Apparently today he is wearing his grouchy contacts.Photo: Newscom
We were delighted when we went on Slate this morning and saw this headline: “Someone Please Take Away Roger Cohen’s NYT Column.” Yes, we thought, that’s exactly what we’ve been thinking lately! If we ever bother to read that column, it rarely seems to have anything to say. So we eagerly clicked through the link on the Slate homepage and found ourselves … at Jack Shafer’s column. Uh-oh, we thought. Does criticism still count if it’s made by Mr. Complain-y Curmudgeonpants himself? He who hates David Sedaris, Ian McEwan, and Michigan? What does it say about us that we agree with him? Have we really begun tasting life with such a heavy dose of salt? Is it time for us to self-appoint ourselves as public editor to the world and wake up every morning on a bed of crabapples, throw on our bitter pants, and view the world through our prescription grouchy glasses?
Eh, maybe it’s just that Roger Cohen is pretty damn boring.
Roger Cohen is writing as badly as he can [Slate]
UPDATE: We just noticed that the sub-headline of Shafer’s Roger Cohen column reads: “There’s no excuse for his lazy writing.” Which is funny, because his original headline for the piece was, “Richard Cohen Is Entitled to His Opinion,” (emphasis ours). Yeah, lazy writing is the worst, Jack.
