Well I'm from the working class, too. And I think what he said was just fine. My father blames the Mexicans and my mother blames the "lazy" black ladies at her job. They are racist and they misdirect their anger towards people who have even less power. So I think Obama's remark is spot on.

Whatever, Joan. You're behaving like a hypocrite, getting angry at the statements that are based in reality. The poor do not rise up as one and enter into debates about global trade. They blame each other, their divorce rates soar and they drink. I think that's a very human trait. And if you weren't sitting in that editor's chair in your office, viewing the world like a distant third-party observer you might still be working a blue-collar job and seeing this at ground level. The despair and frustration on the Bart (San Francisco subway system) can be eaten with a spoon these days and, generally speaking, we turn it towards each other.

Joan, there are days when I praise you and your staff for providing valuable content, for taking us to new places and giving us insight. And then there are days when I get angry because I feel as if I'm being pushed against my will towards your agenda.

What I'm trying to say is that no one is buying it. Plenty of your readers ARE working class and we don't need to be instructed by journalists to be offended at Barack Obama. That is just a sick joke.

You could say that you disagree with his comments. You could say specifically WHY you disagree with his comments. But you didn't! So don't act like the disappointed teacher with the student who's not living up to his potential. Tone, Joan: It's your tone that is often so irritating.

Two things:

It strikes me as odd that no one has mentioned the pretext for the exchange. Blackamazon went to the WAM conference, held a class, dialogued with a variety of people on women in media, etc. This seems like the event that preceded the comment, "Fuck Seal Press."

We don't know what happened that launched that comment. For all I know Seal Press was called out for being insufficiently responsive to WOC. For all I know Blackamazon had a personal exchange with a Seal representative.

But why would the editor of Seal find herself reading this lady's journal if she didn't know her on at least SOME level? To try to get in the middle of this seems dangerous and ill-advised.

Regardless, I actually believe public journals are just that. There are easy and immediate remedies to writing a private journal. You can close it down and put a password on it, that way the people who want to can still have access. Otherwise, welcome to the 21st century. Privacy is a joke. People will find your journal and they will read it. If you want to pretend to have privacy then it is not a good idea to have 30 links on your website, as Blackamazon does. (Links are the manner in which Google finds it easiest to track you, and, of course, the route for word-of-mouth exchange.)

Was it a bad idea for Seal to make their commentary when a private email would probably have sufficed? You bet it was. Was it tacky of Blackamazon to respond with hostility? Definitely.

Seems like both sides wanted a fight and they got it. Like I said, welcome to the 21st century, where even our vendettas are played out over cyberspace.

This is another fine example of how our culture has become increasingly concerned with life as property: intellectual property, creative property, technological property. Everything we can brand and sell we do, and it's starting to get bleak.

This is the real reason for the technological backlash of bit torrenting and open source projects. Enough sensible people in the world know that, regardless of what the law says, you cannot "own" an idea. Americans (and J.K. Rowling) sure are trying, but not with much success. So you can buy into it and get your panties in a bunch over those thieves--Thieves, I tell you!!!--who are stealing J.K. Rowling's hard-earned work. But I think that deep down you know the truth. When we've divvied up every last corner of human society into portions that can be bought and sold then the truly creative and innovative will be thieves, corporations will own us, and mediocrity will reign supreme.

I can't wait for the moment when Salon starts charging the comments section by the word. That way the only people who can afford to have their opinions heard will be those willing to pony up.