Sep 23, 2008

My Blogger Tuesday Feature, Good?

Goodness, gracious! I never expected to be featured for The Morning Call's Blogger Tuesday. Like any victim of robbery or winner of the lottery, I always considered this to be something that "happened to other people." Thusly, I never paused to consider how I felt about The Morning Call's notoriously racist "discussion" forums or the imperialistic reign of The Morning Call's new owner, Sam Zell. I still haven't fully ruminated the topic and therefore have no conclusion, but perhaps you can tell where I'm leaning from the vocabulary I've used?

What I'm getting at is that I've read the comments on my feature and I think they're great ("great" as in the thrill of actually getting an opinion, despite its lack of constructive criticism, and "great" as in entirely sarcastic). I have been in a bad mood lately, due to the ulcer-inducing* stress of reading 200 pages a night and being forced to withdraw from a course that is necessary for my business minor and a frustrating job search, so take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt. A bitter, bitter grain of salt.

*it is an urban legend that stress is a direct cause of ulcers. I am using this as an expression.

(For your clicking convenience, I will simply copy and paste the comments here. They are nothing enormously inflamatory but I've decided to take umbrage, anyway, because, as I've said, I'm in a bad mood.)

The comments left are as follows:

"Rob - Please tell me this is a joke - if this is how a college student writes, America is doomed.
Bea_Arthur-sweet jesus.'katie bee''s parents should really halt payment on their college tuition checks, especially if she's an english major. this reads a lot like the 'room of jean's own' op-eds at the onion
Triple_K-(in response to Rob) This is a great story if you are a 5th grader"

Now, now, there are several things I find HILARIOUS about these posters' assumptions.

First, that it is assumed that write all my college papers, professional emails, personal correspondence, diary entries and short stories as if I were composing a blog post for a blog that I maintain purely for my own entertainment.

Secondly, that I have two parents and they pay my college tuition.

Thirdly, that I ever intended this to be a great story.

In conjunction with the these is my astonishment with the absolute lack of critical thinking skills employed by the readership of The Morning Call (or, more accurately these three posters who, for the sake of my bitter, bitter rage will represent all MCall commentators). How do they think that The Morning Call selects the posts to feature? Do they think that bloggers get any type of warning that what they've just posted for their small, intimate audience will be republished to an incredibly wide readership? Do they think that bloggers have their own office in The Morning Call's building? Perhaps I am asking a lot out of someone who is just passively absorbing the news of the day, but I think I'm beyond reason right now.

Perhaps I am blinded by rage. Perhaps I have been analyzing too many news sources for too many classes for too long to ever believe anything I read ever again. Perhaps I've just forgotten all the words in the script of politeness.

Three cheers for flying off the handle.

Sincerely,
Kathryn Colleen "Bee"

P.S. - Good ol Katie Bee will be back soon. That's a promise.

P.P.S. - This sounds like a blog war, doesn't it? Man, I thought I was over getting angry at people via the internet when I was 14. Maybe I will tell you all about that, someday. Ah, my days as a teenage internet troll. How moronic.

5 comments:

Blah Society said...

I see The Morning Call hate forums are alive and well. Such a shame...

Congrats on being published. I wouldn't worry about the insults, though it probably was fun to point them out. People always seem to have so much to say, as long as they don't have to direct it at anyone.

Anonymous said...

Katie,

For what it's worth, I enjoyed your post. I notice that the comments made directly on your blog were much more sincere and polite than the criticism you found on topix. It is incredible what people will assume.

Katie Bee said...

It's been a long time since i got angry at anyone on the internet. I had had a baaaaaaad day.

@sarina- the good news is that I am a lot more conscious of when things get taken out of context! Like, I will probably do more research when I read a quote from something now. It is easy to make things sound stupid or radical when you have no idea where the person is coming from! I like the comments from here. All y'all see where I'm coming from. Or at least you half-understand my sense of humor. Cheers to that.

Katie Bee said...

@AJ- the power of anonymity is striking!

Bernie O'Hare said...

Katie Bee,

You were not snarked bc of your writing but bc you are a student. It was a very nice piece and your views give us all a little more diversity.