Tuesday, December 23, 2008

It's Over!

 
Never mind the honeymoon, the whole bloody thing is off.

I've been on the brink of dropping The Huffington Post from my daily reading/list of sources for a few weeks now, but yesterday's retarded lead piece did it. As I read through, my blood started boiling. You know, figuratively an' all. This kind of mindless fluff is for the likes of the National Enquirer or People magazine--definitely not my cup of reading tea. It's quite a shame; Arianna started off on the right foot on May 9, 2005 when she launched the site billed as an "intellectual blog," but something has gone awry the last six months in particular.

A scroll down through the initial couple dozen comments accompanying this piece finds nothing but "oohs" and "aaahs" and "Man, I'd do him" - type declarations. Not to be a prude, but I truly was expecting at least a handful of people basically calling Arianna on the shit of a story this truly is. No suh, nothing even remotely close. We're neck-deep into a devastating recession, industry going down le proverbial toah-leh, and people are more interested in O's perfectly-sculpted man tits and gym habits. Holy Time To Recalibrate Your Priorities, Batman!

This is the usual, infernal mantra of news outlets "giving the people what they want" bullshit. Numbers, kids, numbers! Right? For shits and giggles, how about giving the reader quality, fact-checked journalism? Actually SET THE AGENDA instead of feeding the mediocre tastes of the masses who are willing to swallow anything you hand out anyway. Why not serve some real meat and potatoes?

So then...that's that. We're through, the two of us. I'm breaking up with The Huff Post. To paraphrase George Costanza: (S)wine has hand, baby! And there's nothin' anybody can do about it.

5 comments:

Verdant Earl said...

I've found that I stopped reading it as soon as Obama won the election. I check in now and again, but I never find anything I really want to read. Sad.

Anonymous said...

haha you're better off on your own anyway. :)

i'm tired of publications resorting to this tabloid crap. i'm starting to notice it on treehugger.com (Discovery) as well, where i used to rely on decent info that i hoped was free from 'greenwashing'...sigh.

Joe said...

For me, it was kind of like Air America. I loved the idea, but the reality didn't really do anything for me. As with A.A., I guess I'm happy knowing it's out there, but I do not partake.

anna said...

Is it okay if the venerable New York Times treads similar waters?

I'm willing to give the Times a pass because I've done nothing but fantasize about Hawaii for the past week of shoveling myself out from under snow. There's definitely something about that state (especially anywhere but Honolulu) that calms the mind.

Erin O'Brien said...

I haven't been reading either, but I always considered it to be a guilty pleasure.

Sorry about the break-up, hope it doesn't take to long to heal ...