from Forbes.com
It's true! A tipster wrote in to let me know! Apparently the people at Forbes actually don't condone disgusting misogynistic articles! They took down BOTH of them, plus the execrable slideshow! Hooray, hooray!
Props are due here to Gawker, who totally flooded the zone on this today, sleuthing out writer Michael Noer's previously published works of cheap lazy misogyny and an alternative version of the disgusting "Nine Reasons To Steer Clear Of Career Women" slideshow (preserved here for handy reference, since it is no longer online. Convenient!).
This. Is. Awesome.
Related:
Disgusting Misogynistic Forbes Article One Step Away From Stepford [ETP]
Shocker: Forbes Recommends Trophy Wives [Gawker]
'Forbes' Writer May Have A Few Issues With Institution Of Marriage [Gawker]
Forbes' Nine Ways To Avoid Becoming a Pathetic Dried-Up Unmarriageable Waste of Humanity [Opinionistas]
Related But No Longer On Internet:
Don't Marry Career Women [Forbes]
The Economics of Prostitution [Forbes]
from aftonbladet.se
"Ladies: A word of advice. Marry hot guys or ugly ones. Short ones or tall ones. Blondes or brunettes. Just, whatever you do, don't marry Forbes' Michael Noer. Because he's an idiot."
That's my rewritten lede from his blood-boilingly misogynistic article charmingly titled "Don't Marry Career Women" released yesterday on the web, and thankfully there are already smart, similarly disgusted people on the case like Broadsheet's Lynn Harris, Gawker 's Jess Coen/Alex Balk and Opinionistas' Melissa Lafsky. Good - there are so many things wrong with Noer's flawed, presumptuous, lazy, selectively-sourced article that I need all the help I can get.
Noer opens with this gem: "Recent studies have found professional women are more likely to get divorced, more likely to cheat, less likely to have children, and, if they do have kids, they are more likely to be unhappy about it." Wow! Career women are TROUBLE! (No, really, I'm just quoting: "Marrying these women is asking for trouble.")
Here are some of the gems:
Nowhere does Noer provide corresponding quotes on how likely men are to cheat on their wives, educated and working or docile and homebound, as he clearly seems to prefer; nor does he examine how marital satisfaction correlates with division of household labor (his husband doesn't seem to do any) or how income brackets play into it (i.e. is the idle stay-at-home wife more likely to dabble with Roderigo the poolboy? Or is the rich executive husband more likely to throw down with his secretary? What if they both work and get a nanny? Which one gets to have sex with her? Or him?). Noer backs up his argument by reference to "many social scientists" but he doesn't let us know if many more social scientists have drawn different conclusions from conflicting data, or this data, or more complete data. He's clearly been super-selective (not to mention ultra-glib: "If they quit their jobs and stay home with the kids, they will be unhappy," he sweepingly states, contrary to every NYT article known to man — but meanwhile further down in the article they're even MORE unhappy when theyr'e working and making your life a living hell).
Never mind the selective data, condescending economics lesson and statements like "wives' employment does correlate positively to divorce rates, when the marriage is of 'low marital quality'" which, of course, fails to enumerate the positive correlation or define "low marital quality." Never mind the framing of the information with danger-flagging phrases like "There's more" and the aforementioned "Even your house will be dirtier," as if that's the straw breaking the poor helpless married camel's back. Nevermind, too, the ominous slippery slope of extrapolation: "And if the cheating leads to divorce, you're really in trouble. Divorce has been positively correlated with higher rates of alcoholism, clinical depression and suicide"). The real flaw in this article: It COMPLETELY removes male accountability from the equation.Maybe that's the rub: No smart, educated career woman would be satisfied that kind of passive wimp.
By the way: Everything we said above goes double for the atrocious, vile, appalling accompanying slideshow "In Pictures: Nine Reasons To Steer Clear Of Career Women." Per Gawker: "That stock-photo man at right sure looks sad. If only he'd had the balls to send off for that Ukrainian mail-order bride."
Noer saves his disclaimer for the end: "As with any social scientific study, it's important not to confuse correlation with causation." If this article counts as "scientific study" then Noer counts as marriage material.
Don't Marry Career Women [Forbes]
Shocker: Forbes Recommends Trophy Wives [Gawker]
'Forbes' Writer May Have A Few Issues With Institution Of Marriage [Gawker]
Forbes' Nine Ways To Avoid Becoming a Pathetic Dried-Up Unmarriageable Waste of Humanity [Opinionistas]
Related Disgusting Misogynistic Articles In Forbes By Michael Noer:
The Economics Of Prostitution [Forbes]
Alex Koppelman
So. It's August 23rd, the day after August 22nd, and -- as you may have noticed -- we're all still alive.
This may come as something of a surprise to those of you who read Bernard Lewis' August 8 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, in which he wrote:
In Islam, as in Judaism and Christianity, there are certain beliefs concerning the cosmic struggle at the end of time--Gog and Magog, anti-Christ, Armageddon,...
Yesterday, the speculation, and today, the unconfirmed rumors: TMZ is reporting that Horatio Sanz and Will Forte are out at SNL, and FishbowlNY is reporting that Sanz will be ousted along with Chris Parnell. TMZ quotes an NBC rep who says its "unconfirmed and uncorroborated. We are not commenting" which does not sound like a denial; FishbowlNY cites an "informed tipster." Note that Forte is the current President Bush impersonator (not to mention making his face go red on command as Zell Miller); Parnell is just comedically awesome and we reiterate that we hope he stays around.
Our predictions are here, though of course this may render them somewhat out of date.
Ankush Khardori
Yesterday morning, Wayne Barrett of The Village Voice and Dan Collins of CBS News appeared on WNYC's Brian Lehrer show, guest hosted by Beth Fertig, to discuss their just-released book, The Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11. About that terrible day, Collins said, "It was a day in which you saw Giuliani at his best, and you saw him at his worst. Unfortunately, the...
from Comedy Central/Rachel Sklar
After last night's "Daily Show," I think it is fair to say that Jon Stewart hates President Bush. There's no mistaking the biting, angry tone behind the jocularity in his segment on Bush's press conference, and this soundbite in particular: "Nobody likes to see innocent people die." Said Stewart: "And there was more empathy where that came from":
"I hear a lot of talk about civil war, I'm concerned about that, of course..."
"The damage to innocent life, which bothers me...."
"Obvoiusly I wish that the violence would go down...but wars are not a time of joy."
Deadpanned Stewart: "You'll see more of those soundbites and many others in the president's new series of public service announcements: 'The Least You Can Feel.'" Amid the audience applause, he said in his best Bush impression: "Nobody likes to see innocent people die. From what I'm told." Ouch. It's not a new theme for Stewart, who memorably excoriated Bush over the stem cell veto last month, parsing through his statements about how precious was human life...and then intercutting with footage where he glibly guesstimates dead Iraqi civilians as "Umm. I would say 30,000 more or less." I repeat, ouch.
And then, captured in all its raw-video-feed glory, was this segment:
Bush (to reporter, in midst of answering question): ...what did Iraq have to do with what?
Q. The attack on the World Trade Center.
Bush: Nothing!
This is what The Daily Show does: It catches them lying, and doesn't let them forget it. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the news. And there's nothing fake about it.
(By the way, the crowd went wild after that clip.)
Also of note: "Senior Black Correspondent" Larry Wilmore on George Allen's "Macaca" comment and Tony Snow's "tar baby" reference: "We can do better...how are we supposed to be pissed off about 'macaca'? That's weak!" Great archival Strom Thurmond footage. Quoth Wilmore: "Now that's a racist mother[bleep]er
Meanwhile, Colbert had on Paul Krugman ("It is go time, Beardy"), who got on the topic of the Bush administration lying and specifically the stubborn assertion that there were links between Iraq and 9/11: "Yeah...there are links between me and Jay-Z too, if you follow enough chains." Beardy is so hip! Best line is Colbert's though: "Well, if they lied us into Iraq...why can't they just lie us out of Iraq?" Oh, if it were that easy.
NB: Per our post yesterday, Colbert's fans have racked up 17,231,724 votes for that Hungarian bridge. Now that's some serious web mojo.
from TVNewser.com
Finally, over a week after their abduction in Gaza City, the kidnappers of Fox Journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig have announced themselves. Per the AP:
A previously unheard of Palestinian group, the Holy Jihad Brigades, claimed responsibility on Wednesday for kidnapping a Fox News cameraman and correspondent, Al-Jazeera satellite TV reported.
According to Reuters, the new group demanded that the U.S. release "Muslim prisoners" within 72 hours:
"Release what you have, and we will release what we have," the Holy Jihad Brigades said in a fax sent to reporters.
This news is breaking so there is no analysis yet, other than to confirm that this is the longest that a Palestinian militant groups has held foreigners. TVNewser has all the coverage here.
UPDATE: The kidnappers have released a video of Wiig and Centanni, who appear unharmed. TVNewser has it here. Here's a rough transcription, also from TVNewser:
Steve Centanni: "...We get lots of clean water, food every day, access to the bathroom, shower, clean clothes and our captors are treating us well. So I just want to let you know I'm here and alive and give my love to my family and friends and ask you to do anything you can to try to help us get out of here."Olaf Wiig: "I guess I would add for myself, and I know my family are already be doing this, but if you could apply any political pressure to the local government here in Gaza and the West Bank, that would be much appreciated by both Steve and myself. I know Anita you will already be doing that. To my family, I love you all. Please don't worry, I'll do all of the worrying for us."
Centanni: "We love you all and we want to go home, hope to see you soon. Thanks."
The tape was apparently delivered to Al-Jazeera with a two-page leaflet: FNC's
Jennifer Griffin said: "It says 'You raped us, you raped our nation,' referring to the Palestinian nation. Strong words. And then the final, final lines of this two-page leaflet talk about their demands, and the demands are that Americans release Muslim prisoners in exchange for Olaf and Steve."
At the top of TVNewser is this line: "Please keep Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig in your thoughts & prayers." We will.
Nikki Finke
If there's suddenly a litmus test for insanity to be administered by the owners of Hollywood movie studios, then start with the executive suites. That's my reaction to the are-you-shitting-me pronouncement by Viacom Inc. chairman Sumner Redstone today that his Paramount Pictures is terminating its 14-year relationship with Tom "Crazy" Cruise's production company because the actor's controversial and erratic off-screen behavior hurt the theatrical grosses of Mission Impossible 3. Of course, the studio's publicity department...
Today's New York Observer has a nice, meaty piece on NBC ancor Brian Williams and how he and his cohorts at the NBC Nightly News are retrenching to defend against ratings incursions from CBS and ABC. It's a nice, meaty piece, made all the more enticing by this headline:
Life of Brian: NBC Anchor Williams, Bronzed, Burnished, Brokaw-Bred, Contemplates Big Battle: 'Go Ahead, Touch My Peabody'
Those front-page heds come courtesy of Observer editor Peter Kaplan, the guy who also piqued our interest in Man Flab and Soccer Jews, and wondered if the Village Voice could make it without its "Lefty Zetz." He's also a big fan of alliteration ("Icon of Irritability" "Legit Lit Lackeys") and exclamation points ("Time Marches Back: Forget Newsweek, Get The Economist!" When was the last time you saw "Time" "Newsweek" and "The Economist" in a sentence with an exclamation point?).
Kaplan's knack for coining a phrase has not gone unnoticed by the "Today" Show, as we noted last week, or the Magazine Publishers of America, who have titled their upcoming Diversity Town Hall meeting in September "Breaking Through the Vanilla Ceiling" after Lizzy Ratner's January article on the whiteness of the industry "Vanilla Ceiling: Magazines Still Shades Of White." I think in the biz that's what they call "sticky." (The use of "Viswanathan-athon" in the Kaavya case was a little less sticky, but methinks that was the point.)
Scott Thill
Still shaking off the vestiges of a busy birthday, although I didn't get to party a single minute. Instead, I filed a sweet piece on Aardman's upcoming CGI flick Flushed Away for Wired and then turned in with the Mrs. to check out the only news-oriented programming worth watching, at least on television: The Daily Show...
from online.tvguide.com
SNL is suddenly a hot topic of conversation — between the departure of Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch and the debut of not one but two behind-the-scenes shows based on it ("Studio 360" and "30 Rock") — plus sudden competition on the funny front from Comedy Central, blogs and websites — the future of the 31-year old sketch comedy institution is of particular interest. The New York Post's Don Kaplan has some inside scoop today, reporting that "four cast members are about to be fired - they know who they are, but the public doesn't" (does Don? He doesn't say). He reports that Seth Meyers will probably become head writer, that Amy Poehler "is expected to be back" (duh), and that clutch old-timer Darrell Hammond and SNL digital short-meisterAndy Samberg were safe. Michaels apparently cast a wide hiring net this year "so that when the ax fell, he would already have a fresh, experienced cast ready to go." Well, someone was thinking ahead.
Our predictions for the unlucky four after the jump.
