“Margaret Wente is an idiot”
Margaret Wente wrote an opinion piece in the Globe and Mail entitled “Why are bloggers male?” She basically states that blogging is “more of a guy thing” and goes on about it being related to why talk shows and opinion pages are “still dominated by male voices” and similar piffle.
The piece is accompanied by a picture and a tagline that reads “Guys get pumped by going higher, faster, farther than anyone else. That’s why they spit out instant opinions”. The tagline is attention grabbing hyperbole, so meh. The picture, on the other hand, is a little more controversial.
If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, you may recognize this as a photo of snowmobiles at the site of an avalanche in Revelstoke that killed at least two people a few days ago.
Now, I don’t know whether it was Wente or some random editor that chose the photo to accompany her opinion piece, but whoever it was is lacking in good judgement. I’m sure that the families of those who died are thrilled at being used as the example for Wente’s piece.
Oh, and the last time I checked, some of the biggest talk shows on the air are hosted by women – Oprah and The Ellen Degeneres Show are just a couple that spring to mind. @benlucier on Twitter pointed out that The View should also have sprung to mind.
And at a recent gathering of bloggers from the Ottawa area, the ratio of male to female bloggers was evenly split, or possibly skewed in favour of the women. A quick review of my Ottawa blogroll shows that about half of the blogs listed are run by women.
Apparently, she’s pissed off women bloggers because they’ve added an editor’s note at the bottom of the piece that there’s going to be an online debate between Margaret Wente and female bloggers at noon on Friday. Should be interesting to watch.
As for the title of this blog entry, it’s taken from her opinion piece:
All you have to do is write “Margaret Wente is an idiot” and hit send. Instant gratification!
At least she’s right about something (and it’s not the instant gratification).
Updated to include a reference to The View.
AKA Keeper of Maps, I'm a geocacher who lives in Ottawa, Canada.
What I found most amusing about Wente’s piece is that what she defined as blogging, or spitting out instant opinions, is indistinguishable from how she writes her opinion column.
She completely ignored the millions of blogs that are about people sharing the details of their lives or cool things they have found and demonstrated that although she is a female, she is perfectly willing to spout an opinion that has little thought or research behind it.
You’re not the only person to point out this similarity. Effectively, she is a blogger.
The lunch time debate should be entertaining.