Sunday, March 14, 2010

The Great Oz Has Spoken...

I am very interested to see what the talk will be in Blogville about Stephen Drucker's editor's letter this month in House Beautiful.  (If any, maybe I'm the only nerd that reads editor's letters.)  He is politely asking that decorators, design bloggers and those that comment play a little nicer.  This is a hard one.  I think it is so easy for people to type mean words on a blog comment, things they would never say to another person face to face.  What do we do though when we read or see something that we know is total bullsh*t?  I am seeing in my mind the most fake southern woman, one I would really despise, saying (while touching the other person on the arm or shoulder of course), "Oh honey, you know that is the just the most stupid thing you have ever said, but you are so sweet.  You know I think your work is just precious, but this room is ugly beyond words."  Read Mr. Drucker here:

7 comments:

  1. That kind of anonymous cruelty bothers me too. I may be outspoken but I don't think I'm cruel and I always sign everything I write with my real name. Knowing that I'm accountable for what I write helps to curb my baser instincts.

    What Stephen Drucker weighing in on is bigger than the design world of course. It's part of a coarsening of our culture and I trace it back to the rise of political punditry. The 24 hour news cycle is a place where interpretation passes for news and there are no contrary opinions. Rather, there are contrary people. The collapse of an idea with the person who holds it is a slippery slope. It paves the road to an unhappy place where people who disagree with you are enemies in a battle rather than just people who disagree with you.

    Thanks for running Drucker's commentary. It's something good to think about.

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  2. Paul, You are one of my most favorite people I have never met. I think I'll start a list ... My Most Favorite People I've Never Met.

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  3. Rock on, that is an awesome editors letter and I missed it, so thanks for posting it. If I get a negative comment I delete it immediately for this very reason. What is the point of giving a troll space and energy? When I read that on a very well known bloggers site saying he deletes a negative comment before he's even read the whole thing, I decided to do the same! Great post!

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  4. Thanks for popping over to my blog to comment about this topic!

    While I understand what Drucker is getting at, I thought his tone was more than a bit disingenuous. Interior design (along with fashion) is one of the most biting industries to work in.

    I find it impossible to believe that the staff of HB has only the most polite of discourses about editorial decisions.

    P.S. We're the same age and I'm from Indy. I feel we should know each other. Did you ever shop at one of my stores - J.R. Newport or Red Ella?

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  5. Hmmmm....as a Southern woman, I can tell you manners are manners, and fake, fake, not geographic. That said, strong opinions can be given with grace and with, in whatever accent you like.

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