Things We See No Reason To Respond To, Starring Eye

From Gawker: But Kate Carraway, a writer in Toronto reflecting on that lofty matter of Jessica Roy, actually claims she does. "We have no Julia Allison, the current Wired cover star, and centre of much debate on media celebrity; no Sloane Crossley…" [sic] she laments. Nor do they have a Keith Gessen nor an Emily Gould nor even much, like, blow! ...

Who are these people and why should we care?

I'm glad Toronto isn't full of this kind of crap. Or if it is it's way below the radar and can stay there as far as I'm concerned.

Well, this certainly isn't going to do a whole lot to squash the whole "Toronto is just trying to be like New York" meme. (Personally, I want Toronto to be more like Philadelphia. Gawker's "Moe" made it sound pretty cool. Also, it is the city in which the Fresh Prince was both born and raised.)

I do agree with her on some accounts: Toronto media, even the independent stuff, often comes across as way too earnest, candy-coated, desperately inoffensive and all that. But it seems to me that many readers want it that way. And they're pretty very vocal about it: Witness what happens in TOist's comments section when a writer approaches the topic of death or injury with anything but utter restraint and solemness. Toronto can often be a very self-censorious environment for writers.

I'm not necessarily advocating the opposite, though. I don't want our columnists to talk tough if it's going to come across as phony. I don't want to hear about Young People Fucking, especially now that I'm officially Past My Prime. I don't want to create fake celebrities out of nobodies. Actually, I don't want to hear about celebrities, period. I'm happy to treat people like people, regardless of how "glamorous" they might think this industry is.

I think we should be following the example of Citytv: demystifying and democratizing the culture of media, not pretending it's something that it's not.

What she recomends isn't "self-confidence", it's "schizophrenic-paranoia".

Actually what she is saying that blogs like this one were needed to boost self-confidence.

This is the important part:

The social world of Toronto media is boring, a kind of insidious boring that has consequences. Sure, Toronto lacks the vicious public backstabbing (and front-stabbing) of the New York media octagon, but we also miss out on the attendant adventure, intrigue, insider-ness and truly constructive criticism that comes with such institutional aggression.

I can't believe someone finally said this out loud. And it might be painful to hear, but it's true.

It's the earnestness or sites like Spacing that finally turned me off and led me to stop reading them. They are boring. And that earnestness that will keep them all irrelevant.

It's time to go to the next level, and it doesn't have to be gossip, or Gawker, but for God's sake it should have a sense of humour, be clever, and above all, interesting.

What's true? That Toronto needs more self-important people talking about themselves more?

And the alternative to that is irrelivency?

Irrelevent to who? Vapid morons who frequent sites like Gawker?

Perhaps the problem has more to do with what's going on in your head.

Toronto media offers no constructive criticism on the state of the city? Are we reading the same blogs? Maybe old media (not owned by Albertans) has taken a pass on pointing out the problems and solutions, but between BlogTO, Spacing and Torontoist the slack is more than picked up.

I don't want to read about people who are famous for being famous, rich because they're glamourous, or important because they show up at parties dressed a certain way. Despite CTV/Much/Global's years of struggling to turn Canada into America Junior, Canadians don't roll like that, yo.

What's true? That Toronto needs more self-important people talking about themselves more?

Read it again. Go ahead. I'll wait.

What's true is that a boring, timid, earnest media landscape fosters boring, timid, earnest media.

And as for "demystifying and democratizing the culture of media," that's precisely what she's talking about here, just not on TV.

Despite CTV/Much/Global's years of struggling to turn Canada into America Junior, Canadians don't roll like that, yo.

I see. This is why no Canadian reads People magazine, or watches E! Canada, or surfs Perez Hilton or isthishappening. Or has any interest in the rich and famous. Or affects Los Angeles street slang in blog comments.

I pass on whatever Kate Carraway is selling.

@11: Actually, I don't. I still don't know who Perez Hilton is. I have some interest in Hollywood happenings (like what movies are in production), but I honestly can't remember the names of Pitt and Jolie's kids. I don't really attribute that to being particularly Canadian or American though.

PS But I'm inordinately excited about the new scramble intersection.

I wish I spent my time just writing endless garbage gossip, just to hone my ability to really put a point on exactly how absolutely inane I think this topic is.

It's like people who talk about the East Cost vs West Coast rap feud thing - like it's a real thing to anyone but the stupidest among us.

@16: But *you're* that someone who's figured it out! Be our media messiah, Y&B, and rescue us from our own tastes.

Yes, a predictable response. But understandable.

It's not a question of saving people from their tastes. It's about injecting something new into the discussion. In the end, everyone benefits, whether you watch it or not.

So let's pretend I did already. Quite by mistake. Let's say that it took off on me and did indeed make an impression and shake things up, albeit in a small but very influential circle. Let's also say that it also gained national attention and a fair amount of heat. And finally let's say that this experience showed me what could be possible, on a larger scale, if one were so inclined.

We always find it weird when we here Spacing is "too earnest" because we also receive comments and emails saying we're often too critical. What is most important is the tone -- Spacing tries to be sincere and pragmatic instead of snarky and ironic (hello Gawker).

I think blogs like Spacing, BlogTO and TOist acutally fill a void in the conversation about this city -- the Sun, Star, Post, Now, etc are often over-the-top cynical and -- this is where I 100% disagree with Carraway's article -- its much easier to write about the bad than trying to find the positives of our city. What our group of blogs have done is actually change how some of the mainstream media (MSM) reports on events or topics. Together, we've been able to show the MSM that not every article has to fit the bill "if it bleeds it leads".

Earnestness doesn't necessarily mean non-critical. I think none of us should apologize for trying to stay positive in the face of constant negativity from the large media outlets. Without sounding like I'm bragging, Spacing has significant won magazine industry awards (2 time small mag of the year, 2-time editor of the year, and 2-time National Mag Award winner) specifically because we've been able to combine tone and critical analysis without coming across as whiny liberal do-gooders (or so the judges and jurors say). Some people will not agree with this rationale, but they don't have to read us.

Its very easy to be jaded and cynical with the amount of info we are able to absorb these days, and I often slip into this mindset. But I'm happy that Toronto is now filled with blogs that are not falling into the Toronto self-hate trap that permeates the more traditional media.

Enerst goes to camp?

What happened to Frank Magazine?

This conversation is fantastic! I'm not familiar with even half the 'famous' names mentioned, but I kinda liked the article. It read a bit like an academic paper, spiced up for a broader audience: one part Baudrillard, half part Hegel, and frying pan full of Nietzsche! - meaning that the article was 'analysis' of what's going on, but trying to light a fire under our collective ass.

Anyway, it seems weird that, after years of hearing about how terrible the American media is, we have someone begging for it. The 'consumption of consumption'?