an opinion on opinion pieces

i hate the news.

as someone who is invested in politics, people are usually surprised when i say this, but something about the uniform tone and dedication to so-called "objectivity" is unconvincing to me. it's too economic, sterile, and frankly, boring.

on the other hand, i really enjoy opinion pieces, both reading and writing them. the great appeal is that they feel more real. the writing offers an outline of the writer, how they view and evaluate the world around them, what they choose to focus on, and what they leave out. there is an awareness of bias and limitation, characteristics that are ever-present in all forms of writing, but are hardly ever acknowledged.

two opinion pieces in particular have been making rounds on social media: "is having a boyfriend embarrassing now?" a vogue op-ed by chanté joseph, and "did women ruin the work place?" a nyt interview hosted by ross douthat. (last week, i did a blog on the latter. read "conservative feminism" here)

joseph's op-ed explores if women are embarrassed of being in heterosexual relationships and why that might be the case, while douthat's discussion looks at the increase of women in the workforce and how this has potentially harmed society.

there are some strong similarities between the two. at a glance, both pieces have controversy-seeking titles and focus on shifts in the modern-day, specifically through the lens of sex.

i was excited to see what all the hype was about. you rarely see the internet discuss pieces of writing. "reading must be back!" i naively thought. to my chagrin, i found out that most of the online discourse was based on the titles alone, and that the articles were empty of any substance.

the two titles are questions, and my assumption was that there would be a corresponding answer accompanied by some sort of thought-out justification. however, both joseph and douthat act as passive moderators, "facilitating discussion" instead of having a concrete opinion. the only solid stance to be gleaned from the opinion pieces is the vaguest sentiment that something is happening.

excerpt from "is having a boyfriend embarassing now?"

comment from "did women ruin the workplace?"

these two pieces bug me because, despite their provocative titles, they are so reluctant to actually say anything. they seem to be more interested in looking interesting rather than including any semblance of an interesting thought.

one common red flag is that both pieces mention the new injection of "politics" where, allegedly, politics have never existed before. the age of "politicalization," a brave new world of wokeness, mamdani's america.

excerpt from "did women ruin the workplace?"

excerpt from "is having a boyfriend embarassing now?"

frankly, i don't know if either author is qualified to speak on the topics at hand, if they truly believe that "politicization" of sexuality or the workplace is a new and unprecedented phenomenon.

what they did do successfully, though, was find a readership. it's truly a masterclass in seo. this gimmicky writing has the ability to spark debate between political parties and sexes, and inevitably, generated significant amounts of engagement. this is the same strategy used by youtube channels like jubilee.

that leads to the question: what are these publications writing for?

a better world or better analytics? productive dialogue or profit margins?

that's just my opinion,

sputnik sweetheart ⋆˙⟡♡

[all images sourced from pinterest]

*bonus*

here's a good opinion piece i've read recently:

i'm tired of y'all's think pieces by solani's room