There’s something that’s been really grinding my gears lately: writers who opine on matters of American culture and who insist on using the pronouns “we” and “our.” I’m talking to you, Slate and Salon.
What qualifications does one need to be a cultural critic? I can think of only one: a sense of humor. Satire is wonderfully fun, and generally doesn’t assert that something is wrong with all of “us.” However, most culture writers I’ve read recently seem to eschew the art of humor, and instead write serious, earnest pieces condemning the behavior of a small segment of the population and assigning it to every single American (or woman, man, web-user, member of the western world, etc). Usually, their “stories” are an avenue for the authors to yell at the world for being unfair, or to vent about a personal pet peeve.
Andrew Keen is the most incorrect in his assertions about the internet ruining culture, but lucky him, he’s not the most annoying. Here’s one among zillions of articles about how Twilight sucks and is going to ruin teenagers’ ability to have relationships:
Just as America’s young men are being given deeply erroneous ideas about sex by what they watch on the Web, so, too, are America’s young women receiving troubling misinformation about the male of the species from Twilight. These women are going to be shocked when the sensitive, emotionally available, poetry-writing boys of their dreams expect a bit more from a sleepover than dew-eyed gazes and chaste hugs. . .The bigger problem here is that we’re breeding sexually incompatible human beings, and vampires are to blame.
/rolling my eyes as hard as I can./ Yeah, Edward Cullen is the first prototypical romantic male character in the entire history of literature to give young women high expectations of the young men they date. Ever hear of, oh I don’t know, Pride and Prejudice? Romeo and Juliet? Hell, Titanic was only ten years ago. How quickly these cultural experts seem to forget. Anyhow, the assumption implicit in his complaint is that it’s somehow wrong and unacceptable for any young woman to ever have her hopes dashed and her heart broken by an immature young man at some point in her adolescence. Gee, and here I was thinking that learning about relationships from experience was all part of “growing up.” Silly me.
Here’s another article that accuses modern society (a.k.a. “New York City”) for it’s apparent impatience and hatred towards – of all things – motherhood:
But I think there’s another toxic subcurrent under the stroller vitriol, the subway dudgeon and the like. “It’s all about the space we take up, the public space,” says Sohn. “Why is that the metaphor that keeps coming up?” Why indeed? Women — still — are not “supposed” to take up space. Mothers, in particular. We are — still — supposed to remain in the background, doing whatever it is mothers do, smiling. We grow a belly, we need a seat, we say “excuse me, please,” we speak up (or, God forbid, blog), and we’ve crossed the line, said or asked too much, become “entitled.”
The author obviously never met my mom. Ever heard of Claire Huxtable? Roseanne Connor? Debra Barone? Americans LOVE strong-willed mamas. You can’t assume that the behavior of a few communicates the view of everybody, nor that your experience is universal. Maybe nobody gave you a seat on the subway because you give off nonverbal bitch-vibes. Maybe you really do live in an area where people are inconsiderate. Who knows? That’s my point. But when you can’t finger something as the direct cause, don’t go blaming “society” for your problems.
Every generation thinks that the world is going to hell. Come on, culture critics; be original.


