column. (My Boyfriends Back. Just click here.) Last week, she pretended to have a point. This week, her piece is Pure Snide. We never fail to be amazed by the inanity of this establishment mainstay. Columns like todays should be sent to the Smithsonian. In future centuries, people may want to study the way upper-class journalists fiddled as their society burned. Todays inanity is profound. For six years (2001-2007), Collins headed the editorial board of the New York Times, the nations most famous newspaper. But so what? As unemployment drives along; as economic recovery sputters; as fights are waged about countless real topics; this high lady of the Times opens her column like this:
Thats right! As Americans suffer from coast to coast, Collins writes, as she did last week, about 20-year-old Levi Johnston. And about Bristol Palin, 19. Collins writes about teen-agers. Quickly, the snark and the snide assert themselves, as often occurs with this lady:
Darlings! This lady has read Charlotte Bronte, and Bristol Palin is no Charlotte Bronte! (Lady Collins, who isnt a teen, is also conversant with Twilight.) Bristols story is stupendously unremarkable, we are toldeven as this famous high lady devotes her whole column to it. As Collins continued to roll her eyes at a trio of teens and near-teens, we thought of Carol Leifers old joke. But first, a further sample of a high ladys hauteur:
Darlings! Levi lacks his GED! And his sisterhis younger sisteris just a big silly twit too! Last week, when Collins wrote about Levi, she pretended to fold in a message about the best way to avoid teen pregnancy. This weeks column makes no such pretense. This mornings column is simple snark, from its start right through to its end. In this column, Lady Collins, 64 years of age, clucks and snarks at a couple of teens, and at a big dope whos 20. The sheer inanity of this project defines one part of our age. We cant agree on how to fix the economy, Collins notes, pretending to care (see above). But then, when upper-class journalists simper this way, it aint real hard to see why. For the past several decades, your society has groaned beneath the weight of this trivia-soaked journalistic elite. Lady Dowd has always been their avatar, ever since she noticed that Walter Mondale didnt know who to hug first (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 6/30/10). But right there on the same op-ed page, Lady Collins peddles this nonsense twice weekly, fiddling as our communities burn. We hope shes devoting her body to science. Some day, when science has advanced, science may want to examine brain slices to learn where inanity comes from. Question: What do typical Times readers think when they encounter such columns? Have we all become so addled that we see this as political commentary? Meanwhile, if youre a liberal, well only say this: When conservatives see derisive work of this type, they are hardened in their sense that they shouldnt pay any mind to the world which brought Collins forth. This makes it harder for seek consensus. But can you really blame them? Back to that Carol Leifer joke, the one which popped into our head as we read Collins column this morning: Carol used to tell a joke about the way people pretend to throw a ball, then laugh when their pet dogs are baffled. We thought of Carols punch line as we read todays column. Her punch line went something like this: How far down the evolutionary scale are we willing to go to find someone to whom we can feel superior? For Lady Collins, the answer is clear. Lady Collins is pleased to announce that shes brighter by far than Levi Johnstons (teen-aged) sister.
We hope arrangements are being made to study this lady in the future. Her columns will help our ancestors know how we came to ruin.
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