How to rule the world for five minutes, By Mark Morford

[madokie]

There are many ways to have national or even international media attention heaped upon your head for a short burst of time, if you so desire. Why you would desire such a thing is, of course, between you and your demons. Choose wisely.

One way is to write a mildly shocking spidwad of a book, an intentionally barbed little tome everyone agrees is sort of heartless and even a bit nasty, but which has nevertheless been marketed in a very clever way, mostly by placing it squarely in a topic category normally reserved for more thoughtful, safe, politically correct fare, like a sneer in the middle of church, a middle finger in a flowerbed, a slap to the face of a kindergarten class.

Make it a book about, oh, let's say parenting, maybe about the benefits/drawbacks of being a hard-ass snake of a mother, strict and borderline cruel in the not-very-nice Chinese mother way, even though you're not actually from China and just used "tiger mother" in the title to get attention from the Wall Street Journal. And guess what? It totally worked! Amazing.

For best results, justify your questionable parenting skills by claiming your Chinese-style tough love will make your kids grow up strong and regimented, which will in turn help them achieve great things, marry into privilege and make lots of money, which they will promptly spend on large doses of Klonopin and Xanax and expensive Upper East Side therapists in a vain attempt to bury 20 years of resenting the hell out of you. ...


(Full URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/02/09/notes020911.DTL&nl=fix)

[alphafemale]

1. A world of nothing but piano and violin players would make odd orchestras. nt

[xchrom]

2. oh he is on it today --

'You can post a viral video of a deliciously intriguing -- but alas, probably a PR hoax -- UFO sighting over the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, one that instantly ignites our deepest desire to really, really want there to be more to heaven and earth than is dreamt of in Rupert Murdoch's withered philosophy, because holy hell if it's all lousy parents and Charlie Sheen and gun maniacs from Arizona, well, we are a sad and lost species indeed.'

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/02/09/notes020911.DTL#ixzz1DShTzzDJ

[madokie]

3. What a fun read

What makes his writings so good is the fact it is always based in factual

[xchrom]

4. he's awesome and wicked. what's not to like? nt

[Blue_Tires]

5. ttt