I’ve always wondered whether it’s better to ignore self-evidently idiotic/attention-getting behavior, or call it out. I guess there’s no one right answer to that: some idiocies deserve to die quietly, and some deserve to be ruthlessly exposed.
Today’s conundrum: model/talk show host Tyra Banks, in a cover story in the New York Times Magazine:
“I think I was put on this earth to instill self-esteem in young girls,” Banks said, flanked by two enormous bodyguards as she walked toward an ever-growing mob of her fans in Union Square.
Via Jezebel, who comments:
She’d have you believe that, ultimately, she’s in this media game to help out 18 - 34-year-old women. How fitting then, that that happens to be the exact demographic coveted by advertisers! It’s not so weird that we question whether someone is only interested in “instilling self-esteem in young women” when that someone built her empire on a competition-based reality show about modeling. [emphasis mine]
I could probably do an entire exegesis on Banks’ choice of the verb “instill” alone, but I’ll content myself (and minimize the risk of turning into Andy Rooney) by noting that either Banks and I disagree wildly on the definition of self-esteem, or the reporter elided a large set of adjectives in that quote. Maybe she really said “to instill self-esteem in gorgeous, thin, poised, perfectly-groomed, popularly-proportioned, fashion-conscious young girls”! Yeah, that’s gotta be it.
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