memories of going over the edge

The new Dixie Chicks single, Not Ready To Make Nice, has an interesting passage

And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter
Saying that I better
Shut up and sing or my life will be over

I wonder if the people who wrote those death threats have heard the song? What do they feel? ( Read more... )

People hear about death threats to this or that performer, shrug, and say, people are crazy. In this song, Maines is trying to put herself in the place of the letter writer, and admitting that it doesn't make sense to her. But I don't hear the letter writer being dismissed; I hear the writer being called to account.

How in the world could those words send you so over the edge that you'd write a letter threatening to kill the speaker? How could you be so far away from rational, adult behavior that you would let yourself act this way?

It's a good question.

Edit: The quoted bit of the song is from Maines' point of view, but the song is credited to all three Chicks (Emily Robinson, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines) and Dan Wilson.

QOTD - Miss Manners

I found this to be a good reminder...writing on surveys showing that people are rude everywhere:

What bothers [Miss Manners] is that encouraging people to condemn the rudeness of others relieves them of responsibility for the state of things. It's all those awful people out there who are making life so unpleasant for us. Tsk, tsk.

Miss Manners would like to add some questions to that survey:

How much leeway do you allow yourself to disobey etiquette rules because you are in a hurry or have work to do or are upset about something else?

When you encounter rudeness, do you feel justified in retaliating in kind?

Are you willing to contribute to a more polite society by forgoing behavior that others find offensive?

Personally I would change the "forgoing behavior that others find offensive" to "forgoing the pleasure of treating others rudely". And it can be a pleasure to let oneself be Queen of one's little universe...at least, until you discover that the Queen is rather solitary, as the subjects all run off to form their own little Queendoms.

I'm not lazy; I'm French?

I tend to darken my eyebrows to give my face definition. I know I can also even out my skin coloring or highlight my eyes or lips with makeup, but I usually don't bother. I thought I was being lazy. Turns out it's the current French "look" (NY Times).

Too much makeup, French women say, makes a woman seem older, or even worse, as if she makes a living walking the streets. [...]

To women in France, the too-made-up look represents something more profound than simply one's taste in skin care. It is also the mark of the desperate housewife type who tries too hard.

"The most beautiful makeup for a woman is passion" is the famous quotation of the designer Yves Saint Laurent. "But cosmetics are easier to buy."

[...] Instead, French women invest more time aiming for perfect, blemish-free skin. If there is an obsession, it is tight pores. Even French women of modest means are much more likely than American women to get treatments in spas or clinics that scrub, polish, buff, massage and cream their skins.

I don't spend much time on skin treatments, either. Pooh.

This quote did make me think, tho. It's from Olivia Hollert, a 22-year-old nurse: "[W]hen you use too much makeup, it means you are hiding from yourself."