Comments on: Mai Mind, It Eez Blown (Courtesy of the Irish Times)

By: Links for March 13th through March 17th

Links for March 13th through March 17th — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:04:34 +0000

[...] Mai Mind, It Eez Blown (Courtesy of the Irish Times) – "Of course there will always be a place in the world of business for exceptional women. Women also have an important role to play in jobs that are too demeaning for men, like teaching." [...]

By: sarah

sarah — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 03:09:15 +0000

Everybody calm down it is satire, I visited the Irish Times website and read a few of his other articles. His humour takes a bit of getting used to and a lot of it is regarding particular current event going on in Ireland so its not really accessible

ONe of them
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0304/1224242229228.html

was actually quite clever it compared a recent multi million pound bank robbery with real estate developers trying to reroute a proposed metro system.

So everybody can relax. Incidently the Irish times is one of the most leftwing pro feminist newspapers out there, I’m pretty sure he wrote the article in order to provoke his likely readership.

By: have.at.it

have.at.it — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:57:49 +0000

At first I was pissed. And then I thought it was kind of funny. I’m 99.99% sure this is satire, albeit weak satire. It doesn’t get funny until the last two paragraphs, with the ‘oestrogen-crazed acquisitiveness’ and the ‘ask the menz for the household money’. Until then, it’s sort of believable, which is why it isn’t good satire. Good satire starts out with a reasonable premise and leads you gently but inexorably to a ridiculous conclusion (see the granddaddy of all satiric writings, Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’). The problem with Emerson’s piece is that it sounds too plausible up until the end. So, not that funny. But also, I think, not malicious.
Also, I believe Newton Emerson to be a pseudonym. Really? Newton Emerson? His parents named their kid after not one, but TWO philosophers?

By: Lucas

Lucas — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:22:56 +0000

It’s a bit of Poe’s Law, I think. The problem is that someone will take it seriously and use it to make life decisions.

Also, I’ve been pretty routinely disappointed with the overall quality of satire in recent days, particularly the New Yorker cover back during election season. They seem to think that satire can’t also be funny.

The guy should be forced to watch Dr. Strangelove til he gets what good satire can be.

By: BeckySharper

BeckySharper — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:07:55 +0000

@Marie: I disagree. Mind-blowingly offensive statements don’t become LESS offensive when they’re failed satire. If anything they become more so, because when the author fails to make any satirical point at all he’s just being a misogynist asshole.

I also hate it when people say “oh come on…don’t be angry….it was just a joke.” about something hateful and misogynist. If it’s hateful, I have the right to be angry. Dismissing a woman’s anger over being insulted is straight from the sexist playbook.

By: Marie

Marie — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 10:48:13 +0000

Oh, come on, it’s obviously a piece of failed satire. It doesn’t deserve attention, let alone anger.

By: ahimsa

ahimsa — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 01:53:51 +0000

@Kivrin, that was so funny – I almost spit my coffee on the screen!

I figured out that it was probably meant to be satire (Central Gender Mainstreaming Unit? oestrogen-crazed acquisitiveness?) but I agree that it was not very well written.

By: sonambula

sonambula — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 01:39:04 +0000

ah, nice to see my fine country turn up on harpyness.. emerson was responsible for ‘the portadown news’, which was occasionally funny. this REALLY wasn’t. you’ll be happy to note that there were a lot of letters to the editor about this..

By: Kivrin

Kivrin — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 01:07:00 +0000

“How will lesbians eat?”

Enthusiastically and with more skill than men, as usual.

Oh wait, you meant eat, like, food? Oops.

By: bellacoker

bellacoker — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 22:19:45 +0000

It could completely be satire, if Emerson doesn’t realize how entrenched misogyny actually is in society and just didn’t go BIG enough. Perhaps cash-strapped families could auction off their extra daughters, etc.

Alternatively, it’s much more likely he’s an ass.

My second thought was: How will lesbians eat?