You know, if I were the type to write restaurant reviews on Yelp, I'd certainly leave negative reviews if the place, like, REALLY sucked (especially if the price to quality ratio was severely off balance). But mostly, I'd leave positive reviews of the places I really like. If the place was just mediocre, I don't think I'd even bother to review it at all. I mean, why? And jesus, this review of Rama just COMPLETELY exemplifies what a fucking self-entitled, sheltered, classist, ethnocentric, small-minded little twat she is. It's a tiny, family-run place. There's only one chef there (and maybe an assistant) who cooks every dish every night. There are never more than 2 (maybe 3?) servers working there at a time. Did she happen to notice how inexpensive the dishes were? It's called low overheads, dingbat! Everyone who goes there with any regularity knows the deal. You always have to wait. It's a leisurely, sit-down and stay awhile kind of place. That's what happens when you have one chef cooking everything and a small waitstaff. Her attitude is worse than that of a fucking rich, white republican guy. I thought open-minded liberals were into waiting for their food. I thought that made the whole thing more authentic or something? As for the decor... I've always found it very charming. Plus, if she'd ever actually been to a south Asian country, she'd realize that Rama pretty much looks, feels (and tastes) a lot like the middle-class establishments over there, except cleaner and less slow. Maybe authenticity is just too last year for her. And the bit about trying to appear to be a food critic and intimidating the server into hurrying? My god... how much more strongly can one reek of white privilege? And lastly, why the fuck does she feel the need to comment on the clothing choices by the place's patrons? Really? Not only does it not make a lick of difference, but ridiculing people for wearing cargo pants, polos, and whitecaps without a whiff of provocation is so fucking juvenile it hurts. Maybe if they'd been dicks to her and her friends, a jab at their lame fashion choices might be in order, but... what the fuck? How can she be so completely and utterly un-self-aware? Also, the place looks NOTHING like a strip club, so that feeble attempt at humor falls completely flat.
And for what it's worth, I like the food at Rama. There are a few menu items to avoid at all costs, but if you know what to order, you can have quite a fantastic meal. But that's neither here nor there. The point is... good riddance to the queen of misery. Something about Colleen Kane living here made me actually LIKE Baton Rouge. But then again, I've taken the time to seek out the good stuff, have kept an open mind throughout it, and have had the patience to wait politely when restaurants have gotten overwhelmed with business as they sometimes do. But then, I'm not Jersey trash pretending to be a Brooklyn queen. (yeah, I said it)
Seriously, it doesn't really matter to me if she or anyone else doesn't like Rama or Baton Rouge or whatever. It's just the seething shitstain "Keeping Up With the Knickerbockers" attitude behind it.
Of course, there's plenty of idiots like this. But it's particularly offensive coming from her because a. She obviously considers herself far more aware, high-minded and liberal than your average "dumb southerner," and b. she's ostensibly a writer, which means she gets paid to communicate thoughts.
You know, I'm not perfect either. I like to think I'm usually pretty good at overcoming whatever personality flaws and inborn prejudices I struggle with, but sometimes I don't. I get frustrated like everyone else does (which is obvious to anyone who reads this journal), and when I'm frustrated like that I am far less likely to be forgiving and compassionate and all the stuff that centered people who lead happy lives are.
Knowing that I can be impossible like that, and that I totally have the capacity to contribute more bullshit, unfairness, and general stupidity into a world that's already pretty rampant with it, I tend to spend a lot of time reflecting on things I dislike. This isn't so much because I get a lot of pleasure over obsessing over things I hate, but because I want to make sure that I hate the things I hate for the right reasons. I don't have to force myself to "like" anything, of course -- but if I realize that I hate something because of some dumb reason, at the very least I can just ignore/forget about it and LIVE AND LET LIVE, you know?
This, to me, is one of the most important parts of the critical thinking process. And if you're a writer, or even just a person who wishes to make the world less crappy, it's even more important because it ultimately determines just how successful you are at attaining your goals and living up to the "ideal" you that we all should aspire to be.
It's so obvious from everything she writes that Ms. Kane completely overlooks/devalues this part of that process. When I see stuff like this, I really get the feeling that I'm viewing a person at their worst (or at least much closer to their worst than their best). Which begs the question: Why would a writer put themselves out there at their worst, so consistently? And the answer is: Because they are PROUD of themselves AT THEIR WORST. From what I can tell she made absolutely no real friends or connections or any sort of discoveries in a place she lived for 3 years and seems proud of that. That's nothing to be proud of!
My dad, who is kind of conservative (but not REALLY conservative) and a fairly smart guy, has always said to me: "If I sent you to school and you came out thinking exactly the same way as you did before or like me, I'd feel I got ripped off." If even my dad, as a 60-something conservative who lives in the south, can hold such a flexible view of the world, why can't a "high-minded" "liberal" like she?
And jesus, this review of Rama just COMPLETELY exemplifies what a fucking self-entitled, sheltered, classist, ethnocentric, small-minded little twat she is.
It's a tiny, family-run place. There's only one chef there (and maybe an assistant) who cooks every dish every night. There are never more than 2 (maybe 3?) servers working there at a time. Did she happen to notice how inexpensive the dishes were? It's called low overheads, dingbat! Everyone who goes there with any regularity knows the deal. You always have to wait. It's a leisurely, sit-down and stay awhile kind of place. That's what happens when you have one chef cooking everything and a small waitstaff. Her attitude is worse than that of a fucking rich, white republican guy. I thought open-minded liberals were into waiting for their food. I thought that made the whole thing more authentic or something?
As for the decor... I've always found it very charming. Plus, if she'd ever actually been to a south Asian country, she'd realize that Rama pretty much looks, feels (and tastes) a lot like the middle-class establishments over there, except cleaner and less slow. Maybe authenticity is just too last year for her.
And the bit about trying to appear to be a food critic and intimidating the server into hurrying? My god... how much more strongly can one reek of white privilege?
And lastly, why the fuck does she feel the need to comment on the clothing choices by the place's patrons? Really? Not only does it not make a lick of difference, but ridiculing people for wearing cargo pants, polos, and whitecaps without a whiff of provocation is so fucking juvenile it hurts. Maybe if they'd been dicks to her and her friends, a jab at their lame fashion choices might be in order, but... what the fuck? How can she be so completely and utterly un-self-aware?
Also, the place looks NOTHING like a strip club, so that feeble attempt at humor falls completely flat.
And for what it's worth, I like the food at Rama. There are a few menu items to avoid at all costs, but if you know what to order, you can have quite a fantastic meal. But that's neither here nor there. The point is... good riddance to the queen of misery. Something about Colleen Kane living here made me actually LIKE Baton Rouge. But then again, I've taken the time to seek out the good stuff, have kept an open mind throughout it, and have had the patience to wait politely when restaurants have gotten overwhelmed with business as they sometimes do.
But then, I'm not Jersey trash pretending to be a Brooklyn queen. (yeah, I said it)
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Of course, there's plenty of idiots like this. But it's particularly offensive coming from her because a. She obviously considers herself far more aware, high-minded and liberal than your average "dumb southerner," and b. she's ostensibly a writer, which means she gets paid to communicate thoughts.
You know, I'm not perfect either. I like to think I'm usually pretty good at overcoming whatever personality flaws and inborn prejudices I struggle with, but sometimes I don't. I get frustrated like everyone else does (which is obvious to anyone who reads this journal), and when I'm frustrated like that I am far less likely to be forgiving and compassionate and all the stuff that centered people who lead happy lives are.
Knowing that I can be impossible like that, and that I totally have the capacity to contribute more bullshit, unfairness, and general stupidity into a world that's already pretty rampant with it, I tend to spend a lot of time reflecting on things I dislike. This isn't so much because I get a lot of pleasure over obsessing over things I hate, but because I want to make sure that I hate the things I hate for the right reasons. I don't have to force myself to "like" anything, of course -- but if I realize that I hate something because of some dumb reason, at the very least I can just ignore/forget about it and LIVE AND LET LIVE, you know?
This, to me, is one of the most important parts of the critical thinking process. And if you're a writer, or even just a person who wishes to make the world less crappy, it's even more important because it ultimately determines just how successful you are at attaining your goals and living up to the "ideal" you that we all should aspire to be.
It's so obvious from everything she writes that Ms. Kane completely overlooks/devalues this part of that process. When I see stuff like this, I really get the feeling that I'm viewing a person at their worst (or at least much closer to their worst than their best). Which begs the question: Why would a writer put themselves out there at their worst, so consistently? And the answer is: Because they are PROUD of themselves AT THEIR WORST. From what I can tell she made absolutely no real friends or connections or any sort of discoveries in a place she lived for 3 years and seems proud of that. That's nothing to be proud of!
My dad, who is kind of conservative (but not REALLY conservative) and a fairly smart guy, has always said to me: "If I sent you to school and you came out thinking exactly the same way as you did before or like me, I'd feel I got ripped off." If even my dad, as a 60-something conservative who lives in the south, can hold such a flexible view of the world, why can't a "high-minded" "liberal" like she?
Because she's totally full of shit, that's why.
Reply
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