Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
The Tall Blonde Woman in the Short Skirt With the Big Mouth
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
Rolling Stone Expose Declares Goldman Sachs Behind Every Market Crash Since 1920s
Daniel Tencer
DrugReporter:
Michael Jackson Probably O.D.'d -- Just Like Thousands of Americans Who Fall Victim to Our Overdose Epidemic
Jill Harris
Environment:
Michael Pollan: We Are Headed Toward a Breakdown in Our Food System
David Beers
Health and Wellness:
Labor Rallies for Health Care, But Keeps it Vague
Jane Slaughter
Immigration:
Why is the Government Criminalizing Humanitarian Aid at the U.S.-Mexico Border?
Valeria Fernandez
Media and Technology:
Will the Tragedy of Michael Jackson's Life Be Inherited By His Kids?
Patricia J. Williams
Movie Mix:
This Time, Pixar Has Gone Too Far
Eileen Jones
Politics:
Breadline USA: Why People Are Going Hungry in the Land of Plenty
Sasha Abramsky
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Why Are People Obsessed with Their Kids?
Vanessa Richmond
Rights and Liberties:
In Iran, Fears That a Prominent Prisoner Detained In Election Upheaval Could Die in Jail
Katie Mattern
Sex and Relationships:
Why the Left Looks Like a Big Hypocrite in the Sanford Affair
JoAnn Wypijewski
Take Action:
Pressuring Obama to Make the Right Decision on Health Care is AlterNet's Top Campaign of the Week
Byard Duncan
Water:
David v. Goliath: Help Michigan Citizens Protect Their Water from Nestle's Bottling Operations
Leslie Samuelrich
World:
High Noon in Honduras
Laura Carlsen
Today is the devil's day, a celebration for the evildoers; that's right, it is 6-6-06. Drop the 0, you get 666. As the L.A. Times notes, this day "has become an ideal date to launch music, records, books …" Jeffrey Godsick from marketing at 20th Century Fox says about 666, "It's partly superstition, partly fear, partly reality … These numbers seem to have a significant impact."
And on this day, the devil herself -- the Tall Blonde Woman in the Short Skirt With the Big Mouth (TBWSSBM, or TBW for short) -- has a new book out. You know who I'm talking about. I will not mention her name, nor the name of the book, the publisher or any of her previous books. She is releasing her book today as "a little tribute to liberals." The time has come to ignore this woman.
Of course, TBW is ready to bask in the glow of the huge publicity many journalists, reviewers, talk show hosts, bloggers, opinion shapers, editors and just plain chatterers will give her, despite her being one of the most destructive, irresponsible, foul-mouthed, fact-challenged, racist provocateurs in public life.
I urge you, I challenge you, I beg you, to ignore this woman. Find the inner discipline. The world will be a better place for it.
In case you think I'm exaggerating, or overreacting about TBW's destructive mouth, here are a small handful of the many dozens of appalling things she has said to get your attention, to get your blood flowing, to suck you into her world. She manipulates you. Then you enable her.
So Mr. Media Makers, what do you think? Isn't it enough already? It is you, and all of us, who have turned TBW into a super "celebrity." Progressives, liberals, critics, many normally fine, intelligent men -- and almost all of them are men -- are to a great extent responsible for the enormous wealth, fame and disgusting success of TBW.
It is time for all of you who hate her so much, who want to get next to her so badly, who can't stop writing about her, interviewing her, attacking her, hanging out with her, flirting with her, sucking up to her, and yes, going blubbery brained apoplectic because she frustrates you so much, to face the hard truth.
You have an addiction.
You who suffer from TBW addiction are virtually a who's who, an all-star team of liberal and progressive male journalists, some of whom have devoted countless columns and whole sections of their books to TBW. I'm talking about you, Mr. Progressive Funny Guy (PFG) now on the progressive talk network, who writes books about liars that give all that publicity to the lies.
And you, Mr. Left Wing Media Critic (LWMC), who writes for that venerable left-wing rag with no pictures -- for you TBW is almost a cottage industry. You feel it a personal responsibility to let the world know about TBW: "It's degrading to have to write about [TBW] again. As a pundit, she is about on a par with Charles Manson, better suited to a lifelong stay in the Connecticut Home for the Criminally Insane …" "Her books are filled with lies, slander and phony footnotes that are themselves lies and slanders. Her very existence as a public figure is an insult to our collective intelligence."
So why are you writing about her? Do you think your audience doesn't know this already? Are you expecting right-wingers to find your column and change their ways?
Mr. LWMC is stuck with the "baffling phenomenon of the bestselling Barbie-doll terrorist-apologist," who continues to be celebrated by the very media she terms "retarded" and guilty of "mass murder."
Don Hazen is the executive editor of AlterNet.
Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »