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New York, 5:52 AM
Tue Nov 24
46 posts in the last 24 hours
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03/24/09
03/24/09
03/24/09
His "argument": Your reputation is a matter of what you think about yourself, not what other people think about you.
Clearly, he doesn't understand his own medium.
Long ago, I sent him an thoughtful, respectful email about some other stupid-ass thing he'd said and got a short, dismissive, flippant email. Fortunately, it wasn't about my drug-addled relatives.
I didn't read this article because I swore off Slate some time ago.
03/24/09
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"How dare you minimize this. My beloved [insert name here} died from [insert drug here]."
Everyone has this experience. Your having a frank, honest and rational discussion when someone breaks down and screams "You don't know anything! It happened to me [or their mother/father/sister/brother]"
At this point any useful discourse is impossible. You spend the next 15 minutes calming down someone you don't even like very much.
The only thing I don't agree with, is saying what he did at the end of the column. Not beccause I don't agree, but as someone reporting on the media, he should know that by requesting fewer of something from an emotional group, he will be inundated with what he was trying to aoid.
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03/24/09
But doesn't a banal reply like that -- whether Twittered or not -- sound just as putz-y, if not more?
At the least, I would suggest that there's something seriously lacking in that response too -- and that we're all better off if what's considered the "standard" reply is the truthful one, even if that means someone's feelings get temporarily hurt.
Yeah, I'm absolutely no good at funerals.
03/24/09
03/24/09
Got any left?
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03/24/09
Or, in the alternative: First I defend Cary Tennis, now Shafer: Maybe I'm just Slate's bitch. (Hi there, Emily Yoffe! More videos, please!) I can think of worse dominatrices to wear the tight pants and leather collar for, though - so I'm at peace with that analysis too.