The Consolidated "Slate Is Stupid" Thread

[jm]

"Here are all the ways people think your shit is dumb this week:"

[Lucy]

Well yeah.  I mean, it's not even advice.

Yo can we get an email address for these people and just start sending them these threads in email digest form?

This is easily the third post today (and I've been on LPTJ for approx 10 mins) that I've wished there was a "Like" button for. Facebook is ruining me, and I don't use Facebook that often either!

[RoyBiggins]

In my day, we just quoted things.  FOR TRUTH.

[Lucy]

Gosh. You are so right. I mean...QFMFT.

[FreddyKnuckles]

I mean, I guess if you're asking slate for advice about your marriage you've probably got it coming, right?

[Lucy]

Not her smartest move, but still...I think we could easily come up with better advice. Can we get a column somewhere called Ask LPTJ? Let's crowd-source that shit!

Though I guess it would just be a lot of PIHB/HTS/Smell Her Hair after a while...

[davy]

Can we get a column somewhere called Ask LPTJ?

I thought we had one of these.

[Lucy]

If its just on the board, it doesn't count. The masses are counting on us!

[FreddyKnuckles]

I mean, that lady's in a real pickle and if she were posting for advice here I think it would be a motherfucker to try and respond to.

[heather]

PIHB?

[Maaik]

let the man do a thing

[FreddyKnuckles]

I would advise her to come out with it all.  Cause if it turns out he ain't gay, then he'll alienate his friend and she'll have him all to herself...

[dieblucasdie]

Well, it's pretty clear that the actual problem is not that he has a friend that he's close with, it's that she feels distant from him, and like he doesn't communicate with her.  That's what she should talk to him about.  Not the, like, 1% chance that this is a gay relationship.

[auto-da-fey]

before reading this, I am proud to say I had been Prudie- and Cary Tennis-free for at least two months. kind of jonesing now though, have a fear I'm gonna fall off the wagon, cast aside the mountain of work I need to get through today, and just plunge into the archives and read all the way back. fuck.

[hannah]

Well, it's pretty clear that the actual problem is not that he has a friend that he's close with, it's that she feels distant from him, and like he doesn't communicate with her.  That's what she should talk to him about.  Not the, like, 1% chance that this is a gay relationship.

So what's the harm in them all watching Brokeback Mountain together? Worst thing that happens, they see a great movie!!!!

[dieblucasdie]

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201011100021

Some ace reporting there.  Re-victimization of abuse survivors, and for-the-cheap-seats xenophobia, both crammed into the form of a hack trend-piece.  Bravo, Slate.

[Greg Nog]

Literally the single dumbest article that has ever been in Slate:

Why come no Republican scientists?

[elpollodiablo]

The way I figure it, there are two wheels in the Slate offices. Spin one, it provides the topic: Afghanistan, bias in the sciences, single motherhood, coffee, Woody Allen, etc. Spin the other, it provides a bit of obstinate contrariness that you can dress up as an original thought: "...doesn't actually matter," "...actually makes things worse," "...isn't worth as much as you thought," "...is a big problem," etc. Then there's a form you fill out with the rest of the relevant information, send it off to Plotz, and done.

[Greg Nog]

I recently came across this online, and feel like it sums up Slate pretty well:

Slate is usually prone to audacious contrarianism ... A perfect Slate article is, in my mind, titled "Should We Really Care about Homeless People?" The author (journalist?) would interview a few neuropsychologists about empathic response and maintain some modicum of journalistic integrity by only obliquely hinting that the answer is "no."

[dieblucasdie]

Fuck, Prudence is that absolute fucking worst.

Dear Prudence,
I'm in my mid-20s and in a wonderful relationship of two years with a man I love more than I thought possible. Before him, I was in a terrible relationship with an older man for almost four years. That relationship was primarily sexual. It was also emotionally and sometimes physically abusive. I got counseling and thought I was over it. My grandfather, whom I was very close with, died recently, and I was unable to travel to my family's home at the time of his death. My boyfriend was also out of town. I sought comfort in the worst possible place, with my ex. I feel terrible and will never cheat again. That night, I lost a pair of diamond earrings my mother had given me. I was overjoyed when my ex texted me that he found them. I said I'd pick them up, but his condition was that we have sex. I refused, and he said that he would mail them. It's been over a month. I haven't gotten the earrings, and he hasn't responded to calls, texts, or e-mails. The earrings have sentimental value, but I don't want to compromise myself or my relationship for them. What should I do?
—Earring Dilemma

Dear Earring,
Talk about conflict diamonds! Let's get this straight: Your gem of a boyfriend is out of town at the time of the death of your beloved grandfather. So you ring up your louse of an ex and have sex with him as a form of grief counseling. Although I'm strongly in favor of ending abusive relationships, part of me thinks you and the louse are the better-matched pair.

Stay classy!

[elpollodiablo]

Holy hell.

[peacocks]

Kee-rahst.

[elpollodiablo]

"ZINGER! You deserve to be miserable, you easily-manipulated piece of shit!"

[auto-da-fey]

that does remind me of my own breaking of the abusive relationship I had, that of the self-abuse inflicted by reading Prudence and Cary Tennis obsessively for years. I'm clean for well over a year now, and happy to say that doesn't even make me itch for just one little page hit.

[fishjim]

Cary Tennis is a friend o' mine. But I never read him. Shh.