Wednesday, May 02, 2007

try "Earth Balance." No trans fats.

I came across this comment in the introduction to 101 Damnations--which also contains a contribution by Jon Scieszka, to make it vaguely relevant to kid's books:

"When you praise something--let's say it's hydrogenated vegetable oil spreads--you humbly focus a brilliant beam of endorsement and esteem upon your topic, while you yourself are content to remain in the shadows. But if you aren't so crazy about butter substitutes, what you say about them--your complaint--is no longer an attempt to speak on behalf of all of us butter-substitute devotees. No, in this case it's you in the spotlight, you trying to make a point about butter substitutes, using every rhetorical device and persuasive argument you can in hopes of disabusing us of our benighted ingestion of trans-fatty acids. The spotlight's on you because it's nearly impossible to pan something without showing off. (italics mine)

And so, when you praise, you speak on behalf of others. When you complain, you speak for yourself."

I thought this had some validity in regard to reviewing, though I'm not sure I entirely agree with it; goodness knows I've written negative reviews that were boring as hell.

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