Discussion for article #233231
And at the risk of romanticizing the analog relationships of yore,
I would argue that the modern method is unparalleled in its brutality.
So, just how romantic is online matchmaking prior to meeting in person?
The impersonal nature of the high percentage of online link-ups
makes an impersonal break-up just as acceptable IMO.
Rather renders comparison of eras and methods somewhat moot-- no?
jw1
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Don’t usually dive into the comments like this, but this is a patently ridiculous comparison. I can’t imagine any explanation for that parallel except garden-variety sexism.
Sarcasm intended for a familiar audience is one I can fathom.
jw1
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How so?
Pardon me, but only the luckiest people don’t feel this sort of pain in life. The rest of us have to deal with it the best way we can. It sucks to be on the receiving end of a breakup and it sucks to be the person who ends a relationship. Maybe there are unempathetic people out there who don’t care about causing people mental anguish, but that’s no the majority of people. However, the premise of the column makes no sense. A breakup is no better in person than via digital means. In fact, it’s worse.
I can’t imagine any explanation for that parallel except garden-variety sexism.
I suspect that’s part of the issue with why these pieces are so bad on a regular basis. And by “bad” I don’t mean some people saying “hmm, I don’t think the author is right here”, but where the near-universal reaction is “holy crap, this author is a complete idiot” (ironically, my reaction to this piece was closer to the former; it was slightly silly but not really worth even commenting about on its own)
To spell it out so I’m not just dropping a turd of a negative comment with no constructive criticism - and to provide some context that may be necessary if you don’t usually read the comments - imkmu3’s comment was a reflection of the ongoing frustration among most longtime readers at the ongoing Salon-/Slate-/Buzzfeed-ification of TPM. In case there’s any confusion, these are NOT regarded as examples TPM would want to emulate. Not that they don’t occasionally produce worthwhile pieces (Andrew Kaczynski at Buzzfeed and Brian Beutler at Salon come to mind), but they’re almost buried under an onslaught of puerile garbage written by people like Daniel D’Addario (to use one particularly striking example) - a lot of contrarian drivel, talking much but saying nothing, with clickbait headlines and text that’s provocative solely for the purpose of getting a rise out of people as opposed to getting them to think.
People come to TPM to get away from this crap that pervades much of online “journalism”, so it’s aggravating to see it spreading here too. The article about adoptees was good, but an awful lot of the pieces on TS so far (and, I should add, a lot of the revived Cafe as well) have been terrible - Kennedy’s “live music sucks”, the one about Mindy Kaling, etc. A lot of them sound like they were written by a character from “Girls” - an insular, pretentious New Yorker who doesn’t have much experience with the real world outside the city but feels the need to preach to the world about how their experience is the one that defines how everyone truly feels.
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