Monday, August 29, 2011
Response to that OkCupid/Finkel crap on Gizmodo
Note: the "smoking hot babe" part was strictly for the haters who were trying to say everyone dissing the article was a lady-hating dude lol (link to article: http://gizmodo.com/5833787/my-brief-okcupid-affair-with-a-world-champion-magic-the-gathering-player)
This is mean-spirited trash. Well-written trash, but still trash. I agree with Software_Goddess below. The worst part is that this kind of geek-bashing actually makes gaming very hard for females that are trying to crack the guy-dominated scene. This is something that should be reserved for posting on a personal FB page or something, it's not worthy of an article. Unless Magic somehow violated this author's life or Jon Finkel spat into her tater tots and she now has a personal vendetta against the game, there is no cause to couch the story in such negative terms with her catty trolling verbiage. Magic players aren't worthy of dating. Geeks sucks. Nerds are scary. They're all weird. Yeah, really original content, things we've never heard before. This is a lot of fluff turned into a full article, apparently fueled by sheer cruelty. What I read between the lines is that Jon and she went on a date, there wasn't much chemistry, they had no common interests (she can't play solitaire, perhaps she felt out of her league? perhaps he was awkward? give us the real story, please, a less biased account would have been MUCH more interesting as well as enlightening) and then she used his Magic career to promote herself by writing a snarky article, and despite his efforts to be gentlemanly, and despite the fact he thought he was out on a date with a normal, thoughtful girl, he ends up getting slammed - simply because he likes Magic. Congratulations, you're a decent writer. Next time I hope you show some professionalism (if you take writing seriously) and change the name of your poor date, and use some discretion. I used to date on Match.com, and never wrote a public account of the horrors I had there despite the fact that I'm a smoking hot babe and a capable writer. What have I got to prove? Nothing. What have I got to gain? Nothing that's worth hurting people's feelings permanently. Returning a guy's good intentions with premeditated meanness is nothing to be proud of, no matter how clever a name you give it. You have hurt the Magic community with this article (both men and women), without even knowing what you're doing or who's going to care. Truly sad. Big brave sentences, small minded. All too common.
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....Or you can just tell her to Throw herself down a flight of stairs and let gravity do the rest, but the counter-article I think was enough :-P
ReplyDeleteWhile I know harsh words can I hurt, I suspect Jon will be fine-- I mean, the dude is a very well off, well known, well connected good looking dude in the biggest city in the world. I don't know him, but I imagine when he read it he probably threw out a few choice words and laughed at how stupid and small-minded she was. Chalk it up as a bullet dodged. And for her, just desserts for a wench who wrapped her competent wordsmithing in such an ugly and unattractive package. If she has any illusions of being a real writer, she certainly blew a gigantic hole in those aspirations!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, everything you said about the article is correct. So you've got that going for ya. :D
ReplyDeleteHowever, having a woman criticize the Gizmodo article doesn't actually defuse the charges that a lot of the reaction is coming from a place lady-hating. I mean, one reply was, "Be glad you didn't go out with the world champion of rapists."
There's plenty of reasons to hate the article. We don't need to stir in a bunch of sexism to make our rebuttal.
At least we can appreciate that the community at large (and not just geek culture) is thinking this is was a bad move and reeked of wanting attention...
ReplyDeleteThanks all for commenting.
ReplyDelete@Ted if you mean Elly's article, I thought that was a bit harsh. I did not mean to attack Alyssa in a misogynistic way at all, I was a bit riled up though and definitely did mean to be scathing writer to writer. I don't wish her any personal misfortune, with stairs or without lol.
@myidealwoman you're totally right, Jon doesn't need defending. :) At the time I didn't know what public response was and really wanted to respond from the point of the community and someone who had been bullied before. Her tone was so mean!
@Matt good point - I hate it when misogyny becomes fair game when a woman does something awful. I know what you mean. It's like when that blonde college girl posted that YouTube rant about Asians in the library and she was getting death-threat and "c*nt!!" trolling by the thousands. Not ok.
@Hobbesq yeah after reading all the responses, I am relieved to see that many made fair and eloquent cases for why this was a poor move on her part. Being to mean to be mean is just...lame.
Again, thanks all for your comments.