Roman Charity by Jean-Baptiste Greuze (mostly), c. 1767, with apologies
Two days ago, when Neatorama author named Alex was looking for an interesting story to post on the blog, he went to the Internet to research news articles. That's where he stumbled across a New Idea magazine article about how a woman helped her father fight colon cancer by giving him breastmilk.
Alex titled his post "Daughter Helps Dad Fight Cancer ... By Breastfeeding Him!" - a sensationalistic and misleading title that led Neatorama readers to believe that the woman in question had actually let her father suckle on her breast (like Pero in the Roman Charity, as pointed out by fellow reader TwoDragons) - rather than giving him breastmilk that she had pumped earlier in the day.
The reaction to the post was immediate. One commenter known as BlessedBlogger remarked:
First, I want to say that the title is misleading and obviously meant to shock us. I’m not very happy about that as even the implication of incestuous behavior turns my stomach. She isn’t breastfeeding him, she’s donating breast milk to him.
A flurry of other readers posted comments concurring with BlessedBlogger. PJ wrote "the title is grossed out. why’d neatorama wanna have a decent story titled like a cheap eveninger?" A quick search on the Internet revealed that "eveninger" is defined as "a newspaper that is released in the evening unlike a morning newspaper" (Source: Dictionary of Indian English), which immediately added gravitas to PJ's opinion because, well, a person with a moniker of "PJ" would surely know a thing or two about a cheap eveninger.
But not everyone was offended. Kalel, with his trademark wit remarked:
Keeping abreast of the latest medical breakthroughs is of express interest, but perhaps they could have arranged a sort of tit-for-tat exchange with another mother.
Not to be outdone, Garys added:
This article “sucks”! I really should do a better job in regards to keeping “abreast” of the latest medical findings. Guess there is no fault in a little “tit” for tat amongst relatives.
Perhaps Garys didn't get the memo about "unnecessary " quotation marks but we digress.
Support to the beleagured author was scant, but the one was loud and proud. Neatorama reader Byrd Brain let the author know how his super title writing skill was appreciated:
So, if you were to write an article about me putting rash cream on my baby son’s tender parts, Alex, you could come up with a headline like “Father Fondles Son’s Genitals”! You are just SUPER at this headline thing! A great day for accuracy in news reporting!
That was good, but Alex, who has years of experience writing sensationalistic title would surely have written "Father Helps Baby Fight Diaper Rash ... By Fondling His Genitals with Cream!"
Throughout all these firestorm of comments, Alex remains silent - and the fact did not go unnoticed by Anon, who bemoaned "Although I guess no matter how much I pour my heart out here, Alex doesn’t give a shit." When privately approached, the besieged author could only mutter, "That's udderly not true. Of course I care. Sensationalistic titles are very hard to think of ..."
:lol: Cheers Alex- Good job!
just don't click on that link.
i know about eveningers, morningers, afternooners and stuff. i'm a designer and newspapers are also part of the profile :)
Frankly I think it was a very selfless act upon the daughter's part, and if it helped him recover from cancer then three cheers to them!
But oh man, having that image file pop up in my RSS feed was...uh...I'm just happy my six-year-old son wasn't sitting with me. 8-O
--TwoDragons
Americans (and I'm one of them) are so effed up about biology and sex and nudity it's scary.
"Who programmed this mess, anyway?"
Alex, no one can ever accuse you of ignoring public opinion, so, as a lifetime entertainment parasite as well, I salute you!
Post on !
Just like the really stupid commercials you see every day. You talk about them so therefore they did their job. They got your attention.
People are really way to easily offended these days.
I had to take my Jolly Roger flag down from my flag pole because of the recent Pirate incident involving an American ship Captain. It offended some one in the complex! Its been up for almost a year. But wait it didn't offend them UNTIL an American got taken hostage now did it?
If you can't take criticism, don't blog.
Bashing a comment for its poor orthography shows your insecurity.
Alex - great response. A good serious thread is good every now and then, but sometimes we need a reminder that reading your blog should be fun!
I wasn't enraged, just offended. The title is misleading and while that's not exactly a crime it's in poor taste and they can hardly be surprised that people were offended. I think it's pretty clear the whole point of the title was to upset people and it worked. Neatorama is a fairly popular blog that hardly needs to use sensationalistic tactics to gain popularity so this little stunt was disappointing to those of us who are loyal readers. Besides, it's hardly the first time something posted there has upset people. Several times videos of animals, that many of us believe demonstrated animal cruelty, resulted in an angry comment storm. The difference is this one was intentionally inflammatory and honestly I think the folks at Neatorama should be ashamed of themselves for stooping so low. None of us are saying they should be stoned, just that they need to demonstrate more sensitivity in the future.
It's not the first time Alex has nudged the line, wont be the last either. Yay for free countries! *hand-shaking all around*
And Alex, seriously? Reporting on your own reporting as if it's actually newsworthy or in any way neat? This is just getting to cheesy for me. Can we please have some actual news that's actually neat now?
http://roflcaek.com/funnynewsheadlines/funny%20news%20headlines/student%20excited%20dad%20got%20head%20job.jpg
I think it's already gone sour.
*SLURP*
Ask yourself this: if this little drama were playing out on some other website (and I'm sure you can find a dozen examples if you really want to), would you link to it? Is this article Neat(tm) enough to be approved on its own merits, or is it getting special treatment because it's an internal matter?
I come to this site because it has a good track record for aggregating links that I'd be willing to pass on to a friend. I don't come for self-referential opinion posts and "ooh! ooh! click me!" headlines.
I find the whole line of discussion proper to this thread uninteresting in the extreme. My only reason for posting is to remind you that you have a good reputation for aggregating stuff I do find interesting, and to warn you about the dangers of making drek like this regular fare
I like Alex, and the post led me to read the article, which had a similar title.
Just because the puppy was still willing to lick your hand afterward doesn't mean it was consentual.
The original New Idea article was titled: "I breastfeed my dad".
How is the Neatorama's title: "Daughter Helps Dad Fight Cancer … By Breastfeeding Him!" MORE titillating?
EPIC THREAD!
http://www.nucleocide.net/open/Funny%20Pictures/cats/emperor%20catkind.jpg
Lulz - the intrawebz is a fun place. Full of fun characters.
Love the pic chosen for this one. I think it would have been better for the original article. :D
Thems fight'in words!
i wish neatorama could be a bit less restricted some times, but i can understand alex's reluctance to push the limit, seeing the responses he gets for totally harmless headlines already.
COME NEATORAMA READERS, WE MUST STORM THE BASTILLE! :)
Incest involves sexual activity between relatives. Breast feeding, with the exception of fetishist, is not a sexual act.
If you think that Neatorama is posting misleading headlines, try reading Gizmodo... or even better, head over to Reddit or Fark. Boy are you in for a SHOCK.
People who run big blogs like this one make a living with traffic. The more traffic, the more money comes in. No traffic = No Money = Can't hire writers = No Awesome blogs.
Great job Alex. We all love you :)
1. I hate puppies.
2. Spellcheck! I did.
3. You've been a wonderful audience...Good night!
Damn, that's even funnier...
As far as you hating puppies- dude, don't ask me to explain you people.
-Same anon.
Chicky - I have been tryin'. But people dont seem to like posts about "bacon flavored jelly beans" or great museums.
Speaking of which, do you know they make bacon flavored toothpaste for cats?
I'm surprised this issue gets so much attention. In Berlin in a train station you can see right now a gigantic picture of a woman breastfeeding her baby as an advertisement for an exhibition. Don't see or her any people complaining about that, even though you can see her nipple (gasp!)
Seriously, life would be better without people like you modern day Puritans.
sigh... its true, people have nothing better to do. *right now i actually really don't*
just let it go, its just a darn title, raah! lol
And now the people complaining about the people complaining about the...
*aneurysm
D'oh! I meant pole POLE!
I had just assumed you had a 10 foot Polish bodyguard.
Argh!! *charlie brown style*
That's like when someone says "I'm not talking to you", and you reply "You just did!"
I didn't actually get the whole "burned at the stake" feel from the original post. Did you receive a lot of e-mails that I'm not aware of? Cause I've seen more vitriol in other comments before.