On my browser I have a folder of bookmarked website that I visit daily. Various news sources, random blogs, etc. I used to read the Huffington Post a lot; it’s one of my daily reads. I didn’t mind the outlandish liberal spin because I also felt it was a legitimate place to pick up on the news, especially politics.
But recently each time I check out the site, I see more and more trash. Apparently Jim Carrey wore Jenny McCarthy’s bathing suit and Madonna allegedly brainwashed A-rod with kabbalah. (The kabbalah story, actually, might be the funniest tabloid story i’ve heard since no one could find pictures of baby Suri!) Seriously though, I just don’t care about these stories at all. I don’t want to condescend; I know a lot of smart people who shamelessly engage in tabloid website like Perezhilton or The Superficial. I’ll even admit to checking out pictures of Brittany Spears when she shaved her head last year, but other than that–I really try to stay away from that stuff.
For a while I have been more and more turned off by Huffington Post, but tonight was a tipping point. I was on the home page and there was a link that caught my eye: Susan Olsen, aka Cindy Brady, Does Radio Interview Incredibly Hungover. I honestly had no clue who Susan Olsen was so I clicked hoping for something reminiscent of the hilarious drunk James Brown interview. Needless to say, what I found was not funny at all; it was stupid and a total waste of time.
Is Fox News is supposed to be to blame for airing this stupid “news” story? Well, yeah. But if they are ridiculous for airing it, The Huffington Post is even more ridiculous for posting a link to it.
One commenter says, “There’s just not an ounce of compassion in these people. Not that people tune in to fox news for anything but the worst of the worst.”
How are the people tuning into Fox News any differernt from the people clicking the Entertainment tab on the HuffPo website? After watching the video I felt kind of repulsed by myself for even clickin to find out what the link was about. I really don’t like the distractions of all that trashy fake news when I’m trying to catch up on a day of jounralism I missed while I was at work. While I won’t deny the abundance of legitimate political jounralism they produce, I have to say that lately everything about the site–from the layout to the content–reminds me of Us Weekly. They claim to be about breaking news and opinion…but much of the news they break is petty and typically a waste of time.
Stay classy.
thanks for confirming my observations as well. it’s too bad; and in fact it mocks the high minded ideals principled lefties are supposed to embrace.
the place has become a joke.
[...] April 21, 2009 by Rebecca I found something truly ridiculous on the Huffington Post yet again. [...]