Letters to the Editor
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I need her to be cranky
I don't really have the stamina to argue with the people who dislike Ms. Havrilesky's dyspeptic articles. In fact, I'd likely agree with them that in reality she's probably a rather unpleasant person to be around. Speaking only for myself, I need her to release all that bile. I get angry as well, but I'm not nearly as sharp or witty as she is. Like many good writers, she acts as a sieve for my spleen. If you find yourself getting upset by what she writes, and moreso wondering what kind of person can write that kind of stuff, then she's already won. She's captured your attention and imagination, even just for a moment. Good writers do that.
Surely Salon never hired her to win Ms. Congeniality awards (if they did surely they would've wised up by now). She's paid to do what she does best: write snarky, snotty asides that make us laugh. And she's been doing it quite well, since her days of doing "Filler" for the the late suck.com. Why, in terms of the Internet, she's practically an institution, ala Dorothy Parker at The New Yorker. (No word as to whether Ms. Havrilesky misses her deadlines going on drinking binges, of course.) The old adage still applies, kiddies. If you don't want to read her, you don't have to. Don't pick up the rattlesnake if you don't want to get bitten.