The harshest takedown of a pop music star that's also the safest possible critique ever

[PCLoadLetter]

That's was kind of fun but flogging a really easy target.

That review may be the music critic equivalent of the sports columnist writing a "(Opponent's town) is a dump" column.

 

[Alma]

How do we compare it with this?

Restaurant Review: Guy's American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square

Not favorably, in part because I don't get the impression Pete Wells would mind the kind of food ol Guy was hawking if it had been any good. The review was posed as a long question boiling down to: Do you know how shirtty this restaurant is with your name on it?

For example, this graf:

What exactly about a small salad with four or five miniature croutons makes Guy's Famous Big Bite Caesar (a) big (b) famous or (c) Guy's, in any meaningful sense?

is a pretty damn good question.

 

[Alma]

Perhaps what bothers me most is that it's pretty clear Jeff wants to imply we got to cultural low point because of Donald Trump and white privilege and racism, but just can't write those words. Because that would be too banal or something, to write plainly?

This is where the conservative critique of liberals "they think they're better than you" fits like a glove. Jeff thinks he's better than Post Malone or any of the other people there. And it is possibly he is better, I dunno. But I remember having a conversation about year back with someone who was embarrassed to admit they liked Little Caesars pizza, because it wasn't whatever wood-fired, beer-infused-crusted pizza all of her friends liked, and, what's more, because she thought the company she was in - which included me - would care. It was a sad moment had by all, bowing to an imagined tyranny of pizza cool.

 

[Hermes]

This is where the conservative critique of liberals "they think they're better than you" fits like a glove. Jeff thinks he's better than Post Malone or any of the other people there. And it is possibly he is better, I dunno. But I remember having a conversation about year back with someone who was embarrassed to admit they liked Little Caesars pizza, because it wasn't whatever wood-fired, beer-infused-crusted pizza all of her friends liked, and, what's more, because she thought the company she was in - which included me - would care. It was a sad moment had by all, bowing to an imagined tyranny of pizza cool.

The sad thing is the other side lives by their own tyranny of refusing to even consider anything they might consider high-brow. It locks lower income and rural people into shirt choices in life simply because they don't want to be judged by their own neighbors. And it's how things like museums, libraries and classical music die in this country. It's how I can take my parents to a world-class restaurant and they refuse to enjoy it because they're worried about what it costs. It's how anyone with a college degree is suddenly locked out of the conversations on the engine line I work at. Because that person is an outsider who thinks they're better than everybody else.

Both sides are trapped by their egos instead of judging things by their actual quality.

I think food is a great teaching tool to get out of this situation. I think most of us can enjoy Little Caesars' (okay, I'm not a fan of that, but I actually love Domino's pizza since their reboot) and the wood-fired pizza. That attitude adjustment applied to the world at large would make a big difference in our society.

 

[Azrael]

It was a sad moment had by all, bowing to an imagined tyranny of pizza cool.

Does the existence of 5400+ Little Caesar's pizzerias not argue exactly the opposite?

Or 3500 Arby's? or 38000 McDonald's?

That the real tyranny is mediocrity?

 

[cjericho]

Who has the better facial tats, Post Malone or Tekashi69?

 

[Alma]

Does the existence of 5400+ Little Caesar's pizzerias not argue exactly the opposite?

Or 3500 Arby's? or 38000 McDonald's?

That the real tyranny is mediocrity?

Arby's makes a damn good fries, IYAM.

Also, that mediocrity offers benefits and helps put people through college (or food on the table, as it may be.) I always have this argument with people who carp about chains, like some standalone local gourmet burger joint - that's just as fatty as the chain - is somehow better for the community because roots.

 

[Azrael]

Arby's makes a damn good fries, IYAM.

Also, that mediocrity offers benefits and helps put people through college (or food on the table, as it may be.) I always have this argument with people who carp about chains, like some standalone local gourmet burger joint - that's just as fatty as the chain - is somehow better for the community because roots.

I guess my point is that the insult - the cultural tyranny of the elites! - is indeed imaginary.

The middle of the Bell Curve won long ago.

 

[Justin_Rice]

Arby's makes a damn good fries ...

This site needs a dislike button.

 

[Hermes]

It's not imaginary. It just doesn't matter. People still buy the cheap pizza. So whether they're afraid to say they eat Little Caesar's or not doesn't affect their buying choices. Whether they feel inferior because they like it is their own problem.

 

[DanielSimpsonDay]

 

[Hermes]

This site needs a dislike button.

I feel like I'm going to be judged harshly in this thread if I say I like fancy duckfat fries best.

But...duckfat fries.