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New York, 1:32 AM
Thu Nov 12
59 posts in the last 24 hours
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10/19/09
Magazines, a beautiful medium we'll all miss much too late. #condenast
10/19/09
10/19/09
Probably the doorman. #condenast
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10/19/09
Oh yeah, paperless, that's when we started recycling before the paper even came out. #condenast
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10/19/09
You need to change your name to Schadenfood, because media layoffs are the new Soylent Green. #condenast
10/05/09
He took advantage (imo).
10/05/09
Dave -- call me.
10/05/09
It's the ones who don't and then watch the ones who do get the promotions, plum assignments, air time, etc.
10/05/09
10/06/09
10/05/09
Screwing the boss to get ahead seems like a great strategy in your 20s and 30s. Believe me, I've seen both men and women do it.
But it has a depressingly bad effect on the rest of the workforce, who must constantly deal with the side effects of the bo-mance. Resentment builds, as hard-working people begin to suspect that their own careers are lagooned while sweetie-of-the-month gets the good assignments, promotions and undivided boss attention.
Look, it's difficult enough to traverse the emotional terrain when two colleagues are romancin'. When it's the boss-man (and it usually IS a man), that terrain is littered with landmines, son.
10/05/09
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10/05/09
I know this is hard for some people to understsand, but women are perfectly capable of schtupping their superios without being victimized by the experience. Yes, sexual harrassment and predation exists. But there is zilch evidence that it existed between Letterman and these interns. It is not an inherent aspect of such a relationship, and to suggest that it is just makes women sound like idiots who aren't in control of their own sexuality.
Women sometimes WANT to fuck the boss. It does not make them victims.
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10/05/09
And yes, of course, SOMETIMES that is not what happens and someone is fired or demoted as part of the fall-out from the relationship. But my point is--there is NO evidence that happened between Dave and any of his employees so the assumptions these women were victimized is bogus.
10/05/09
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10/05/09
And, (because this isn't Jezebel I'll just say this), if you look at the situation, in the end isn't Letterman the "victim?" Has he not lost and been hurt in the end? And to suggest that he isn't, because he's a man, is to just further play into the damaging conception our society has of masculinity which doesn't like vulnerable/victim men.
10/05/09
10/05/09
@if_i_only_had_a_heart: In this particular case, the "underling" started living with someone from 48 Hours and continued being Dave's assistant.
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10/05/09
If she's cool with Dave banging the interns, it's one thing; if she's not, it's a pretty asshole-ish thing to do.
10/05/09
Otherwise, these people are adults and I don't see the issue.Not the best idea of course but it happens all the time.
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The cheating issue is between Letterman and his now-wife. It's a little sleazy, but it's been blown out of proportion. Bring out the smelling salts because a rich, famous guy possibly cheated on his significant other? I don't get it.
10/05/09
It has just made me sad that he was, in fact, no better (or worse) than the other guys, and I had really believed he was. I guess I thought he was just better and smarter and more circumspect than what we now know. Y'know?
10/05/09
Letterman spent most of his adult life as a bachelor and has always seemed so cynical and bitter to me that I'm not really shocked to hear he had dalliances.
And really, it's not like he was pulling one-night stands with blonde bimbos. Seemed more like he was dating/sleeping with these women over an extended period of time, and they were not exactly the types I see target for superficial reasons. As for his girlfriend--as others have said, the fact that it took him 20 years to marry her is telling that perhaps committment was not his strong suit.
10/05/09
He isn't an elected offiicial. He's never been a moralizer. I even take issue with calling him a hypocrite -- if you look back at his jokes, they weren't moralistic, they were silly.
I am honestly puzzled as to why this is considered a scandal at all. Consensual sex with at least one woman at the office whose career has never suffered as a result. None of the show's employees apparently had a problem with any of it. So what the hell is the problem?
10/05/09
And I'd say poking fun at people for having affairs does sort-of set you up as the opposite. He always did those jokes with an air of how ridiculous these guys were, implying that he (Dave) wasn't ridiculous. Or again, so it seemed to me.
On a personal level, it has settled into just my own vague disillusionment. It just seems too "common" for Dave to be a 55-year-old banging the 25-year-old; I guess I always thought of him as being exceptional, and more self-aware.
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Letterman has also made a practice of giving employees air time for years, many of them men he was certainly not sleeping with. A lot of people who write for comedy shows have no interest in being in front of the camera, by the way, so again, this might not have been something that anyone cared about.
And if you look back at his jokes re: Clinton and Spitzer et al, yes, he needled them for some of their dumb moves -- Spitzer putting the hookers on his gold card, for example, and Sanford lying about being on the Appalachian trail -- but he really did not moralize.
The revelation that he likes women and often sleeps with them is about as surprising to me as finding out Rosie was a lesbian. The guy was a shameless flirt.
I honestly cannot understand the surprise or the outrage, I guess. It seemed so obvious to me, and no one seems to have been hurt by it, so who cares?
10/05/09