The Wreck Of The Megan McArdle
get for showing up
We don’t know whether you’ve been following Little Horseshoes, Girl Reporter, as she explains, and clarifies, and over-explains, and backfills as to why journalism ought not to cover issues of national consequence, and ought instead to be shallow and sensational, so as properly to flatter and entertain an ignorant consumer class.
But hey, here she goes again:
Media’s sacred trust is sadly not a sacred trust fund
Don’t I have obligations as a journalist beyond crass money grasping? Haven’t I been invested with a sacred trust that shouldn’t be held hostage to profit? Indeed I have: to report stories that are factually correct and more importantly, to the best of my knowledge and ability, fundamentally true. But I don’t think that I have a duty to lose vast sums of money doing so–I already took quite a hefty paycut when I devoted my MBA to journalism. I gave, as they say, at the office.
The Atlantic Unbound,
Keened a querulous sound,
As a wave broke over the railin’.
So did everyone else who took their college degree into journalism, from editors on down. Nor do newspaper owners exactly mint money.
And everyone knew,
As McArdle did too,
That the best she could do, it was failin’.
But this is actually sort of besides the point that I was trying to make when I said that newspapers can’t print stories readers don’t want to read. Both my conservative and my liberal commenters have gotten bogged down in an argument about whether it is possible to make a profit selling stories of the kind Glenn Greenwald desires. I doubt it is on mass scale, but it sort of doesn’t matter.
Does anyone know,
Where the love of God goes,
When the prose turns the minutes to hours?
[…]
Media outlets have a very good idea of what people read, and if there were vast unmet demand for [serious] stories, editors would have met it.
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The searchers all say,
If she’d stayed an MBA,
Then ruin might never have found her…
The fact is, tee hee, that we’re doing a great job reporting what people care about, ranging from Obama’s middle name to Obama smoking to Obama’s church, and if you don’t stop whining about torture memos or the financial markets, then you’re nothing more than a doo-doo head cootie queen.
If lust and hate is the candy,
if blood and love tastes so sweet,
then we give ’em what they want.
Hey, hey, give ’em what they want.
So their eyes are growing hazy ‘cos they wanna turn it on,
so their minds are soft and lazy.
Well, hey, give ’em what they want.
already took quite a hefty paycut when I devoted my MBA to journalism
Oh, one of the self-martyred.
Then there’s the “not choosing a career path where she’d make more money is not a paycut” stupidity. What a vaccuous, narcissitic twit.
And the church bell chimed, an awful lot of times
For each turd dropped by the Megan McArdle.
Every time you hear a bell ring, another ridiculous argument has been given it’s wings.
Not another round of McArdleing please….
May I humbly propose a law, call it Megan’s law if you will: no more than two posts in a row devoted to the same topic/person…
“Edmund Fitzgerald” is such a fucking ridiculously long and repetitive (and repetive) song.
I can picture every move The Atlantic could make
Getting lost in her writin’ was their first mistake.
Sundown, ya better take care
McArdle’s driving down your market share.
[…] Journalmalism The Wreck Of The Megan McArdle […]
I know McArdle is much more interested in the boxer/brief Obama scandal than the boring Yoo writing the new cheney bill of rights and the cancellation of the fourth amendment.
Underwear on a lithe black body is so sensual, isn’t it Meg?
I wonder what the average American would be willing to pay more for:
A) A column filled with the vapid musings of Megs McArdle
B) Giant Elf Porn
Let the markets decide!
Wouldn’t her argument carry a little more weight if the “business” part of the news business wasn’t in shambles? I don’t see how you could possibly look at such a struggling industry and confidently declare that everyone must be doing things right, because it’s their JOB, after all!
I also find it weird that so many people in the media seem immune to the obvious fact that the public hates them. Granted, the reasons aren’t always fair (i.e liberal bias, “you only report bad news!”), but if they can endlessly navel-gaze about trumped-up meta-stories on various candidates’ “image problems” as though those things are important, you would think they would give some consideration to whether their OWN image problems are important.
Whatever she gets paid, it’s too much.
I still choose to believe she doesn’t get paid at all, but is rather the beneficiary of a Make-a-Wish Foundation grant to benefit functionally retarded children who want to pretend to be important commentators.
How does she explain Glenn Beck?
Thanks for ruining that song for me.
Then there’s the “not choosing a career path where she’d make more money is not a paycut” stupidity.
As a self-styled economist, she should at least know the difference between an actual pay cut and run-of-the-mill opportunity cost.
Some of the comments over there are pretty funny. This one, however (if serious), is … eh, well:
If Greenwald wants to go after someone, he should go after ESPN. My bet is that if you compare their coverage of the Kansas-Memphis game to their coverage of John Yoo, you will find that the disparity is infinite. And which is more important?
Gavin,
I seriously thought that the McArdle quote was satire.
Holy living fuck I cannot believe how inane and pathetic this woman is.
Media outlets have a very good idea of what people read, and if there were vast unmet demand for [serious] stories, editors would have met it
Which is why you will never, ever see
any stories about the impending death of newspapers.
Anywhere.
Ever.
Also:
True, perhaps, but for those of use saddled with a Fitzgerald in our names, it was a little thrill to hear it pop up on the radio in the ’70s.
When I suggested to MM that she meet, fuck and be eaten by a huge monster, I thought I might have been too mean. Nope. Skip the fucking and go straight to the teeth, babe.
Which is why nobody watches The Daily Show or the Colbert Report…
Ms. McArdle wants to have it both ways:
– She wants to be respected because she works for a venerable publication in an industry that provides a valuable service to society.
– She wants to make loads of money doing as little work as possible.
I mean, how does someone go from defining profit as the arbiter of value to demanding sympathy because she took a “pay cut” in her choice of career?
As a journalist myself, just because there isn’t a “huge umet demand” for a story, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write it. There is such a thing as a higher calling, you know. And I place quite a high value on things like preserving the integrity of our democracy and economy. Certainly more value than a few extra subscriptions or page views.
Slight correction to my above post–looks like the argument I was referencing was that of a commenter, not Our Sainted Lady of the Hypothetical Paycut.
By the way, Megan, if you ever come to such a crossroads again, TAKE THE MONEY! Really! We’ll be OK without you while you go off to a life of wild success and fortune in the business world *COUGH*shift manager at Best Buy*COUGH*
May I humbly propose a law, call it Megan’s law if you will: no more than two posts in a row devoted to the same topic/person…
But..but the public is clamouring! clamouring! for stories about Megan! We want to hear about her literarly gutterballs, her inablility to quit lighting up those smokin’ observations. Forget about absolutely everything else!! What we really want to hear about, to the exclusion of everything that is actually happening around us, is Megan! Megan!
Why did the Founding Fathers interrupt the workings of the Market and ramble on and on about the contribution of a “Free Press” to an enlightened citizenry and a democracy? Couldn’t you have still sold newspapers and stuff without all this “1st Amendment” crap?
When you’re at a fucking Marriott listening to some junior level Atlantic Monthly flunkie drone on about externalities, you know your life has hit rock bottom.
New theme song for the Giant Elf:
You can’t be what you were
So you better start being
just what you are
You can’t be what you were
the time is now is running out
is running out
is running running running out
You can’t be what you were
So you better start living the life
That you’re talking about
You can’t be what you were
vid
It’s been said many times before, but the revenue comes from the advertisers. They, not the readers, are the customers. The readers–or rather the readers’ opinions–are the product.
[added some quotes and couplets, btw]
When will the stars align for you two? Seriously, she wrote “sadly not” in the post title – she’s flushed and presenting like a randy, blogging* gibbon. Talkin’ at Glenn, winkin’ at you. Look for the “intimacy kit” in the Marriott’s honor bar. “Weapons-grade poppycock”? Could she be more obvious?
*”blandy”?
I discovered Gordon Lightfoot when I was 9. I especially loved “the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald”. I played it over and over and over and over again until my mom took the cassete away. A little too late, ma…
Reading just a couple of lines brought the whole thing back. I apparently still know all the words. Now it will be stuck in my head all day. Curses!
stories that are factually correct and more importantly, to the best of my knowledge and ability, fundamentally true.
And there I was thinking those two were the same thing. I guess not. I assume fundamentally true means something along the lines of Colbert’s truthiness of Twain’s faith…
[added some quotes and couplets, btw]
Arrrr, and some mightee-fine quotes and couplets they is, matey.
Judging by the way that cnn.com has deteriorated since it was unveiled, I suspect that a lot of people in the biz see things just the way Megan does.
People may prefer to read about celebrity mishaps or animals run beserk, but they are paying journalists to present them with information that they need to be aware of. Anyone would also choose a back massage over chemotherapy, but that is why we leave our treatment plans to the doctors.
For a democracy to work, everyone needs to know what is going on in the government. The irony is that people of McArdles social class have an interest in keeping people uninformed, because it allows them to keep us hurdling toward oligarchy.
Hey, anybody else notice a McArdle commenter posting what looks suspiciously like a Complaint Generator letter, at the five-paragraph setting?
Is this our little Matt, grown up and left the nest? Or is this a common polititroll tactic that I’ve just been blissfully ignorant of ’til now?
bulbul, it’s entirely possible to be factually correct and misleading at the same time. Take some of Bush/Cheney’s comments about Saddam and 9/11, for instance – the ones that weren’t outright lies.
As long as you don’t grab the karaoke mic and do that song. Or “American Pie”. If you do either one, you’re a drunk asshole.
to keep us hurdling toward oligarchy.
Puff! Pant! Whew!…
Damn, I just haven’t been training hard enough for this.
“So did everyone else who took their college degree into journalism, from editors on down. Nor do newspaper owners exactly mint money.”
Hahahaha. Yes, Rupert Murdoch is a poor, dedicated public servant.
As the dim bloggers go she was dimmer than most…
Megan may be correct that vacuous gossip is more profitable than serious coverage.
She is certainly correct that, in the free market, profit is king.
The conclusion of which has to be that the free market is not an appropriate economic system for proper journalism.
Saying that no doubt makes me an extreme liberal, and therefore Unserious.
You can Digg this here:
http://digg.com/politics/The_Wreck_Of_The_Megan_McArdle
Lets Digg it up!!
A. Who in the fuck goes into journalism for the money? I made $4 an hour at my first TV reporting job at a small-market ABC affiliate in the mid-80’s.
B. An advanced degree in journalism or communications is usually a sign that you couldn’t find a job after the BA
C. What a twit.
D. Trust Fund kids should mostly shut up.
E. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is like American Pie…you either love it or hate it.
Hmmmm…Giant Elf Porn… Hard core same-sex giant elf porn doesn’t sound so bad actually.
Does she REALLY think there was a clamoring market for, say, stories about breakins at a seedy Washington hotel?
I think newspapaers have a profit margin of about 10%, which is pretty reasonable. The problem is that shareholders bought stock in a company that had 25% profits. Newspapers don’t have a monopoly on the means of communication anymore, but they can still make money reporting the news.
I forget my point
Keerist, that’s a short article but nonetheless my brain hurts. Let me see if I got this straight:
1) Journalists and newspaper owners are broke and barely make any money BUT;
2) If people truly wanted more serious stories then the newspapers would public them because the newspaper owners are such good business operators!
Add in some high-falutin’ convoluted language (like people “acquiring” a newspaper and free is now “gratis”, etc) and that’s the article in a nutshell.
Oh yeah Megan you dumb shit, it’s Pulitzer with a big P you sloppy shit ass “writer”!
oops that’s PUBLISH stores, not “public” them hehe
“E. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is like American Pie…you either love it or hate it.”
Would that make it “Canadian Pie”?
Giving at the office requires an act of charity. So Megan either thinks her “journalism” is a gracious gift to humanity or that she’s done the world a favor by chosing a career as a fourth-rate journalist over money grubbing corporate whore. Thank you, Megan. We’ve not seen the likes of your caring benevolence since the death of Mother Theresa.
I’m a tad uncomfortable being so hard on Ms. McCurdle. It’s kind of like making fun of the disabled. After all, when she took that massive paycut she fully expected to shortly bask in the adoring glow of a reverent readership, cuddle up with her Peabodys Polks and Pulitzers, dance merrily in limelight. Then she realized she wasn’t up to snuff with the likes of Glenn Greenwald. Or, say, Jerry Springer. No, n’even up to turd polishing, talent wise. Oh she tried, she tried, but diarrhea just can’t be made to take a shine.
What’s a girl to do but desperately try to make a case that diarrhea is better than turds? Sure, turds might be somehow more noble but giving THE PEOPLE what they want is even more nbole and what they want is diarrhea!
*snuffle sniff* Leave Megan alone!
PeeJ made me laugh.
The msm is biased left and is going to eventually go out of business as a result.
Recently I picked up a local newspaper at a Dunkin Donuts and the lead story was titled “4000th soldier dead in Iraq” or something to that effect.
That is leftwing bias and should not be tolerated during a time of war. The number of soldiers killed is not news. I served my country in the Marine Corps during Vietnam and not even the papers back then would be so biased.
Instead of hyping the number of deaths the msm should be writing about our success in Iraq due to the troop surge. How about the fact that the Sunni tribes are now siding with America enmasse against Al Queda.
I live in Nebraska which according to http://www.electionprojection.com is the 4th most Conservative State in the Union. And indeed that is true. However even here much of newspapers have a leftwing bias and as a result they are nearly bankrupt in this Conservative State. Nebraska truly is the Heartland of the Heartland so those who write our papers should be very careful to present the news from an American rather than a terrorist point of view.
Nor do newspaper owners exactly mint money.
acg made my point a few posts above, but the real ruin of newspapers lies in when they decided to engage the market and go public and shy away from the families — in other words when papers became part of conglomerations and away from family businesses. Most of those trusts of course (Like the Qualye family’s in Indianapolis) produced terrible papers — but they fucking MINTED money. The Chandlers in LA offer an interesting perspective too. For decades, they were reactionary and made their paper, the LA Times until the young scion Otis Chandler took over. He modernized it and made it a great, worthy newspaper. Again, while making money hand over fist — which is why big companies saw them as valuable properties to begin with.
Eventually, all of the great newspaper families sold out to some extent to go public, the Schultzburgers [spelling probably incorrect], the Winthrops, the Chandlers, the Grahams, and directly as a result they became slave to profit reports, revenue expectations and everything else.
But even still, most newspapers are making money. Some, lots. Just not enough for shareholders.
This, should be obvious to a MBA like McArdle, but then, she must have skipped that class.
That’s a pretty good generic troll parody. I’m not sure you’ve got Matt’s particulars down, though.
The nesting of the wild wordybeast may be preceded by rutting behaviors that are of more interest to insensible observers . A signature “puffed” chest and loudly repeated calls warn off more sensible creatures . Often the sharpest observations of the wordybeast is from captive observers after a repast of delicious noodlingoff .
As it is apparent that the species would collapse of structural deficiencies , they have been reintroduced to the civilised from the wild where they did indeed perish . Included in several organs , which being misaligned inflate at the point central to the central albeit non inflatable point . This has proven helpful in identifying the individual or peculiar songs which keeps their numbers down .
The chances of mating being limited with the painful repetition , prospects of being held prisoner by resentment , the powerful resistance to logic , the more nimble cousins thought and sense often choose to be flung from a barstool into sports trivia before succumbing to the siren call of a wordybeast .
Hear the Call !
And the other reason newspapers are ‘losing revenues’ is because of craigslist. Classifieds were HUGE business for them.
LIke Althouse, McArdle spends as much time posing as she does doing her job.
There’s a difference?
And the other reason newspapers are ‘losing revenues’ is because of craigslist. Classifieds were HUGE business for them.
Darn frugal gay agenda! Destroying the newspaper with their demand for reasonably-priced stationary bikes and casual hook-ups.
Crap.
mcmegan must be the dumbest fucking idiot on the internet.
Newspapers are at a thirty year low in revenue and circulation and this shithead wants prattle on how editors know what people want? It takes an mba to that oblivious to the world around you.
Oh, and now that mcmegan has already broken our collective heart with her sacrifice by going into pretend journamalism, what can we do to see that she takes the first available opening in some other field?
Oh, and the only mainstrea media performing worse than newspapers? Print magazines. Like the one that hired mcmegan.
Heckuva job brownie!
Matt likes American AND Canadian pie.
Hey, Matt!
You know why Kansas is so windy?
‘Cause Oklahoma sucks and Nebraska blows.
Oh, and choke on our national championship, Blow Boy.
With this comment, we intend to express our views about the troll Matt McMahon with gentleness and respect. Please note that many of the conclusions we’re about to draw are based on cogent and virtually incontrovertible evidence provided by a set of people who have suffered immensely on account of Matt’s trolling. He hates it when you say that even without making an ethical argument. Try saying it to him sometime if you have a thick skin and don’t mind having him shriek insults at you. We can show that what goes around comes around.
This is a suitable place to explain how he wallows in his basest behavior. Unfortunately, we’ll have to skip that rather interesting discussion because we have bigger fish to fry. In particular, we need to tell you that Matt has already been able to let down ladders that the hate-filled, termagant, and pudibund scramble to climb. What worries us more than that, however, is that if Matt ever truly manages to stand in the way of progress, that’s when the defecation will really hit the air conditioning. After having read this, you may conclude that Matt McMahon has a deficiency of real goals and offers nothing but cheap insults and banal rhetoric.
“A. Who in the fuck goes into journalism for the money? I made $4 an hour at my first TV reporting job at a small-market ABC affiliate in the mid-80’s.”
Word up. I mean, just effing WORD.
My last pro media gig was as program director/assistant engineer for an AM radio station in a medium-sized market in the Deep South. I made about $11K before taxes in 1986.
So I enlisted in the Army. About doubled my pay.
meg mcardle: the mirror-mirror universe amy goodman.
Was that an intervention?
There is only one thing the left has done that I like. They invented organic food. I love organic food. I shop at Whole Foods all the time. Hey who said Conservatives can’t eat organic food?
The msm is biased left and is going to eventually go out of business as a result.
“Recently I picked up a local newspaper at a Dunkin Donuts and the lead story was titled “4000th soldier dead in Iraq” or something to that effect.”
Lemme guess. You didn’t actually read the story.
“I served my country in the Marine Corps during Vietnam”
Yeah right.
“Instead of hyping the number of deaths the msm should be writing about our success in Iraq due to the troop surge. How about the fact that the Sunni tribes are now siding with America enmasse against Al Queda.”
Or the fact that the military is PAYING the Sunnis to side with the Americans. Or how ’bout the fact that Al Queda violence accounts for something like 2% of the total in Iraq?
“I live in Nebraska which according to http://www.electionprojection.com is the 4th most Conservative State in the Union. And indeed that is true. However even here much of newspapers have a leftwing bias and as a result they are nearly bankrupt in this Conservative State. Nebraska truly is the Heartland of the Heartland so those who write our papers should be very careful to present the news from an American rather than a terrorist point of view.”
Again, no one in the realty-based world really gives a fuck about the opinions of a backward cracker living in the middle of nowhere. Move to a town that has more than a Dunkin Donuts, and call us then.
Does the Heartland of the Heartland have a Heartland where even Gary Ruppert is considered a Godless liberal?
Nobody, but I’m pretty sure you’ll be squawking about liberals banning it from your diet in a couple more posts.
And how you’ve had to supplement your diet with fried snack foods and over-caffeinated soft drinks as a result. Not that I believe there to be anything wrong with it, it’s certainly a food staple of my own despite the comic potential used by this site in labeling wingnuts as habitual users.
Just that people can eat many things, as long as they do so with reason and moderation as their guide, not excess and spiting imaginary figures in their heads.
Theres this one type of drink they sell at Whole Foods thats really good for you. Its called acacia juice. Its made from the acacia tree in the Amazon Rain Forest, Its actually the healhiest berry in the world. It prevents many forms of disease. Hey theres no written rule that Conservatives can’t like organic food. I care about my health thats all and the stuff tastes good.
So Matt McStupid, how far is this Whole Foods from the river?
Roy on McAddled:
LOLzers.
I have to drive all the way Lincoln to shop there. I believe Lincoln’s the only place in Nebraska that has a Whole Foods.
Yes. It’s called Lancaster, Calif., and the hot desert wind makes everyone insane.
I’m from Arthur County Nebraska, which is very remote as the entire County has only roughly 450 people.
Its also one of the most Conservative County’s in the Country. Over 50% of the population including myself are Baptists. And in 2004 91% of the County voted for Bush.
Really Matt? That’s not what the Whole Foods Web site says.
Like I said, it was a decent generic troll bit before, but not very good Matt/Saul/Jason/Bastion. That guy has a lot of time on his hands, he puts some research into it.
“I have to drive all the way Lincoln to shop there. I believe Lincoln’s the only place in Nebraska that has a Whole Foods.”
Then you are truly retarded. And obviously have no clue of Nebraska, much less “live” there.
Stick with Rhode Island, idiot.
Traditional newspapers aren’t going to have huge profit margins. It’s always been this way…the history of this country’s press is littered with failed rags left and right. But the creators and innovators of paper ages past understood this and rolled with it, realizing that a 10% margin can be better than a 20% margin when you take into account the non-fiscal benefits to our friggin democracy that go along with distributing the news.
Obviously you wouldn’t want to go into the poorhouse protecting your beloved newspaper, but it’s not strictly a commodity, either. Its importance is very much intangible. It’s a shame the bean-counters might not realize this.
And this is exactly why I left the Democrat party.
Okay, let’s do it. Let’s question authority. Before I begin, let me point out that Megan McArdle has been trying for quite some time to convince us that children don’t need as much psychological attentiveness, protection, and obedience training as the treasured household pet. I suggest she take this rotting ordure and dump it where she and her fellow obdurate criticasters congregate. At least then we could invigorate the effort to reach solutions by increasing the scope of the inquiry rather than by narrowing or abandoning it, without having to worry that she will keep us perennially behind the eight ball. When asked to mend her ways, she will give people a wink and a smile, but when the wheels begin to turn, it’s business as usual. It’s not just that Megan’s little empire is reminiscent of the French Jacobin Club and its morbid obsession with power, death, and isolationism but also that I once overheard her say something quite astonishing. Are you strapped in? She said that her contrivances are all sweetness and light. Can you believe that? At least her statement made me realize that she is greedy for the well-being enjoyed by others. To cap that off, I’ve never encountered anything as vicious as her musings. Now, I could go off on that point alone, but far too many people tolerate her flimflams as long as they’re presented in small, seemingly harmless doses. What these people fail to realize, however, is that even when Megan isn’t lying, she’s using facts, emphasizing facts, bearing down on facts, sliding off facts, quietly ignoring facts, and, above all, interpreting facts in a way that will enable her to feature simplistic answers to complex problems.
Irreligionism is dangerous. Megan’s surly version of it is doubly so. Ask Megan about any of her cheerleaders who destroy the heart and fabric of our nation, and the sappy, Pecksniffian backbiter will say, “I never meant they should go that far.” Yeah, right. The truth is that I want nothing more — or less — than to get people to sign a petition to limit Megan’s ability to cause trouble. To that task I have consecrated my life and I invite you to do likewise. I am making an appeal to the intelligence of the reader not to be fooled by her demagoguery. For that reason, if we don’t soon tell Megan to stop what she’s doing, she will proceed with her ultra-smarmy, pudibund magic-bullet explanations, considerably emboldened by our lack of resistance. We will have tacitly given Megan our permission to do so.
For those who need very specific examples in order to grasp the significance of Megan’s antics, I’ll give a very specific example: Think for a moment about the way that Megan is frightened that we might address the real issues faced by mankind and encourage others to do the same. That’s why she’s trying so hard to prevent whistleblowers from reporting that she can fool some of the people all of the time. She can fool all of the people some of the time. But Megan can’t fool all of the people all of the time. The bottom line is that Megan McArdle is simply incapable of entertaining an unorthodox idea.
No no no no no. Matt left the Democratic party. Jason … he was the one who was all Christ-y on us, I believe.
And you were doing so well at NOT using the Complaint Generator.
Thanks for ruining that song for me.
Dood, it was like that when we got here.
Thats right Omaha, must have been a typo. Sorry y’all.
Thanks, but exhorting people who are mocking McArdle to not be taken in by her demagogery is unnecessary.
The great thing about the mocking is it might also convince McArdle that the marketplace doesn’t want her product, thereby killing two birds with one stone.
Typo. Right.
The whole attitude about the ‘pay cut’ is the problem. It isn’t that newspapers, tv, ect, can’t make money telling real stories, it’s that they could make more money telling fluff stories. Hence the winger idea that you would lose money telling real stories.
Then you add in the fact that shareholders don’t care about trusts or duties. They only care about making as much money as possible out of their investment.
Plus, the right wing doesn’t want to see the public learn things they don’t like. They just want to give us bread and circuses.
If she’d “devoted” her MBA elsewhere, she’d be rolling in dough, because heaven knows that’s not a totally oversupplied field filled with people smarter and more lucid than she. Hey, just like journalism!
“troll typo” Like the opposite of a Freudian slip.
A pay cut from what? She was a student.
Um, Matt? That place you’re shopping? That’s Hole Foods, not Whole Foods. Hole Foods, famous for their pie-on-a-stick.
Matt, we never said that conservatives can’t eat organic foods. It’s just that conservatives generally seem to prefer having a short lifespan to being called a girl. Not that I would call you a girl for eating organic vegetables. Strapping a thick heavy pistol onto your thigh isn’t a very effective way to fight off toxins. So go ahead, if your frail constitution needs lots of fresh vitamins and exotic botanicals to stay soft and pretty, feel free pamper yourself.
Hey, I’ll bet Megan could give you lots of dietary tips! Yeah, I’ll bet the two of you could just go on all day about all of your fascinating eating habits.
I think Gavin has a taken a fine song, and made it better.
Alright, if for whatever reason you object to using Lightfoot’s song, there’s always “The Wreck of the Old 97.” In this case, it wouldn’t be a choo-choo train but rather an elf 97″ tall.
“Edmund Fitzgerald” is such a fucking ridiculously long and repetitive (and repetive) song.
Yes, but its one hell of a beer.
How about the fact that the Sunni tribes are now siding with America enmasse against Al Queda.
Thought that said Sunni BRIBES…Oh, right. Same thing.
In a Megan McCurdle-polishes-her-nails-whilst-typing-kraft-dinner-recipes world, the gov’t could torture away and nobody would be the wiser…sort of like it has been doing for the past 5 years. If all journalists were like Megan we’d never have to read things like this, and anyway, isn’t ignorance bliss?
McArdle has taken sophistry to new heights that would induce fatal hypoxia in even the most disingenuous, bullshitting gasbags out there.
Clearly she’s full of shit, but even more alarming is her obvious insanity. Only a crazy person could espouse such repugnant views so unapologetically and arrogantly, and with such a complete lack of doubt, self-awareness, and self-criticism.
luneylegume: Very nice! Excellent, even! Beware the run-on sentences, though.
In a major publication, no less.
we never said that conservatives can’t eat organic foods
Personally I am heavily in favor of a worldwide ban on the conservative consumption of organic foods. A cursory examination of the fertility and longevity issues will explain why.
If this be fascism (Liberal) let us make the most of it!
McMahan: is that anything like a McMansion?
Hey who said Conservatives can’t eat organic food?
Jonah Goldberg, you fascist.
One has to assume that poor self-sacrificing Megan’s MBA program must have consisted of a single, bleary-eyed instructor shuffling up behind a lectern and resentfully muttering “supply an’ demand!” before wandering off to fulfill a market imperative for more martinis. Or maybe that’s just all she remembers after getting clocked on the head with a copy of The Fountainhead. Which, to be fair, ouch.
What was it Thoreau said, about men with one idea, like a hen with one chick, and that a rubber ducky?
Meanwhile, Greenspan’s talking like Andrew Ryan again. Wheee.
like kmfg said: Edmund Fitzgerald, yo.
And why hasn’t that whiteboard on the easel been phopped?
1) Get sinecure.
2) Whine mercilessly.
3) ????
4) Profit!!!
Phopped. That’s a new one to me.
I can go home now, as I have fulfilled my requirement of learning one new thing every day.
Sadly, no. It’s called being (g)Libertarian, and it’s about as pretty as a long sequence of meth addict mug shots.
“That is leftwing bias and should not be tolerated during a time of war. The number of soldiers killed is not news. I served my country in the Marine Corps during Vietnam and not even the papers back then would be so biased…”
The above troll forgets that there are folks who were actually around during the late 60s early 70s. A lot of us had a real interest in what was going on in Vietnam. That includes casualty reports. Some of us were there. Many of us had buddies still there. Most everyone knew someone there and we didn’t want rosy rainbows and happy unicorns stuffed up our cans. At home, the nightly news almost ALWAYS provided casualty information. It was something we really wanted to know. I mean REALLY. So, If Lai Khe took a heavy mortar attack, I REALLY wanted to know stuff like How Many of US? How many of THEM etc. The news media usually obliged. If the troll didn’t notice this, then:
A. He/She Warn’t Around These Parts Pardner.
B. He/She Was busy suckin’ on mamma’s gadget
C. He/She Had His/Her Head Firmly Up and Locked.
D. He/She was too busy being secretary of the local chapter of Young Republicans.
I’ll bet my two cans of chicken soup and a carton of Luckies that the troll Fo Sho’ Warn’t No Marine. hell, I’ll even throw in my foot powder and bug juice just to show how serious I am.
Semper Fi Cheesedick Troll
Great Lakes Brewing Company FTW!
Although actually, they’re sort of hit-or-miss. The Burning River is one of the most disgusting things ever, sad to say.
Got it
Now don’t be so mean to the poor blogger-girl, guys.
Sounds like somebody just needs a little helping hand —–
*****
Dear Megan:
Wal-Mart would like to remind you of our highly rewarding promotion program, excellent benefits, enjoyable atmosphere & congenial executive staff; should you ever grow dissatisfied with your current position, we’re always here to help.
Apply on-line or in person at one of our many branches.
We look forward to hearing from you!
*****
——- problem solved.
Holy smokes. Evidently we are neck deep in week two of David Horowitz’ Moron Appreciation
Week:http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/10/islamo-fascism-awareness-week-kicks-off/
I feel bad, but I’ve made no preparations for this special holiday week 🙁 Surely, teh funnay will be rolling in at some point.
Shalom, gentlemen.
Matt’s a really crap troll. Where’s Gary when you need him.
Nebraska has the 38th smallest population in the country. I really don’t think the media needs to pay too much attention to it.
Does Megan just not care what smart people think?
Whassamatta, GeoX?
Don’t like IPAs?
stryx said,
April 10, 2008 at 20:18
And why hasn’t that whiteboard on the easel been phopped?
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/2205/mcardlelecture300copyld7.jpg
It’s actually a little tricky to get the text legible with anything resembling a handwriting font.
I mean, Christ on a cracker, she’s dumb.
She needs at least thirty more IQ points just to be a pseudo-intellectual.
Megan is a hundred different kinds of awesome. You folks just don’t get it. By stripping away any pretense of logic or subtlety from the standard econoconservogliberterian talking points, she shines the brightest of lights on the fundamental dishonesty and moral bankruptcy of those arguments. It’s so stark even a gibbering fool would understand it.
Sadly, she fails to note that many of her readers lack are not even THAT astute.
Also, as long as we’re on song lyrics…
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2008/04/all-kidding-aside.html
Ummm, isn’t a Giant Elf pretty much just a regular dood?
So wouldn’t that be “regular dood porn”?
And, y’know, who’d wanna watch THAT?
mikey
I’d accuse her of sophistry, but I don’t think she’d realize it’s not a compliment
Also, I think true sophistry requires a little self-awareness.
What Howler Monkey said.
That is leftwing bias and should not be tolerated during a time of war. The number of soldiers killed is not news
Plus: That shit is (one of the major reasons) why you’re not amusing, as trolls should be. You’re pathetic as a troll, and pathetic as a person. Well, as a ‘not person’ since you’re more excess human baggage than person.
See little fuckwad, the media is complicit in perpetrating and continuing this illegal war, this stoopidest strategerrific blunder in American (if not Western) history, this blood for oil and powerlust, this wanton destruction of tens of thousands of lives, this ongoing series of war crimes, war profiteering, arghaahgrjhrhh.
And so are you, little dung beetle, you walking argument for retroactive abortion. That’s why you deserve our hatred.
Awesome collaboration, styx and justme.
Looks like McArdle’s been working a double at the stupid factory.
One thing I like about her is how transparent she is.
With a lot of these people, I ask myself, Is he or she really dumb enough to believe this?
I’m pretty sure Limbaugh is just a cynical opportunist.
And I’m pretty sure O’Reilly, Coulter and Hannity are true believers.
But Megan McArdle? Is there any doubt that she believes every word of her nonsense? I find her guileless self-delusions kind of refreshing.
She’s kind of like Michelle Malkin, but with 80% less evil.
doo-doo head cootie queen
And just WHO are you calling cootie queen, you lintlicker??!
You know, we may not be giving her enough credit.
She may be doing for Judith Warner what Stephen Colbert does for Bill O’Reilly.
Are we sure that her column isn’t written by Greg Daniels or Christopher Guest?
See, folk, Megan knows her market, and that’s David Bradley, asshole owner of The Atlantic. Fuckstick bought the mag to ruin it, and probably chose Megan expressly for both her mediocrity, to be generous, and her repugnant views which she deliberately, and knowingly, mislabels as left libertarianism. She’s talked, at length, about conservatives having to stay in the closet in the past, which is to say she knows how full of shit she is, and that is what she’s paid for.
If she ever made an honest argument she’d be out the door the next day.
…Sunni tribes are now siding with America enmasse against Al Queda
WTF Matt??! You are apparently as ignorant and out of it as Huggy Bear McStain! Let’s say it again, all together: AQI in Iraq IS SUNNI!!!!
I think I have a crush on her.
I’d like to date her and tell her some of the propaganda I saw in the slave-era Southern newspapers.
“Did you know that in the 1830s, phrenologists proved that blacks are morally and intellectually inferior to whites?”
“Gosh!”
“And that freed blacks would move north and freeze during the winter because they couldn’t take care of themselves?”
“Really?”
“And many freed blacks would petition the state legislatures to be allowed to go back into slavery because they hadn’t realized how good they had it.”
“Wow! Can I write this down and use it?”
“Sure. And the only reason Frederick Douglass was able to learn to read and write, and then lecture about slavery in the north, was because of the discipline he learned from being a slave.”
“Golly! Thanks!”
And then she could write a bunch a columns on how great slavery was and the blacks are ungrateful but she’s not a racist because she got the material from a real historian.
And when I run out of real historical propaganda, I could just make stuff up. Cause it’s not her job to fact-check or anything. Modern journalism doesn’t want that.
It would be so cute!
…And this is exactly why I left the Democrat party…
And joined the Republic party instead? Asshole.
Ummm, isn’t a Giant Elf pretty much just a regular dood?
Depends on the elf. The Vikings thought elves were tall, so a giant elf might be like a super-giant dude.
Shorter Megan: What do you want from me? My stupid fucking readers want their news stupid. Gawd!
I, for one, am eternally grateful for people like Megan McArdle for keeping the media as hype-happy and substanceless as possible. That way no one knows, especially a few choice posters here at Sadly, No!, that I am, and was in 2000, a Halliburton stockholder. Thanks, Megan! And thanks, Sadly, No! posters, for your happy ignorance! I look forward to hearing more about how dumb and appeasing the Democrats are, and how you’ll threaten to vote for me and my Halliburton stock. My pals Bush and Cheney like you too! Laters!
“Are we sure that her column isn’t written by Greg Daniels or Christopher Guest?”
Yes. Because if it were, every single attempt at humor wouldn’t fall flat like a pancake.
…Nebraska truly is the Heartland of the Heartland of Flyover Country!
Yes. Because if it were, every single attempt at humor wouldn’t fall flat like a pancake.
That’s because you are trying to laugh with her. The trick is to laugh at her.
There is only one thing the left has done that I like. They invented organic food. I love organic food. I shop at Whole Foods all the time. Hey who said Conservatives can’t eat organic food?
DoughBob Loadpants did.
Ummm, isn’t a Giant Elf pretty much just a regular dood?
Would you call this (actually safe for work) example “regular dood” stuff?
Justme Rulez!
Now- who’s got an elven font for a speech bubble for Megster?
Well, I, for one, am grateful that you all have turned this blog over to my 2008 campaign to be the next FDR-style president! Now I know, you are all a bunch of starry-eyed innocents who get swept up into wild utopian fantasies every time a politician marches into town with an idea for a brass band. That’s GOOD, because otherwise you would never see that I’m actually certi-fucking-fyably insane-ane-ane!!!
Hope I haven’t crushed your idealism!
Is there anything more irrelevant than a Nader Hater in the current political environment?
Even Ralph Nader himself isn’t as irrelevant as a Nader Hater. And that’s saying something.
I really don’t see the problem with what she’s saying. What’s not to like about supply-and-demand? What’s not to respect about supply-and-demand? Why should you be force fed information that you’ll never use or care about?
I mean, you mock “Liberal Fascism,” but isn’t that exactly what’s going on here? You want to MAKE people consume something they don’t want to consume. The fact is, the Jeremiah Wright controversy existed because people cared deeply that they didn’t want to turn over their country to an anti-American extremist like Obama. And so they learned this information from the press. It’s how democracy works.
I’m glad Megan McArdle has realized this. I’m glad she doesn’t think she has to bore ue and force stories down our throats. That’s wrong. She’s a good American for noting this.
Exactly! The last 7 years never happened! Election 2000 never happened! Go to sleep, Hoosier! Hush little liberal, don’t say a word. Tee hee!
Is there anything more irrelevant than a Nader Hater in the current political environment?
Yeah I can barely work up enough interest to be apathetic.
There is only one thing the left has done that I like. They invented organic food,
Wrong again, durian breath. The first organic food was invented by my inner child. C’mon – It was supposed to be a joke! Criminy. You condemn a species to eternal hell just ONE time and…
There is only one thing the left has done that I like. They invented organic food
That’s big of you, tolerating the Neolithic Revolution and all. I know being open-minded doesn’t come easy to you reactionary types, but I thank you for accepting that not all change is bad.
Wrong again, durian breath.
Harsh, dude.
People would treat you with more respect if you argued against something that somebody really said instead of relying on straw man arguments.
That goes for you too, Bastion Booger.
And, actually, that also goes for all conservative commentators everywhere.
Dude, thanks for your continual support (support-through-apathy in this case), but if I were you, I’d probably just finally admit I was wrong. Elsewise, you’re no different than the Serious Liberals w/r/t Iraq.
But what do I care; I support the Iraq war, and always have. And you’ve always allowed me to. Tee hee!
The Wreck Of The Megan McArdle
I knew Matt Yglesias shouldn’t have smashed that champagne bottle into her side.
No results found for “Giant Elf Porn”.
Jimminy Crickets! I swore I would fight to the death for you, Mr. Nader, but after the horrible things that you have been saying on this blog, I just don’t know anymore. I think that now I will have to refrain from voting for you – NAY! Actively campaign against you!
Only by devoting every fibre of my being to battling your mighty political machine will I see you defeated come election day!
Hoosier X said,
April 10, 2008 at 21:33
I think I have a crush on her.
Oh man I searched high and low acrost the Innertoobs (OK, Youtube) for a vid of Springsteen’s Crush On You. It would’ve been the funniest evar. Sadly, No video.
All I ask is that you apologize twice.
“I’m sorry for ignoring the truth about Ralph Nader.”
and
“I’m sorry for supporting Ralph Nader.”
And that’s it. Can’t you do that, Hoosier?
“I mean, you mock “Liberal Fascism,” but isn’t that exactly what’s going on here?”
No. Pantload’s book was in the bargain bin at my local book store within a week or two of its release. It was 30% the sticker price when they put it on the shelf. People mock the book because it is the work of a spoiled, talentless hack.
“The fact is, the Jeremiah Wright controversy existed because people cared deeply that they didn’t want to turn over their country to an anti-American extremist like Obama.”
Interesting that none of the numbers reflect such an assertion. Most Americans could really give a fuck about Wright. The story was pushed because enough bed-wetters whine about the librul media. Plus its easy to push; it is relatively meaningless, takes no thought, and requires no investigation – perfect material for the corporate media to keep mouth-breathers like you happy.
Now- who’s got an elven font for a speech bubble for Megster?
I for one am disappointed by the lack of Elven scripts in Unicode.
Oh, great, the Nadertroll.
Hey, Nadertroll! How come you’re afraid to use your regular screen name? I’m pretty sure it usually has a link to your blog.
Bastion, what do you got? It has to be better than this asshole.
Tell me about flyover country…
Hoosier, Don’t feed that troll. It is much more pernicious than Saul/Booger/Gary. It just won’t shut up.
Bored in the role, but he can’t stop
Standing up to sit back down
To lose the one thing found
Spinning the world like a toy top
‘Til there’s a ghost in every town
Can’t make a sound
The corrupt and criminal Cheney regime had nothing to do with it.
ITS ALL NADERS FAULT!!!
Djur and I have this persistent fantasy of starting up a Devo-y punk band with horrible taste. One of our things is going to be a song basically identical to Wreck of the Edumund Fitzgerald about Haditha.
and if there were vast unmet demand for [serious] stories, editors would have met it.
Argumentum ad voodoo economicum.
If something doesn’t exist, it’s because it doesn’t need to. We know this because, if it needed to exist, someone would have done it already. It’s like the Dao of Ayn Rand, if it stuck its head up its ass and tied itself into a knot.
This is why mankind has enjoyed the convenience of drive-thru eateries since the dawn of time.
.
Yep, and I have nothing to do with Cheney! I’m not a Halliburton stockholder at all.
There is only one thing the left has done that I like. They invented organic food,
Just because your wife doesn’t give head doesn’t mean we don’t have a LOT more to thank the left for.
.
Man, reading some of the comments on Megan’s blog almost makes me feel sorry for her. I haven’t seen such a string of nasty comments on a blog since the last time I read a Swampland post by Joe Klein.
Was that the munitions boat that exploded and destroyed that whole town in Newfoundland?
Was it freakin’ Scott Adams or someone who noted that journalists can either:
a) spend days pounding the pavement, working their sources, nailing down information, researching libraries and directories and knocking on doors to get a story; or
b) just write what people tell them
…and that both methods pay the same?
Megs is living proof that the system works, dammit!
OT: sublime irony or supreme idiocy? You be the judge…
It’s a junky dream makes you so uptight
Yeah, it’s Halloween tonight and every night
Hear you scratch your skin
Your sandpaper throat
You’re a symphony, man, with one fucking note
I’m hoping ‘sublime irony’.
Also OT…
Looks like Jake “That ass” Tapper is bringing out the big guns on Obama: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/somebody-call-a.html
Wow is right. At you being unable to comprehend a figure-of-speech, smart guy.
And of course, Glenn Reynolds linked to Tapper’s screed. Twice.
Jake Tapper is merely being intentionally obtuse. It prevents him from having to explain how the Wright story actually matters. Just like Obama ordering a ham sandwich is proof of the fact that he is hiding his idenity as a stealth muslim. He has to keep his corporate masters happy by spoon feeding idiocy to Bastian Booger / Gary / Saul et al.
Mr. Nader Hater
If you don’t pay your bill soon, you are going to run out! I can’t extend you credit forever!
The conservatives and the Iraq War supporters, they have good cash money for my high-quality straw men. Why should I keep you on as a charity case, eh?
I miss
BruceSaul.Tapper also appears to be censoring his comments so that only supportive remarks remain, which would be his right as a blogger were he not doing so as a paid employee of ABC News, on their website. Interesting, and disgusting.
Calling Obama objectively anti-semitic is ok there, challenging that meme is not.
OT: sublime irony or supreme idiocy? You be the judge…
Well, we will just have to find a Tibetan-American who can sweep the swimming events.
Jake Trapper is a World Class Ass Hat who occasionally says something sensible.
Why wouldn’t he censor his comments?
Was that the munitions boat that exploded and destroyed that whole town in Newfoundland?
For sufficiently large values of Newfoundland.
Ol’ Jake Tapper (hmm, never before realized what was in his name) could never decide between turd-polishing and diarrhea smearing. For a guy whose forté is mediocrity, at least he seems to bemaking a definitive move.
DAMN YOU AND DAMN YOUR PREVIEW TO HELL!
PeeJ – the heston thread was last week…
Is there a difference between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland?
Aren’t they both French?
I would like to echo Peej’s sentiments, but replace the work ‘preview’ with ‘goddam fucking snowstorm’.
Is there a difference between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland?
Aren’t they both French?
I had an American History teacher who used to tell us that if Quebec every became independent, the Atlantic provinces would have to become part of the US. He was very convinced of that fact. He also said that if we allowed the Southwest to continue to Mexicanize, we would have the same problem in a few years.
He also taught civics, but I never signed up for it.
my fourth grade teacher made us all memorize “the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald.” thanks for reconfirming my faith in my own long-term memory.
doo, doo doo doo doo doo doo doo. doo, doo doo doo doo doo.
Pedestrian, did he ever mention having Medved as a civics student in the past? Or any other prominent or sub-prominent Republicans? It would explain so much about their understanding of history, law and the Constitution.
I think McMegan has done a fine job of explaining why good journalism is a public good, and therefore why the media must be nationalized. Of course, I doubt she’d be happy to recognize that her intellectual weaponry has backfired, but what are you gonna do?
Tapper also appears to be censoring his comments so that only supportive remarks remain, which would be his right as a blogger were he not doing so as a paid employee of ABC News, on their website.
I saw a negative remark disappear right after my post went into the TypeKey spam bucket. Pretty pathetic of Jake “Ass” Tapper and the crew.
Nope, the ship that blew up in New France was the Mount Blanc.
And it was French.
Heh. Indeed.
Way back-thread, someone linked “Complaint Generator” and the link didn’t go to the CG! It went to a possible product of the CG. As my way of making the world a little better, here is a link to the Complaint Generator.
You’re welcome.
People generally have strong views about Matt McMahon. I guess I should start by saying that McMahon might have been in a lethargic state of autointoxication when he said that people are pawns to be used and manipulated. More likely, perhaps, is that I no longer believe that trends like family breakdown, promiscuity, and violence are random events. Not only are they explicitly glorified and promoted by McMahon’s uncivilized views, but if he gets his way, none of us will be able to look into the future and consider what will happen if we let McMahon address what is, in the end, a nonexistent problem. Therefore, we must not let McMahon start wars, ruin the environment, invent diseases, and routinely do a hundred other things that kill people. It behooves us to remember that McMahon lacks the courage to confront me face-to-face. Now that that’s cleared up, I’ll continue with what I was saying before, that if five years ago I had described a person like McMahon to you and told you that in five years he’d destroy the lives of good, honest people, you’d have thought me acrimonious. You’d have laughed at me and told me it couldn’t happen. So it is useful now to note that, first, it has happened and, second, to try to understand how it happened and how the pen is a powerful tool. Why don’t we use that tool to detail the specific steps and objectives needed to thwart his baleful, politically incorrect little schemes?
McMahon’s more than witless. He’s mega-witless. In fact, to understand just how witless McMahon is, you first need to realize that he thinks I’m trying to say that ugly, disorganized publishers of hate literature make the best scout leaders and schoolteachers. Wait! I just heard something. Oh, never mind; it’s just the sound of the point zooming way over McMahon’s head.
McMahon’s policies are a logical absurdity, a series of deductions from a premise that has been denied. Speaking of absurdities, last summer, I attempted what I knew would be a hopeless task. I tried to convince McMahon that I definitely do not intend this letter to be in any way misinterpreted as a personal attack on McMahon. As I expected, he was utterly unconvinced. Still, the issue of what to do about Matt McMahon’s anti-democratic campaigns of malice and malignity is far from settled. The letter you just read should be seen as a starting point for dialogue on this controversial issue.
I see your complaint and raise you one Dialectizer in Hacker lingo:
MCMAH0N’S POLICEIS R S LOGICAL ABURDITY, A SEREIZ OF DEDUCTIONZ FROM A RPEMISEE HTAT AHS EEN DENEID speaking of absurdtiEuis, last summer, i attempTed what i knew would be a ohpEless ask!!!!!!!!!!!!111~ i tried to c0vnince mcmahon that i definite7y do not ntend this eltrter to be 1n 4ny way m1sintaRpreted as a 7aMeRal attaX0r on /\/\cMashon,, az 1 3xpEctted, h3 was utterly unconvinced sti7l, thee 1ssUe of what to do aboutr matt mCmahonm’’s ant1-dem0craTic campaignS 0f maliceamd malig|\|Ity is far fom setttl3d teh lEtt3r u justr reqasd shouold be sewen as a staritng poonit fro dialogue on this conttorv3rsial issue…
How about Swedish Chef?
McMehun’s puleecies ere-a a lugeecel ebsoordeety, a sereees ooff dedoocshuns frum a premeese-a thet hes beee deneeed. Bork bork bork! Speekeeng ooff ebsoordeeties, lest soommer, I ettempted vhet I knoo vuoold be-a a hupeless tesk. I treeed tu cunfeence-a McMehun thet I deffeenitely du nut intend thees letter tu be-a in uny vey meesinterpreted es a persunel etteck oon McMehun. Bork bork bork! Es I ixpected, he-a ves utterly uncunfeenced. Bork bork bork! Steell, zee issooe-a ooff vhet tu du ebuoot Mett McMehun’s untee-demucreteec cempeeegns ooff meleece-a und meleegnity is fer frum settled. Bork bork bork! Zee letter yuoo joost reed shuoold be-a seee es a sterteeng pueent fur deeelugooe-a oon thees cuntruferseeel issooe-a.
Nope, the ship that blew up in New France was the Mount Blanc.
You are going to pay for that insult, t4toby. It may not be today… it may not be this week… but one day you will pay.
I’m sorry, old chap. I thought all other countries were France.
Hmmph.
A Nader-Hater? A Complaint Generator? Poking fun at Giant Elves and Doughbob Loadpantses?
Man, I miss this place.
Oh Hai! MzNicky, you’re just in time for “Sing the Classics with Gavin” here at S,N!
Come on, everybody!
Newfoundland’s not French exactly.
If you insist…
http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/4162/mcardlelecture300copy2ds9.jpg
I’m picking out a thermos for yooooou…
Erm, wow. She writes this shit for public consumption?
Naahhhh, too easy.
A personal admission?
Jennifer said,
April 11, 2008 at 1:21
Made of win.
Over 200 comments and still no Tennyson. Do I have to do everything myself?
It was the journal Atlantic,
With its circulation list;
And the editor had hired young Megan McArdle,
From The Economist
Blue were her eyes as the fairy-flax
Her cheeks like the dawn of day,
And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds,
That ope in the month of May.
Tenny-who?
Here in ‘murka we don’t follow those airy-fairy singers.
I’ll be impressed when you set her to Milton, Herr Doktor.
One of our things is going to be a song basically identical to Wreck of the Edumund Fitzgerald about Haditha.
Ooh. Oooh. Ohhh.
I wanna contribute some of the lyrics!
Me! Me!
mikey
Milton? MILTONinterrobang What can you be thinking? It’s got to be Pope or nothing.
“I already took quite a hefty paycut when I devoted my MBA to journalism. I gave, as they say, at the office…”
Or then again, if my MBA-possessing informants are to be trusted, Megan found out that her undisputed talents for arse-kissing & smarm were rather less valuable to genuine employers than to her former professors (even if those professors were tenured at a really high-ranking school!!!). “Advanced courtiership skills are part of the entry exam, not the finals, Ms. McArdle” : the requirements are higher when you want *them* to pay *you*.
Having failed to make the team, McArdle was reduced to joining the cheerleading squad, which garners neither the remuneration nor the respect but which does allow participants to prance about wearing the company colors in front of a captive audience. And the gig permits her to cherish the defiant delusion that the people screaming in the stands are interested in her “intellect”, not in her… opinions-which-she-is-shaking. After all, serious people would hardly be interested in the “scores” of all those “games”, which they could just as easily get for free on their wireless laptops, so it must be Megan’s Thots which compel all those spectators to buy expensive tickets!
Whassamatta, GeoX?
Don’t like IPAs?
The Commodore Perry is okay. I dunno why I hate the Burning River so much…but I do.
There may not be any Giant Elf Porn, but there is this:
http://www.elfporn.com/
I added Megan to my League of Extraordinary Bloggers. (She is being eyed by Althouse.) And to think that I’d never heard of her until recently….
As usual, McArdle can’t be bothered by any research. Numerous polls within the past year show, for example, that a majority of the public feels the media spends too much time on the shallow, gossipy crap. Really, isn’t every McArdle post an ill-informed, incoherent blatherfest about how everything’s just peachy-keen the way it is (apart from giving the rich more money, perhaps) and making the world a better place goes against the public interest natural libertarian order?
Protip: the ABC intern in charge of deleting comments that evince insufficient gratitude for Tapper’s hard-charging journalism doesn’t know how to ban people, so you can just keep resubmitting ’em to your heart’s content.
Oh, almost forget, there’s one prerequisite: you have to be really, really bored.
Ban the Bulverists!
Muffled sounds of the Editors shouting with his head up his ass.
Although The Editors wants nothing less than to prime the pump of libertinism, I want this letter to speak a language of reconciliation, not retaliation. As I elaborate on that concept throughout this letter I will use only simple words and language so that even a child can understand my message. Yes, even a child should know that what I just wrote is not based on merely a single experience or anecdote. Rather, it is based upon the wisdom of accumulated years, spanning two continents, and proven by the fact that The Editors’s contentious attempts to make me the target of a constant, consistent, systematic, sustained campaign of attacks are well-nigh unforgivable. But let’s not lose sight of the larger, more important issue here: his mischievous maneuvers. What I find frightening is that some academics actually believe his line that the best way to serve one’s country is to besmirch the memory of some genuine historic figures. In this case, “academics” refers to a stratum of the residual intelligentsia surviving the recession of its demotic base, not to those seekers of truth who understand that certain facts are clear. For instance, I no longer believe that trends like family breakdown, promiscuity, and violence are random events. Not only are they explicitly glorified and promoted by The Editors’s subhuman whinges, but there are two related questions in this matter. The first is to what extent he has tried to yield this country to the forces of darkness, oppression, and tyranny. The other is whether or not the main dissensus between me and The Editors is that I insist that we are now stuck with a crude nihilism bearing a human face — that of The Editors. He, on the other hand, contends that he has a “special” perspective on immoralism that carries with it a “special” right to waste everyone else’s time.
The ultimate aim of The Editors’s expositions is to restructure society as a pyramid with The Editors at the top, The Editors’s lickspittles directly underneath, sententious weirdos beneath them, and the rest of at the bottom. This new societal structure will enable The Editors to subjugate persons of culture, refinement, and learning to slovenly, ornery sadistic-types, which makes me realize that I would never take a job working for him. Given his foul-mouthed, morally crippled ultimata, who would want to? I guess I can’t blame him for wanting to test another formula for silencing serious opposition. After all, as our society continues to unravel, more and more people will be grasping for straws, grasping for something to hold onto, grasping for something that promises to give them the sense of security and certainty that they so desperately need. These are the kinds of people The Editors preys upon. After watching his agents provocateurs hammer a few more nails into the coffin of freedom, one might conclude that The Editors et al. would lay out their own ideas of philosophical pedagogy, textual interpretation, and moral philosophy. Surprisingly, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, difficult times lie ahead. Fortunately, we have the capacity to circumvent much of the impending misery by working together to reveal the truth about The Editors’s conjectures. Our goal must now be to insist on a policy of zero tolerance toward Bulverism. If you believe that that’s a worthwhile goal, then I can unequivocally use your help. Let me hear from you.
more paleotrolls please!!
Shouldn’t that be “vested?”