Monday 10 January 2011

People who should kill themselves

1. People who exaggerate tastelessly. Such as Mary Portas (inexplicable TV personage), for this gem, about shopping:
"It makes me want to just cry with depression that we've got this bad. It's really, really tragic. I went into Homebase at the weekend and actually thought I was going to kill myself."
Perhaps anyone this intellectually and emotionally inadequate should do the decent thing. What language can she possibly have in reserve for genuinely traumatic events: love, depression, death?

8 comments:

Benjamin Judge said...

You ARE the Daily Mail Vole.

This post is madness on so many levels it beggars belief. Well done.

The Plashing Vole said...

I'm starting to think you A) don't get my point or sense of humour and B) don't understand the Daily Mail either.

Are you suggesting that airily tossing around concepts like depression and suicide to describe not liking a shop is somehow OK?

Benjamin Judge said...

OK, quickly, because I am on my way to work.

You complain about someone making a glib comment about suicide by making a glib comment about suicide.

You quote someone out of context.

You take a throwaway comment and pretend that it is someone's deep held beliefs.

You don't credit the speaker any level of irony or comic effect but assume it for yourself.

You have a pop at someone who on a lot of issues you actually agree with because you have some deep held, ideological, hatred of shops. You are arguing on broad ideological terms, not the actual incident.

You say someone should kill themselves directly after a post in which you, correctly, acuse Palin of being out of line for saying people should kill other people.

You use blind hate as a comic tool.

etc...

The Plashing Vole said...

Sorry, but you're completely wrong. I used this post title for ironic effect, and continued the conceit (as it's known) in my post. It's called satire.

The comment wasn't taken out of context, and wasn't throwaway: I read the article and it represents Portas's discourse. Given that the article and her career are solely based on her deeply held feeling that shopping should be some kind of spiritual experience, it clearly does say something about how she would like to be viewed.

Having read the entire interview, it's very clear that it isn't a flippant or comic comment. If you read it, you'll see that this comment follows an attack on foreign shop-floor staff which I found quite uncomfortable.

Nor do I have an 'ideological' hatred of shops. Of capitalism, yes. How you manage to claim that I'm making a point about capitalism here is completely beyond me: it's just not there. My point is about language. If anything, I'm suggesting that Portas's response to Homebase is ridiculous because I fail to see how that shop can evoke any emotions stronger than mild boredom or mild interest.

Sorry Ben, but you've got this one wrong.

The Plashing Vole said...

You've still missed my point.
And when have you ever heard me link apostrophe abuse to being foreign?

Anonymous said...

Ben - if you weren't already married and me engaged I would propose - I agree with you totally - Vole and the Daily Mail are synonymous.

Vole likes to "reckon a lot of stuff" (Brooker, 2010) but such vitriolic outbursts are seldom evidence based and are sometimes staggeringly offensive and insensitive. It would appear that Vole is overcome with the same inappropriate level of emotion as Ms Portas. I would feign surprise -but what's the point?

Sarah Williams said...

Err, satire? Get it? Obviously not.

Kate Gott said...

Dear Sarah Williams - Vole was a close friend of mine - my mother committed suicide - Vole was deeply unsupportive - get it?