The burden of Stuff

[cjsmith]

If Mark Morford would ever learn to use a f*cking PERIOD END OF SENTENCE, I'd forgive him all his snide little oh-so-self-righteous cheap shots at anyone who doesn't toe the NeoLiberal Party Line, and I might start to read his column semi-regularly, perhaps even when sober, if I could manage that, because God knows he occasionally says something worth saying.

Comments

[dragon-spirit.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. I love what he has to stay, but the verbal diarrhea is too annoying to subject myself to more than once every couple of months.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It boggles me that people can read that style of writing and enjoy it. It hurts my head.

[tupelo.livejournal.com]

I cannot STAND Mark Morford. It hurts my head when people on my friends list talk like he's the end all and be all of columnists.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I don't like him much either. I'll admit he occasionally has good stuff, so if only someone would COPYEDIT him...!

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

I read it whenever someone links to it. I figure my entire friendslist makes a good enough filter for his better stuff.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Sadly, my friends list doesn't add sentence breaks for me. :-)

[palecur.livejournal.com]

Hay guys what's going on in this morford bash fest can i play too because he makes me want to reach into the printed page and throttle him

[visgoth.livejournal.com]

I tried to read it.

I made it about half-way through the first sentence, then scanned the next few paragraphs and then gave up.

It looked like it might even be an interesting subject, but I just don't see that it is high enough interest to wade through more of that horrible prose.

[visgoth.livejournal.com]

Umm... That should be "first paragraph." As in the third sentence.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I think the thing that makes my head hurt is the sensation of my internal compute stack overflowing.

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Hey, that's exactly how I read it! The subject is one near and dear to my heart (too much crap!), but danged if I could get through one of his sentences without skipping ahead to the end...

[deyo.livejournal.com]

I once expressed this sentiment by saying, "Mark Morford is my new hero. May I someday write like you write, but not, you know, like you write. (http://deyo.livejournal.com/8389.html)"

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I loved the description of the staunch minimalist house -- it made me laugh. I wish I could come up with bits like that. But I could sure leave off the snideness and the sermonizing. If I wanted to be told how shitty everyone was (and me with them) I'd have kept going to church.

[palecur.livejournal.com]

His main thesis -- that EVIL KKKORPORATE AMERIKKKA somehow brainwashes us into accumulating possessions -- is pretty mockable. I'd take up the burden, but it's frankly easier, as a lazy, gluttonous American, to dismiss it with a little moue of disgust. I find that Morford really helps me work on my moue of disgust; my moue muscles can lift 30 pounds now.

We accumulate stuff because we change as people -- we stop using (set of stuff A) and get (set of stuff B) that is more in tune with our new interests. That's not horrible, or morally evil, or wrong; it's just being a damn person. Yes, throw stuff out when you don't use it; that's fine. But ascribing some sort of moral sin-state to clutter is just being a jerk on a titanic scale, which is pretty much bog-standard Morford.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

The idea that I'm doing something dumb because I'm brainwashed, instead of because I'm dumb, is personally abhorrent to me. If I'm dumb, I can learn. So far, for a variety of issues in my life, dumb wins on evidence. I *have* learned. Many things.

I like his point about clutter in general, though, at least the part of it where he's claiming clutter is a burden. It *is*. And I was amused by his description of the staunch minimalist house "lit by $15K of recessed lighting". Hit that one on the head, he did.

But yeah, he's pretty big on ascribing moral sin-states. That gets old. That was old in high school.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Ick. I'd managed to avoid him, pretty much, but I followed your link. Ick. That's all I can say. That and reading him hurts my head, too.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I mean, some images are funny, and right on the button, but... yeow.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

I followed the link, and it's pretty interesting, but (A) you're right about the full-stop problem, and (B) it doesn't really apply to someone who keeps moving over the ocean with a limited shipping allowance, does it, and (C) I don't get all his pop culture references.

Still, I love anything that even hints at Buddhism, and "get rid of your junk, just let it go" has a feel of that, doesn't it?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on all counts! The fact that this one's about letting go of clutter is what made me link it. Otherwise, gah, that prose...!

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

I sort of went off Morford about six months ago. I get the newsletter, and if the taste of the article grabs me I'll go read it. But, yeah, I did get tired of the style. And the self-rightousness. My feelings about him are complicated because I really do feel he has some good things to say, and has said them. But I feel like I need a pick and a spade to dig out the gems. It's too much work.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, communication may be a two-way street but column writing (any writing for a wide audience, really) puts a lot of the burden of effective communication on the sender. If there's too much noise on the channel, the audience drifts away.