Ahh, I remember fondly the first time I encountered the term “Whoring Sea Donkey” (WSD); it was in Heather Havrilesky’s earlier piece on “Real Housewives of Orange County” http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/iltw/2007/02/04/silverman/index1.html

What is this WSD? I wondered. Am I out of touch? Does everyone else know what a WSD is?

Reading its (over)use in this piece though, I imagined a15-year old girl in a corner booth of the local McDonald’s pausing, like, in mid-conversation and text-messages, to stare at her fries and having an epiphany: “This stuff sucks!”

Sure, the PussyCat Dolls don’t give us insights into family dynamics the way “The Amazing Race” does; or delve into issues of American business practices the way “The Apprentice” does. It doesn’t even nurture budding sociologists the way “The Survivor” does. But doesn’t it all suck? Really.

I know Ms. Havrilesky is paid to write “I Like to Watch” but is it really surprising that there seem to be just as many people ready “to show” (for the chance of being paid for it) as there are to watch?

The gender issue is a red herring. Come on – it’s for the money (and for part of the money TV executives are paid to get our Attention)… That’s the empowerment these programs are “teaching”. Just what are men and women willing to do – to each other, themselves, and perfect strangers for money? (Perhaps we should leave 30 seconds of dead air each night just to weep over what we’re seeing.)

What line has been breeched that “The Girl’s Next Door”, “Inside the Real Coyote Ugly” or those classic tv programs dedicated to cheerleading camps haven’t already crossed? Is the gripe that a few folks (women) were more honest on camera? Would you be outraged if one of the Hef’s “girlfriends” said: “Sure, I go down on the geezer for a big fat paycheck and time on national television”? Wouldn’t you be kind of relieved? (Just a little bit?) And I’d have been just as relieved if an eager young male “Martha Stewart” contestant had raised his hand and said: “Hey! If I let Martha Stewart use me as her sex slave, could I just take the million dollars now?” (Imagine the shock, the outrage! Far better that young man learn lessons in undermining his teammates and mocking them on camera! You gotta work for that cash, buddy.)

I’m just as concerned about the 12 year olds (girls and boys) watching this crap as I am about us middle-aged men and women (me too, dammit!) dipping into these cesspools for our distractions from wounded Iraq vets, Iraqi refugees, or say, a resurgence in KKK membership. Maybe I’m just getting too damn old, but I see “Real Housewives” and “PCD” less as signs of the coming Apocalypse – and more a sign that I need to pick up a good book. How much more evidence do we need? (Hey, check out Vikram Chandra’s “Sacred Games”?)

"No name given" -- I agree wholeheartedly save one point:

"each of these women made bad choices that they now regret."

How could the author write with any kind of experience, much less self-proclaimed wisdom, if she had not made some of those CONSCIOUS choices? She may want to do things differently these days... but might not stifling others from making those same free, conscious decisions keep them from achieving that same great wisdom? What if those were the "right" choices for her to get where she needed to be (on the journey to her own private happiness.)

I'd feel much less suspicious of the author if there was more of a nod to (embrace of?) the wisdom gained from taking some damn risks in life, rather than armchair psychology about past motives.

Salonite: I think you’re not only ignoring the letters that Cary Tennis references in his response: [the "I Hate You Guys" letter, and… the "We're Sick of You" letter…] you’re ignoring those who wrote: “like most people my age, I have a LOT of hostility for baby boomers” and other honest, very specific, very vitriolic reflections about a particular age group.

A self-described “boomer” set off a firestorm among self-described “Gen X’ers” who have clearly articulated their rage: that's pretty clear. You are right insofar as it is clearly not “latent”; it’s pretty dern manifest.

To simply characterize it as “they started it” is to miss how many people – on BOTH sides – have stepped forward to describe (in great detail) their loathing of a group they classify and critique by year of birth.

Thank you all.

When I first read the letter the “Boomer” letter, I honestly wondered why Cary Tennis chose to address it in a column. “What exactly is the problem here? A frustration with a few co-workers' worldview?”

What a (huge) mistake! Reading some of the more than 350(!) responses to this column, I’m astonished. I work with people ranging in age from 22 to 56 and had no idea the kind of loathing that lurks beneath the seemingly tranquil surface....

The kind of invective I’ve been reading here is something I’d expect to read among warring religious sects or Balkan states that have raped and pillaged each other for centuries.

I hope Cary DOES do a follow up on this article; I’d love to hear about other books/resources that can explain the sheer RAGE and hatred that appears to exist. Is this all simply rhetorical nastiness for effect? Or are these angry Boomers and pissed-off Gen X’ers really waiting around the next cubicle to kneecap each other?

Seeing this impotent rage, among people who seem to differ primarily on how they consume the same things (“would you like a little guilt with that? or do you prefer some cynicism?”), helps explain why so little is being accomplished politically and socially in this country.