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Buckeye Hate | TNR Article Blasts Ohio

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Started 7 months ago by honestlyinsincere
Latest reply from honestlyinsincere

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honestlyinsincere
Columbus
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Does this arrogant author even deserve an intelligent rebuttal?

_______________________________________________________________________________

Buckeye Hate
Obama and Romney are Telling Ohioans that They're the Greatest. This Ohio Native Disagrees.
Walter Kirn
November 4, 2012 | 11:00 pm

In my new, more realistic understanding of American democracy, gained just this year from a thousand expert sources, the role of all but a portion of the electorate is to show up at their polling places tomorrow and dutifully cancel out one another’s votes so that Ohio can choose our president.

MORE: http://www.tnr.com/article/109623/buckeye-hate#

Posted 7 months ago #
dubdave00
Dublin
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No.

The whole "human beings of vision and vitality will do almost anything to leave Ohio" is clearly in there so the author can validate his own "deep human need to feel something, anything, when surrounded by total tedium and depletion".

I'll be glad when the election is over though.

Posted 7 months ago #
drew

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Don't concern yourself with it - it's what happens when a writer of fiction makes the mistake of writing about politics.

Really, he should've aimed his frustration at the rest of the states - where political homogeneity is so significant that they have made Ohio the decision-maker.

I'll also add that I found the article distasteful in its demographic cherry-picking. Kirn started out by explaining how Ohio is a great jumble of ideologies and diversity, and then spent the remainder of the article stereotyping the entire state with worn out lower-middle class white person cliches.

Which, as I see it, both slanders the majority through caricature and completely ignores the extent to which minorities contribute to the political complexity and vitality of the state.

Who needs objectivity when you've got fiction to write?

Posted 7 months ago #
vestanpance
Harrison West/at work OSU
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tl;dnr

Posted 7 months ago #
derm
Grandview
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Funny enough, the dude grew up in Minnesota. A thriving, diverse state if ever. Maybe he just did not like the Gophers getting beat in football and basketball every year?

Posted 7 months ago #
ChrisSunami
King-Lincoln District
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I have to admit, I kind of feel that way about everything outside of 270. Like I live in a magic oasis in the middle of a desert. I mainly get mad when people assume Columbus is one with Ohio and vice versa.

Of course, that probably says more about my own prejudices than it does about Ohio.

Posted 7 months ago #
Manatee
Granville
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Ha, I agree with most of the points the author makes about Ohio here, but I've chosen to love her rather than leave her. It's not like I'd feel at home anywhere else, and I've got a sweet spot for the place, plus I can realistically only have a handful of actual close friends. It's easy enough to find 10-20 really amazing people nearby, and just live a regular life, surrounded by our beautiful changing seasons and the family we love.

I find the need to strike out for the big city and prove one's individuality against a background of intense urban stimulation to be, well, kind of adolescent at its root. Ohio is a good place to grow into being a good person, and to help others do the same. Modesty is a virtue, not a liability.

Posted 7 months ago #
bjones7
Worthington Ohio
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hmm even the sign in the picture is wrong. I didn't know that Bob Taft was still Governor?

Posted 7 months ago #
bjones7
Worthington Ohio
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OK CU, don't be ignorant because he is! In fact he never mentions Columbus directly, or any of our major cities or their history/accomplishments. Now he does mentions Ohio deserve background, but why this isn't a positive comment, seeing that this country is based off of diversity,confuses the hell out of me. Yes he pisses me, you and probably any other Ohioan that read this article. Evidently he knows nothing about Ohio period. It was very ignorant of him to write this article based on pretty much "air for facts". but why argue about this?!? No point of mentioning this on CU.

Posted 7 months ago #
MichaelC
Downtown
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Which one of you adjusted his Wikipedia entry? haha

Posted 7 months ago #
0Angle
Home-Northwood Park, Breweries-43215
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MichaelC said:
Which one of you adjusted his Wikipedia entry? haha

Awesomeness.

Personal life

Kirn's family joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was twelve, but Kirn is no longer affiliated with the church.[6] Kirn received the 2009 William Law X-Mormon of the Year award.[7] Kirn married Maggie McGuane, a model and journalist and the daughter of actress Margot Kidder and novelist Thomas McGuane, in 1995. Kirn was 32 at the time; McGuane was 19.[8] The couple had two children, Masie and Charlie, and are now divorced due to Walter's inability to "get it up”.

Looks like the work of Drewtoothpaste.

Posted 7 months ago #
sdbuck1

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What's the TNR before I click on it?

Posted 7 months ago #
JeepGirl

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sdbuck1 said:
What's the TNR before I click on it?

The New Republic - Political Magazine

Posted 7 months ago #
colrex7
Amsterdam, Ohio
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Someone's jealous...

Posted 7 months ago #
honestlyinsincere
Columbus
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UPDATE: Harvard Law & Policy Reviews publishes essay in defense of the beloved Buckeye State.

http://hlpronline.com/2012/11/an-open-letter-to-walter-kirn-about-ohio/

An Open Letter to Walter Kirn About Ohio
Posted Tuesday, November 6th, 2012 by Jonathan Peters
Dear Walter,

I teach journalism courses at the University of Missouri and Ohio University, and every semester I help freshmen and sophomores write their first stories. Many of them struggle. They don’t know what to include, where to put things, how to edit for clarity, and so on. As they fight the blank page, they learn how to write and how not to write. I show them stories to illustrate best and worst practices, and now I’m indebted to you and your Ohio essay in The New Republic. It’s a major contribution to the body of knowledge of how not to write.

Click here to read more...

Posted 7 months ago #