Unwise

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This Chicago Sun Times article would not only have us believe that columnist Laura Washington had never heard of Kevin Smith when she wrote it, but that her editors didn't advise to skip the part about being ignorant of Smith's fame. Where's the upside in confessing to this level of cluelessness? All it does is distract from her message about the pitfalls of obesity and make other journalists ask, "What's her problem?"

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 22, 2010 at 3:16 PM

comment #1

aufche says ...

[Deleted -- banned for life]

Posted by aufche at February 22, 2010 3:28 PM

comment #2

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Cue LexG post advising that everyone who follows pop-culture as a hobby -- and certainly as a profession -- needs to know who the fuck these celebrities are. It's part of their job to know, dammit!

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at February 22, 2010 3:34 PM

comment #3

btwnproductions says ...

She's not a pop culture writer, though--just plain old clueless.

Posted by btwnproductions at February 22, 2010 3:43 PM

comment #4

Ray DeRousse says ...

Frankly, that article sounds like something Jeff might write about obesity.

As far as not knowing Smith, in her defense the guy hasn't been relevant since Clinton left office.

Posted by Ray DeRousse at February 22, 2010 4:00 PM

comment #5

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Her biography at the CST claims she specializes in "media-related issues" among a couple other fields.

Looks like it's time to cross that first one off her focus list.

I'm actually half-surprised she was even familiar with Twitter (she probably figured that one out after a probing article last week where she pondered, "what is it with all this 'tweeting' business?").

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at February 22, 2010 4:01 PM

comment #6

scooterzz says ...

wells -- just fyi, your site is really screwed up when using ie....the fox searchlight ad takes over the top third of the page and blocks everything up to the 'alice' post.... seems to be fine on firefox and opera though..... just passing it on....

Posted by scooterzz at February 22, 2010 6:55 PM

comment #7

MeekayD says ...

I'm sure everyone has had the experience every so often of knowing a lot about a specific topic the media suddenly goes on blitz about. And then the subsequent experience of seeing just how poorly a job the media does of covering it.

I worry that every story that I read where I'm the uninformed receiving new knowledge is as fundamentally flawed as the ones where it's clear I know more than the reporter.

In summary, regarding Laura Washington: "cluelessness" is accurate vocabulary.

Posted by MeekayD at February 22, 2010 7:03 PM

comment #8

Car Parts says ...

Thank you for your informative article! It is always nice when people share what they know and love.

Posted by Car Parts at February 22, 2010 8:23 PM

comment #9

corey3rd says ...

Kevin Smith is old news - what about the guy who smelt so bad they threw him off the plane? Is there nobody defending the right to smell bad? If I want to bathe in cheap cologne, it's my right! that's the smell of freedom

Posted by corey3rd at February 22, 2010 8:27 PM

comment #10

DeeZee says ...

Posted by DeeZee at February 22, 2010 10:49 PM

comment #11

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

Forget cluelessness, how about just plain ol getting the facts straight?

This has become a very interesting yardstick to judge those who claim to be "reporting" on it. Southwest has since admitted that the person who booted Smith had no basis to do it on: he wasn't over their size limit and his fellow seatmates had not complained, which seems to be the 2 main criteria they have for expulsion. Yet almost every mainstream media outlet fucks up the facts and goes for the easy "too fat to fly" default.

Posted by Deathtongue_Groupie at February 23, 2010 1:31 AM

comment #12

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

And does anything suggest the schizophrenic nature of HE better than the first post being banned for life while Jeff's alter ego D.Z was hijacking the thread in the last before I posted?

Posted by Deathtongue_Groupie at February 23, 2010 1:33 AM

comment #13

corey3rd says ...

after the last batch of Cop Out ads, I want Smith deported

Posted by corey3rd at February 23, 2010 4:19 AM

comment #14

George Prager says ...

But she probably knows the name of the current bachelor on "The Bachelor." This seems to be a strategy that many columnists use these days. Embrace your ignorance and run with it. If you didn't then you wouldn't be able to crank out a column. Hopefully Smith's fanboys and girls are bombarding her with emails.

Posted by George Prager at February 23, 2010 7:16 AM

comment #15

BurmaShave says ...

DZ it's a sad day when I already know everything you link. No wait, that's every day.

Posted by BurmaShave at February 23, 2010 7:56 AM

comment #16

OtownRog says ...

Laura Washington is black and apparently, from her picture, middle-aged. She is allowed to not know who a cult figure like Kevin Smith is the same way myself and most of the people posting here had no clue who Tyler Perry was before he made a mint.
What's funniest about that column were the comments, those taking Smith's account of the incident as gospel. Granted, there aren't as many of those as there used to be. Will there be fewer after the Cop Out sell-out?

Posted by OtownRog at February 23, 2010 9:35 AM

comment #17

George Prager says ...

So a newspaper columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times is allowed to be ignorant about Kevin Smith the way readers of the Chicago Sun-Times were allowed to be ignorant about Tyler Perry before he became famous?

Posted by George Prager at February 23, 2010 12:45 PM

comment #18

shahriar khan says ...

Awesome post dude. Thanks for sharing.

Unwise

Posted by shahriar khan at March 5, 2010 2:50 AM

comment #19

jasem says ...

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Posted by jasem at March 22, 2010 1:26 AM

comment #20

tapeworms in dogs says ...

Laura Washington is actually dark-colored in addition to well, through your girlfriend snapshot, middle-aged. Nancy helped never to learn which any cult determine for instance Kevin Cruz will be the same manner me personally in addition to the majority placing in this article experienced absolutely no concept which Tyler Perry appeared to be previous to this individual produced any mint.
What exactly is funniest that column were being that responses, all those consuming Smith's bill in the occurrence since gospel. Pleasant relief, now there usually are not as much of these since now there once were. May now there end up being a lot fewer following on from the Cop Out there sell-out? italian mastiff cane corso

Posted by tapeworms in dogs at January 20, 2011 4:26 AM