On Messy Lives Are Actually Not That Alluring, Katie Roiphe
Well, and also, it's funny that she says without qualification that "the nation is once again transfixed by Mad Men" and that the show has enjoyed "phenomenal success" when in reality NO ONE WATCHES IT. The fourth season premiere got about half as many viewers as a mid-season episode of Burn Notice.
By the way, it's easy to drink on the job when you only have to compete with non-ethnic white males to keep that position. Accomplishments executed against only a sliver of the talent pool are far less impressive than those that require navigating the present-day meritocracy, however imperfect it is. Babe Ruth, that goes for you and your segregated American League, too.
Posted on August 3, 2010 at 5:28 pm
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On Everyone Probably Owes Paris Hilton An Apology
The reason we hate Paris Hilton is not, or, rather, should not be, her sexual promiscuity or alcohol and drug habits, which, yes, are surely her prerogative, or even her wholly unjustified fame, which, yes, is largely the celebrity-industrial complex's fault (not that celebrity media, like all business, isn't ultimately driven by demand).
The problem is that she represents the divorce of wealth from work. She has never had an honest job or created anything worthwhile on her own, and yet: a comfortable life that most people cannot dream of. Inherited wealth is corrupting, and she is corrupt. I know the lyric is ironic, but it's basically true as a moral injunction that "a man must break his back to earn his day of leisure."