Letters to the Editor
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Blah blah blah
If there were only two people left on this planet, they'd be bickering over something trivial.
And so here's my bit of bickering:
Siegel sounds like a sensitive bore and Bayard ends up sounding like a bore.
I do agree with Siegel about coffeehouses: everybody there sits with their laptop for hours and hours, taking up every available table for someone who just wants to sit down and rest with a cup of whatever. They stare at their screens in a trance. Funny, I have a feeling they're all on Craigslist posting a rant or an personal ad.
The internet has leveled the playing field and everyone can now throw in their two cents, usually anonymously. Few people would post their opinions if they had to give their real name and city as is required by print newspapers if one authors a letter to the editor. So is it a good thing that everyone and everyone's mother can be a pundit? Yes and no. It's more democratic in some ways but there are no zillon of pages out there in cyber space filled with utter crap. But who should judge what is crap and what is good? Editors and gatekeepers? The old ways and the new ways have pros and cons - as most things do.
As for irony and satire: Family Guy and the Simpsons and the Daily Show and Curb Your Enthusiasm are all very funny, very un-PC. They are products of our time. My generation (50 and younger) is the most sarcastic and cynical in history and nothing is sacred. No wonder we're like that - the world is increasingly surreal and I think sarcasm is a survival mechanism.
And now I'm done boring you.