Maybe it’s the water. What ever happened to respectable, hard hitting, thought-provoking journalism?
I’m not so sure the Huffington Post ever belonged to that club, but for a while they did at least focus on just politics. Even if you didn’t agree with their liberal slant, at least it was a counterpoint to so many web rags. Remember the days, before that right hand column on their web site, before the page-views-at-all-costs AOL mantra. Now when I go there to read some in-depth opinion piece, or witty (i.e. self-absorbed) celebrity commentary, I find myself lured to the column of boobs, bachelorettes, and brothels … PLUS! … dresses that are (apparently) too short (Khloe). In a heartbeat you can go from reading a piece on “Improving Financial Stability in America’s Cities” to a riveting headline like “Hawk Snatches Ex-Playboy Playmate Shanna Moekler’s Puppy” by merely shifting your eyes about three inches to the right. How can macroeconomics win that click-thru?
This, all on a day when HuffPo was celebrating take your child to work day.
And CNN, the Ridiculist?! This from a guy who was Mr. Iraq, reporting from a war zone, and living to tell. Leave the zingers to Bill Maher or Colbert.
But what really caught my eye last night were these perfectly timed HuffPo Tweets, replayed in order below.
Can you imagine:
Mom, this is fun watching you work at your grown-up work place. What are you doing?
A research project.
You are so smart. I love you.
Me to. Hang on one sec, how do you spell phallus…
Take Your Child To Work Day at HuffPost, in pictures huff.to/JqmClG
— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) April 27, 2012
We asked the Twitterverse: Are penis party favors appropriate for bachelorettes? Here’s what you said huff.to/JqnjLQ
— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) April 27, 2012
Woman kills man by squeezing his testicles in a street fight huff.to/JqobA4
— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) April 27, 2012