But why are nastiness and snideness taken to be features of our age? One general point of agreement, in denunciations of snark, is that snark is reactive. It is a kind of response. Yet to what is it responding? Of what is it contemptuous?
Stand against snark, and you are standing with everything decent. And who doesn't want to be decent? The snarkers don't, it seems. Or at least they (let's be honest: we) don't want to be decent on those terms.
gladwellian response.
People are snarky bc they want attention, it's smug and safer to put stuff down in a clever way than offer sincerity. It's playground egos.
Re book reviews. Why review a book at all if you're going to say how shitty it is, unless it's a big name. I want to know what's worthy out there, not what to avoid.
i had to take a shower after reading that first sentence and it wasnt just because my insides were dirty after eating those french french fries for lunch. though believe me when i say that is absolutely the last time i do that until the next time.
smug...check. safer...check.... clever....double check!! truly snarky? meh. i need to hit the playground and take some notes.
though i think sincerity can just a quickly devolve into sanctimony and humorlessness i can appreciate the limits of snark. i actually long ago abandoned gawker (and its ilk) as a daily read due to its unrelenting tone. also, i sleep eight hours a day.
as for book reviews, for one, it is possible to be critical of something without being snarky. and there is much to be gleaned from a subject by a skillful examination of what not to do. reviewers, in my opinion, are not in the business of coddling their subjects. but if a reviewer does nothing but shit on things then one might question their motives or sensibility.
Oh, so dramatic! Well, there are thoughful critical pieces and then there are the bashings, which I believe there are awards for now. We're a snarky culture here in the states.
That was me.
i figured as much. i dont read enough book reviews to be put off by snarky, negative ones. i imagine if it was well conceived id appreciate it as much as a positive one. is there a quality of "look-at-me"ism? for sure. can that be grating at times? undoubtedly. is the culture awash in it? it seems that way at times. is that a problem? quite possibly. is earnestness the answer? to a degree. is the fact that spotify is eating up more resources than my cpu has causing me greater consternation at the moment? 105.3% true.
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- dave 12-12-2013 3:17 pm
gladwellian response.
- dave 12-12-2013 8:00 pm [add a comment]
People are snarky bc they want attention, it's smug and safer to put stuff down in a clever way than offer sincerity. It's playground egos. Re book reviews. Why review a book at all if you're going to say how shitty it is, unless it's a big name. I want to know what's worthy out there, not what to avoid.
- linda 12-12-2013 10:29 pm [add a comment]
i had to take a shower after reading that first sentence and it wasnt just because my insides were dirty after eating those french french fries for lunch. though believe me when i say that is absolutely the last time i do that until the next time.
smug...check. safer...check.... clever....double check!! truly snarky? meh. i need to hit the playground and take some notes.
though i think sincerity can just a quickly devolve into sanctimony and humorlessness i can appreciate the limits of snark. i actually long ago abandoned gawker (and its ilk) as a daily read due to its unrelenting tone. also, i sleep eight hours a day.
as for book reviews, for one, it is possible to be critical of something without being snarky. and there is much to be gleaned from a subject by a skillful examination of what not to do. reviewers, in my opinion, are not in the business of coddling their subjects. but if a reviewer does nothing but shit on things then one might question their motives or sensibility.
- dave 12-13-2013 12:37 am [add a comment]
Oh, so dramatic! Well, there are thoughful critical pieces and then there are the bashings, which I believe there are awards for now. We're a snarky culture here in the states.
- anonymous (guest) 12-13-2013 1:59 am [add a comment]
That was me.
- linda 12-13-2013 2:23 am [add a comment]
i figured as much.
i dont read enough book reviews to be put off by snarky, negative ones. i imagine if it was well conceived id appreciate it as much as a positive one. is there a quality of "look-at-me"ism? for sure. can that be grating at times? undoubtedly. is the culture awash in it? it seems that way at times. is that a problem? quite possibly. is earnestness the answer? to a degree. is the fact that spotify is eating up more resources than my cpu has causing me greater consternation at the moment? 105.3% true.
- dave 12-13-2013 2:37 am [add a comment]