Jezebel 
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New York, 9:52 AM
Tue Dec 22
61 posts in the last 24 hours
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08/15/09
08/14/09
/over-hypenation
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08/14/09
I've trashed and been trashed by a few people on the internet in my day and will probably continue to do so because some days I am blowing off steam and only half paying attention to what I am saying and other days people are just being assholes. But you know, the longer I engage in all these little blogdramas and whatnot, the more I think to myself: good Christ, I wish we'd just all be a tiny bit more forgiving of each other. Ironic coming from me, you know, but honestly, the swift on-the-attack position is not just psychically draining for the attacked; it isn't all that cathartic for the attacker, most of the time, either.
08/14/09
She didn't get it, which means she's not as smart as she previously seemed. And it was the smart writing that bore weight, if you'll excuse the pun.
ETA: Easy for me to say, not having gone to her website at all.
08/14/09
There's a difference between 'hurting someone's feelings' and resorting to exactly the same kind of base attacks that angered you in the first place. Having not gone to her website, you won't realise that many commentors critiqued the woman and not the argument. Comments about the size of her forehead (one mentioned being able to fit several "size 18" Jezebel asses on it), how hideously ugly she is, and how she needs to eat some pizza and then vomit it back up were rife - more reasoned criticisms were definitely in the minority.
This isn't about it 'hurting her feelings'. It's about the fact that you can't take the moral highground if you're going to be a hypocrite while doing so.
08/14/09
It disturbs me how evil people can be when there's a measure of geographical and technological space between them, whether it's Wilson's sneering dismissal of people who don't look like she thinks they ought, or the people who responded to her with such unmitigated viciousness. It can really wound. People often brush it off, saying "It's just an article," or "It's just the internet; what do you expect?". But shit, man. That stuff can and does hurt people. As Sadie elegantly put it, every single voice has power. Not just Wilson's, but ours, too. Yours. I hope to fuck I remember to be gentler with the world than some of the examples we've seen in the last few days.
08/14/09
08/14/09
It's like Wilson - and the media outlets backing her - are like "Fine fatties, we'll back off, but only because you're SO unsophisticated and gauche that you can't take a joke!"
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08/14/09
Exactly. I really liked her writing (and even bought her book) and was kind of pissed off about the basic tone of the review was: well, Penny's is mediocre but it's good enough for plus sized people.
It was a culturally tone death piece. And I am actually happy that one thing about publishing online is that people won't just stew over an WSJ or Times article on the train. They'll blog about. They'll comment. They'll speak out. Oddly enough, the feedback and the veracity of honest to God criticism restored my faith that we're not going to sit idly by and let someone be offensive for the sake of meeting a deadline.
The Internet: Serious Business.
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