Dingus of the Week: Definitely Not Whoever Lit the Fox News Christmas Tree on Fire
Also, time to vote for the Dingus of the Year
 |
It’s the weekly dingus! The Friday newsletter that rounds up one dingus from the week in news and popular culture. (I recognize there are often many.) And shares some internet reads and a drink recipe. If you value this newsletter, consider subscribing. The majority of my emails will always be free. But subscriptions allow me to continue to write this newsletter like it’s my job.
This week, some absolute hero lit the Fox News Christmas tree on fire. Listen, am I advocating small acts of vandalism as a form of protest against a cable news station that is intentionally spreading misinformation about a global pandemic? No, not legally speaking.
Leonardo Puglisi @Leo_Puglisi6
#BREAKING: The Fox News Christmas Tree is on fire in NYC https://t.co/xfWdFgdQISBut what I am saying is if you want the war on Christmas, this person is the William Tecumseh Sherman we need. Scorched earth, meets scorched Christmas tree.
The alleged perpetrator was caught fleeing the scene. He was charged with, “one count each of second-degree criminal mischief, second-degree reckless endangerment, fifth-degree arson, second-degree criminal nuisance, third-degree criminal trespass, third-degree criminal tampering and disorderly conduct.” And if you read the Fox News article about this crime, they’re LIVID, LIVID, LIVID, that the perpetrator, who is believed to be homeless, cannot be held on bail. They want you to know that this is a direct result of criminal justice reforms enacted in January of 2020.
From the tone of the article, it sounds like nothing short of the death penalty will do for this assault on what is just a recycled pagan symbol.
Of course, the Fox News commentators are more angry about a tree burning than the actual loss of human lives. For the past two years, Fox News has downplayed the vaccine, downplayed the pandemic, and downplayed the actual insurrection. I’ve heard more than one person tell me that they’ve seen a relative radicalized by hours of Fox News consumption. Fox News viewers are 30 percent more likely to contract COVID. And then, there are all the unfiltered white supremacist talking points.
And while I don’t have any love for any cable station (looking at you, CNN), you’d be hard-pressed to find a single media source that has done more damage to our democracy. And some woke-mob grinch lit their Christmas tree on fire. And I can’t help but think, What if America is redeemable?
So, there is a little fire of warmth burning in our cold, dead hearts this week. A fire lit by someone who is definitely not a dingus. And here is to more (metaphorical) fires in the New Year.
Leonardo Puglisi @Leo_Puglisi6
#BREAKING: The Fox News Christmas Tree is on fire in NYC https://t.co/xfWdFgdQISAnyway, I write these lines to you from the front lines of the war on Christmas. They’ve taken our holly, our jolly, they’ve even taken Kevin, the Little Drummer Boy, but by god, they’ll never take our…no wait, they took the tree, too.
Also, it’s about that time to decide who was the Dingus of the Year for 2021! Fill out this form for your picks!
What I Am Reading:
Thank you to Ted Weiland, who suggested I read Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson. What an incredible book.
Geraldine DeRuiter wrote about having the worst meal of her life at a Michelin-star restaurant. I’ll give you this small excerpt: “Another course — a citrus foam — was served in a plaster cast of the chef’s mouth. Absent utensils, we were told to lick it out of the chef’s mouth.”
AHHHHHHH!!!
My friend Ted wrote this beautiful essay about reading Petronius and finding hope in a dark time.
The New Yorker had this profile of actor Jeremy Strong who plays Kendall Roy. Even if you don’t watch the show, it’s an incredibly hilarious profile, written with a light hand. Friend of the newsletter Kelsey McKinney suggests, perhaps, Strong did the interview as Kendall. And I hope so. But that wouldn’t explain living in Michelle Williams’ condo and feeding Daniel Day Lewis nuts. I know. Just read it.
Also, while I am deeply involved in Succession, I really thought this analysis by Brandon Taylor was so smart. A particular thing I like about Brandon’s writing is how he so deftly, and elegantly, rips off our masks of pretension and shows us who we are and what we are really about. I will still keep watching, because of sunk cost fallacy.
Cops steal more than burglars do. Always read Lydia Kiesling on motherhood. Don’t read David Brooks on anything.
Seriously, there is no insight there. He’s become the conservative that liberals find palatable. But only because he obfuscates. And if this is you, what are you trying to understand that he’s illuminating? Fill your gaps of understanding by reading people of color and writers who are trans.
This week, I interviewed women whose partners don’t agree with them on the decision to vaccinate their kids. I hope you read it. It’s an important insight into how politics are not just talking points, they affect people’s lives.
This is your regular reminder that it’s not bad if liberal people don’t want to date conservative people.
Andrew Follett @AndrewCFollett
@whignewtons This is probably the most terrifying bit.. Right up there with the friends thing. https://t.co/t1thnqP0AGThis week, Axios, a news site that I have negative feelings about (once Jim VandeHei called me to yell at me because I basically called his newsletter shallow; I stand by it), decided that despite nearly 800,000 pandemic deaths, an assault on voting rights, a sweep of anti-trans bills across American statehouses, and the near reversal of Roe, that the real problem was Republicans not having friends. May I offer a counterpoint? Fuck off.
In fact, if someone doesn’t have good answers for, Are trans people human beings? or, Do Black people deserve to get shot? Then don’t date them. It’s not that complicated.
I did write about this before.
But the bottom line is: YOU CAN’T BOTH SIDES MY VULVA.
On that note, let’s have a drink.
What I Am Drinking
This weekend, I’m throwing myself a little birthday party. My birthday is not until the 19th, but this was the weekend the kids would be with their dad and I wanted to be sloppy and irresponsible. I am turning 39. What a number. I love it. I love everything about getting older. I mean, sure, sagging, wrinkles, getting a kink in my neck because I turned too quickly to look at drink specials written on the wall of a restaurant. All of that. But I love my life so much. I love who I am and who I am becoming. I love this newsletter. I love my book. (MY BOOK! IT’S SO GOOD! Right now, it’s expected to drop by spring of 2023, which is so long, I know, but we will make it.) I love my kids. My dogs. My run-down little house. I love it all. I’m so happy.
This week, I talked to a couple people who are at the beginning of breaking their lives apart to find something new. And to each of them I said, it’s so great on the other side. It’s so wonderful to be here. To have freedom. I am not stepping around the landmines of other people’s expectations (I step right on them now). And it’s great to know that I do not have to exist in a life that makes me miserable. There is no value there. There is no award for my martyrdom. My kids aren’t better for it. No one is better for it. Being bold enough to break everything to find happiness—that’s everything. So, we dance in the kitchen to my bad country music. We laugh about dog poop on the floor. We snuggle in bed and watch Nailed It and eat pizza. We say bad words. We learn that screwing up is okay and necessary, and we live without fear.
And I will write about this a little bit more. But I am also celebrating hitting a subscriber goal this week. I started this newsletter in 2018, when I was a broke single mom desperate to make money and was borrowing money from friends for groceries. Then, in 2020, when the newspaper fired me just days after my face appeared in a GOP attack ad, this became my primary source of income. Substack stepped in and helped me with a grant and gave me an editor, Kim, who is amazing. And from what I’ve earned in this first year, I’ve been able to pay contributors, hire an additional editor for more in-depth pieces. (Thank you, Serena.) And this is also now earning me over twice as much as my previous salary (before taxes). So, in the new year, I’ll be looking for an assistant as well.
This week, I hit what had been, until recently, a secret goal, where this newsletter lapped my former employer in paid digital subscribers. And we have nearly 15,000 total subscribers. That’s not small potatoes.
This year, I’ve really struggled with whether to apply for jobs and stay safe or work hard at this newsletter. But I chose this, because I knew I didn’t want to write yet another book between 10pm and 2am every night (which is what I’d have to do if I took another FT job and how I wrote the first two). And it feels like I made the right call.
Also, I am already working on more ambitious pieces for next year. And hope to be able to bring on more contributors and really just raise some hell. But I am so absolutely grateful that you all read this newsletter. That you find value here. And as someone who was barely scraping by two years ago, it means so much to know that I can do this.
I have so much to celebrate. So much to be grateful for.
So, A VAT OF MANHATTANS IS WHAT I AM DRINKING!
If you read this newsletter, and you like it, consider going to the paid version. Paying for the newsletter allows me to keep writing this like it’s my job. And has allowed me to travel and report and research the things that I write about here. I also have an editor and (if you can believe it), I sometimes hire writers and pay them above-market rates so we can expand the conversations we have. If it’s not in your budget (no worries!), I am working to keep the bulk of what I write free. But if you can, that helps me keep doing this. Subscribers receive a special Monday newsletter where we talk about anything, everything. And are also able to comment. Once someone paid money to comment that they hated me. Maybe that’s you! Subscribe today.
Befriend? Date? We won't even knowingly hire a worker or company that is Republican. Seriously, I nose around on FB, looking for signs. We got burned when I found a photo of our yard guy doing the white supremacist "OK" sign on FB. Now I do my PI work preemptively. Politics = Morality. Hey, when I was a college student, I didn't date guys whose record collections were shitty! Not dating a Trumper is totally defensible.
I LOVE the community you have built here Lyz - and I adore everything you write. I look forward to your emails and your posts every single week. My wholehearted congratulations on the great subscriber numbers and on your successful creation of a new independent existence. I got divorced 8 years ago and in hindsight I am furious with myself for not leaving YEARS earlier. As you said, martyrdom does not really serve ANYONE. Hooray for independence, autonomy and the simple joy of self determination. I love it here! Also, Manhattans.