Like Laura Lee of The Wide Awake Cafe, her venerable tabby, Sabby (above) is not amused with Time Magazine's choice of "you" as "Person of the Year." (Laura Lee Donoho photo)
"Sabby is Time's Person of the Year," writes Laura Lee Donoho, who -- like ourselves -- wouldn't dream of buying that breathless, liberal-lite rag:
It's Sabby. He’s fascinated with blogging. Of course Time’s silly choice is not worth a kitty litter box in need of scooping.
It’s a big cop-out. It may be worth a few hits to Time online, but I won’t buy the issue. Not unless Sabby is on the cover.
Laura Lee's take is similar to Jeremy Lott's in this morning's WSJ:
As far as trend stories go, this should have been an easy one. That advances in technology are allowing more people to customize and produce their own media is inarguable, and some of the results are truly impressive. Rather than seeking out great examples, the magazine chose to highlight mostly the weird and embarrassing. Why?
We think we know why, as suggested in our own post on the subject the other day, where we called attention to the actual effect of that mylar panel that allows you to see a warped image of yourself on Time's cover. As we wrote to Lott:
No one seems to have noted the irony of the image of oneself that "you" get in gazing at the mylar panel, a fun-house-distorted, unreadable reflection. Without realizing what they're saying -- do they ever? -- Time may have inadvertently said something profound about the mainstream media's view of us great unwashed.
"Part of the problem is institutional," writes Lott:
The issue was written entirely by regular Time staffers and contributors who seem to have great difficulty understanding this strange new media man -- especially the part about his hatred of condescension.
Time's choice of "you" as their POTY is a mirror that reflects their own not-so-veiled contempt for us.
Somehow your e-mail got lost in transmission, so I'm glad you posted it here. Good point.
Posted by: Jeremy Lott | December 19, 2006 at 11:55 AM
Actually I don't think it's inadvertent at all.
If you remember the excellent movie The Incredibles, the son said it best "if everyone is special then no one is". I think Time is guilty of this with their POTY issue - not only that but they're telling all the special people out there that they are warped. How cute.
Posted by: Teresa | December 19, 2006 at 04:06 PM
This is so cool Sissy. Sabby thanks you and I thank you!
Posted by: Laura Lee Donoho | December 20, 2006 at 03:45 AM
One glance at your photo and my mind went, "Persian of the Year."
Posted by: amba | December 29, 2006 at 09:42 AM