January 12, 2009

"Why are people so cruel on the internet?" Tina Fey is asked...

... after winning a Golden Globe and telling various commenters at The Envelope to "suck it." Video and commentary here. And here are the commenters at The Envelope talking about Tina talking about them:
anyone who reads the Envelope even on a cursory basis knows that when she started with "Babson LaCrosse" (who has since slunk away and changed his screen name (hahahahahhaaha) and continued with "Dianefan" and "Cougar Lover" that she was talking about The Envelope....

Oh My God! Tina is among us! I screamed at the tv when she said 'dianefan' and 'Babson LaCrosse'... I'll just start to say bad things about her right now on every single thread of this forum...
Now, Jesus said "Love your enemies," and he was onto something. And I don't mean pussy Jesus with the lambs and such. "Love your enemies" can be a muscular strategy if you do it with style, as Tina did. And I think it works especially well on the internet, where everyone is looking for love, really — aren't they? — whether they're gawking at porn sites or trashing divas.

28 comments:

traditionalguy said...

Looks like Tina Fey does not enjoy being the target of any ridicule machinery, like the one she works for. She is truly funny, talented, and I love her anyway if that will make it all better.

Unknown said...

Well, crap. I was kind of hoping that she was referring to an independent blog. But it would seem she was just talking about the message board on an old-media web site. I mean, good for them, but that ain't no blog.

john said...

..... in all the wrong places.

Wince said...
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Wince said...

Seems to me Fey has pretty thin skin for someone who works in satire.

And to achieve her magniminity can't Fey hypocritically hide behind the SNL script, similar to the way she criticizes Internet commenters who can accomplish the same with their "anonymity," when it came time for her to defend attacks made on Palin's daughter?

Cabbage said...

where everyone is looking for love, really — aren't they?

Aren't you?

Paul said...

Looking for love?!! On the screen of a computer?!!

Pathetic.

I'm looking for information.

And laughs.

Ron said...

Love? I thought this the New Algonquin Round Table for the witty, but bereft of social skills crowd!

But on our blogmistress' birthday how can we not give her some love?

Trooper York said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Why are people so cruel on the SNL?

Grow up, Tina/Sarah.

chickelit said...

Tina Fey's portrayal of Palin during the election:

There are three reasons she did what she did:

(1) ratings, the money.
(2) to get ideological digs in against her.
(3) her colleagues reluctantly convinced her to because she could.

Which one of these am I supposed to respect?

traditionalguy said...

Did you know that you can still go to the Roundtable at the Algonquin? Check out Musical Theater Heritage website.[also Night on the Town program on NPR on Friday nights]. But today you have to come to Althouse to find intelligent wit.

Trooper York said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ron said...

Doody, poop and wee-wee

Ah, our new Senators!


Dude, totally! Fartknocker!

Christy said...

I found the story Terry Gross did on NPR with Tina Fey about her impersonation of Palin to be gentle and charming. YMMV

Remember the episode of West Wing when Josh Lyman got caught up in responding to web criticism, and Donna, speaking for Sorkin who was getting a lot of crap on the internet at the time, said "The people on these sites: they're the cast of 'One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest.' . . . I'm telling you to open the ward room window and climb on out before they give you a pre-frontal lobotomy and I have to smother you with a pillow."

former law student said...

I thought calling out her commenters was cute. The thoughts of anonymous commenters (myself included) have no social value, so acknowledging their existence was the nicest thing she could have done for them.

But then I thought Tina Fey looked exceptionally cute on those linked videos.

theobromophile said...

IMHO, there is no way that someone could have laughed at all of Fey's impersonations of Gov. Palin and still taken the latter seriously as a VP candidate. (The first skit, with Hillary and Palin duking it out, was funny. It was all downhill from there.)

The problem I have with Fey is not that she lampooned a politician, but that she - self-proclaimed feminist - did so in a way as to undermine the legitimacy of the candidate. Having crossed the line from funny to cruel herself, Fey is not in a position to complain when the same is done to her. The lesson she ought to take from this is not that people on the internet are mean, but that by being a (dare I say it?) mean girl herself, she's giving license to other people to do the same -- and this time, she may be more fond of their targets than she is of Sarah Palin.

KCFleming said...

"Why are people so cruel on the internet?" Tina Fey is asked...

As ye sow, so shall ye reap.

KCFleming said...

Don't fear the reaper, Tina.

ricpic said...

I fear the reaper. Which means I only have a finite time to LASH OUT at the walking deathheads that surround me! Only I have the secret. And I ain't tellin'. Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah.

chickelit said...

Don't fear the reaper, Tina.

Could we get a little more cowbell on that Pogo?

Trooper York said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hoosier Daddy said...

What a whiney little girl. I think Palin did more to advance Fey's career than she ever could have managed to do on her own.

KCFleming said...

More cowbell!

Freeman Hunt said...

If you were famous, would you read the hateful things people wrote about you? I wouldn't. I'm surprised anyone does.

Issob Morocco said...

Jesus was just espousing the common sensical adage of keeping one's friends close and one's enemies closer. Think Barack and HRC.

Beth said...

If you were famous, would you read the hateful things people wrote about you? I wouldn't. I'm surprised anyone does.

So I'm surprised not to see this same comment on the thread about Palin's press complaints.

By the way, now Palin is complaining about lying bloggers.

How meta is that?

chickelit said...

By the way, now Palin is complaining about lying bloggers.

The difference is that Palin mentioned it in answer to a question in the Ziegler interview, while Tina Fey (is that her real last name?) chose an "Oscar moment" to make a rant--how Michael Moore.