April Fool's [chat]

April Fools 2013 Summary

Distributed Vernacular Acculturation Webs

I am working on an article concerning the development of para-legitimate verbal states focusing on the mechanisms of attenuation, ordinance, and initial bearing of ω class substrate tinges as a series of complex recursive metaphors regarding the malediction and chastisement of genial agents, blanket drapers, and Tolkien-based authentication mechanisms. Proposing to purport pitiable passages parsing as prepossessing paraphrase, periphrastic polyglots prepend presumptuous prepositions periodically penning poetical psalms. Wresting grist from meager life, solemn salmon seek the solace of spring sourcewaters, struggling.

Here's Tom with the weather.

Suzy Lee Weiss vs. Frank Bruni

How likely is it that the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal got together to produce two related columns?

On March 29th, the Wall Street Journal posted this opinion piece by Suzy Lee Weiss entitled 'To (All) the Colleges That Rejected Me', a rant in which Miss Weiss places the blame for her lack of college acceptance on the colleges.  The next day, we find this Op-ed by Frank Bruni, a rant about shitty parents.

It seems like the two articles may be related.

Miss Weiss feels that she is entitled to attend her ideal school despite her lack of extra curricular activities or strong SAT scores.  Mr. Bruni claims that, "the Me Generation spawned generations of mini-me’s", suggesting that parental narcissism may be passed on to the offspring.  Perhaps the mentality that prompted Miss Weiss to write her column resulted from the mentality to which Bruni points.

Bruni also observes, "You can eliminate the valedictorians from high school but you can’t eliminate them from life."  While parents heap praise and adoration upon their children, the world may not view them as precious snowflakes.  Once they leave home, children are assessed by the standards of their professors and employers.  Cue Miss Weiss and her lack of preparation for gaining acceptance to college, and inability to shoulder her own responsibility for her shortcomings.

What is also interesting are the comments for each article.  There seems to be universal distain for the Weiss piece and its theme of entitlement and perceived unfairness.  In contrast to this, many readers seem to agree with the Bruni piece.  A few people invoke the "you've never fucked without using a condom, so what do you know about parenting" trope, but generally readers seem to agree that shitty parents produce shitty kids.

It strikes me as odd that these two pieces appeared within a day of one another, that we find the disease on the 29th and the diagnosis on the 30th.

What is also odd is the reality of children like Miss Weiss.  I sincerely doubt that parents set out to raise shitty kids.  Yet we find that many parents utilize the strategies critiqued by Bruni:  children as snowflakes, children as equals, children with fucking iPhones.  No one wants to raise a spoiled brat, and yet persons constantly engage in activities that seem to result in spoiled brats.  We could explain that by narcissists producing narcissists, but whence that first generation?

I just thought it was interesting that these two articles appeared in two different publications on the same weekend, and it happened to be a weekend on which parents shower their children with candy.

Coincidence?