Should citizen journalists care about the English language?
3 years agorkb:
Or grammar? Guess not:
The Internet Age has given rise to digital logarrhea. Blogs, twitters and flikrs all fuel this confessional spirit.
At Harvard, few have been hit by the urge to expose themselves than 20-year-old junior Lena Chen (http://www.thechicktionary.com).
I honestly couldn’t figure out the last sentence even after multiple readings (yes, I know what it’s supposed to mean, but how useful is “Crowd Powered Media” when this is the form it takes?). Not commenting at the moment on the accusations made in the piece, just saying those are some pretty pitiful sentences above.
(via Too Much Awesome)
My take: I don’t dispute that people have legitimate qualms about student-faculty dating. Obviously, there are power dynamics to such relationships that deserve question.
It’s impossible, however, to take this article seriously when it wears its own bias on its sleeve as casually as a Fox News reporter’s comment on “terrorist fist jabs.”
The scolding, slut-shaming language against Lena in the piece masquerading as “concern” and being “worried” about her health don’t speak to legitimate worry.
Rather, the incendiary language suggests an author who desperately wants Lena to get punished for having sex and - gasp! - enjoying it. How dare she! Let’s manufacture a scandal to teach Chen the perilous consequences of blogging about her pleasure-filled, consensual sex life!
It’s so very Sarah Michelle Gellar’s character in Cruel Intentions:
“Eat me, Sebastian! It’s okay for guys like you and Court to fuck everyone. But when I do it, I get dumped for innocent little twits like Cecile. God forbid, I exude confidence and enjoy sex. Do you think I relish the fact that I have to act like Mary Sunshine 24/7 so I can be considered a lady? I’m the Marcia fucking Brady of the Upper East Side, and sometimes I want to kill myself.Yes, that.
