Thus far, we at "Denial Is Not a River in Egypt" have been far too busy with other narcissists in your little town to take on this particular variant.
Perhaps as time permits, as Ms. Zucker seems just PERFECT for our show!!
We're curious if her Tweeting-device will be permitted in the delivery room, so that she might keep her perceived circle of "fans" apprised of all the fascinating minutiae in real time.
Perhaps someone could be engaged to "take dictation," in between contractions? Perhaps she has even acquired some voice-recognition application, to enable her to continue to control her communications, all feet-in-stirrups & hands-free!
A videographer would be wonderful to capture the authenticity of the process--primal screaming, etc. (Perhaps "Tiger Mama Roars" will be our working title....)
Especially so that footage of her sure to be highly coveted objects, such as the umbilical cord & placenta, could be captured for posterity! (We already sense the umbilical cord holds a particularly powerful & enduring symbolic resonance for Ms. Zucker!)
Based on what Psycho-Scouts have researched thus far, we imagine she already has very carefully strategized plans. But we would of course be more than happy to offer her a staff member to help with any documentation, so long as a blanket release is signed for use of any material on "Denial."
"While I am not...un-moved...still I do not feel constrained to grip the bed frame. I expect to finish before Conan's monologue. I do hope 'everyone' is aware of that time-table...Ahem..."
I am tired of these attacks on Kathy and think that this is going way too far. GA, you know I love you and am a big fan of this blog, but in this case you have gone too far. Kathy is a private citizen, holds no public office, and has done nothing to merit this post or scrutiny. What she chooses to post or twitter under her own private account is really her business, TMI or not. This post is nothing but exploitative and in poor taste.
that argument doesn't hold up. are you saying something posted on a social media network isn't for social consumption? yes, what she chooses to post is entirely her business...and when she does it, she implicitly opens herself up to feedback and reactions, both positive or negative. she choose to put the topic out there for all to see. if you don't want feedback/reaction, then don't tweet it.
Hey, if you guys want to bear responsibility for maliciously and publicly going after a pregnant woman twittering her thoughts right before going labor, be my guest. In the court of public opinion, Kathy isn't the one who is going to look foolish or cruel. Wipe your conscience.
Kathy Z. initiated herself into "the court of public opinion" by styling herself as a local social media persona. Given that, JAM's remarks seem valid.
Given the general tenor of her posts and twitterings, MBB suggests her apparent self-aborption is understandably irritating to some readers. Narcissistic behavior often engenders that response.
Some might reasonably suggest she herself has chosen to appear "foolish," even if she does not apparently possess enough self-awareness to realize same.
She chooses to "expose" herself via social media. If others choose to respond, that is simply the nature of the social media beast.
For what it's worth, MBB actually feels sorry for her & her family that she chooses this kind of behavior.
Zucker is not a private citizen. She blogs about her family life in the most intimate detail on her blog, twitter and Patch in a regular column. Zucker reveals the minutia of her life that most people choose to keep private from her financial status to her conception planning. If Zucker doesn't want to be the subject of scrutiny she shouldn't broadcast the intimate details of her life.
One may interpret this post however one wishes. You've interpreted it as an attack on an individual. Which of course is one way to look it at.
As the author, the spirit of the post and my 'point' is more about the use of social media to disseminate highly personal information to countless anonymous strangers- it doesn't get more intimate for us gals than the changes our bodies go through prior to the miracle of birth.
While you are certainly entitled to your opinion, the post stands as a commentary on the use social media to disseminate such intamacies to strangers. Like me.
It is absolutely fair game for commentary. ANYONE who publishes personal information in the public arena is subject to commentary.
And NO kz is not a private person- not in a court of law nor the court of public opinion. She's columnist and as far as I know, gives advice on an array of subjects- from parenting to business. That makes her a 'limited public figure' and subject to the public's commentary.
Bad taste?
Well, I've been accused of that. I would say publishing the status of one's mucus plug or cervix to strangers on Tiwtter and Facebook is in questionable taste.
But really, the post is more directed at the use of social media to apprise the public such things.
Would anyone care to hear about my latest menstrual period? Stay tuned to Twitter.
Then after you've read it, feel free to respond as you wish.
GA, still love you too. Always will. But, sorry guys. Have to disagree. Kathy stopped being a columnist on Patch this past fall. Her blog is just that, a blog. There are thousands of them out there. And in terms of twitter, if you don't like what she has to say, why are you following her?
Whether intended to or not, this post and the related comments read as yet ANOTHER personal attack on her. And the timing, when she is 9 months pregnant and going into labor, is really very difficult to justify, even if none of the above were true, even if everything the above posters were saying were true.
She can close the door to her life anytime she wishes. Many individuals keep their blogs and twitter private. Zucker however invited the public into her life. From her Patch column:
"To read more about what makes Kathy Zucker tick, check out her blog at http://momcondoliving.com/ and follow her at http://twitter.com/kathyzucker"
No, no, no. I don't read kz anywhere- these screenshots were in emails sent to myself and others on a fair-sized distribution of folks likewise intrigued by their intimate nature.
KZ is not a private person. Her column is still on Patch, active or not, and exists as a portal to her other online ventures where she promotes herself, her businesses and offers advice.
Btw, kz blocked me on Twitter long ago based on the views I expressed to her about baby modeling. I think I was quite civil, merely expressed a different POV. You can see for yourself.
Sorry, but Tweeting and Facebooking about one's dilating cervix and dwindling mucus plug to anonymous strangers seems (to me) to defile the sacred experience of childbirth more than anything on this blog ever could.
We must agree to disagree on this one, dear friend.
MBB apologizes for belaboring the point, Julie. But somehow, your repeated "coming to the defense" seems to not factor in Kathy Z.'s initiative & free agency.
Kathy Z. has freely chosen, at "9 months pregnant and going into labor" to publicly post the minute personal details of that experience.
not so fast's comment supports that Kathy Z. personally encourages public attention around "what makes Kathy Zucker tick...."
What some may find "really very difficult to justify"--not to mention annoying--is what may motivate her to believe her personal life deserves such public interest in such private matters.
While she is certainly not alone in her narcissistic social media behavior (for ex., MBB was recently subjected to a detailed FB post about someone's post-nasal drip-?!), she has freely chosen to blur the boundaries of her personal and public lives. That seems to be the point GA & commenters are addressing.
Obviously, some of "what makes [her] tick," ticks off some folks. Could they simply choose to not read & comment? Absolutely.
Kathy Z. is also a free agent, including perhaps considering Truman's temperature in the kitchen option.
I find it quite disgusting and in bad taste to talk about your own vagina in public. K Zucker needs to be ridiculed, otherwise she'll never learn what's socially acceptable and what's not. However, this thread is most entertaining. Kathy is either seeking attention (why otherwise would you talk about your private parts to anyone else but your gynecologist?) or she has no decency boundaries.
(Too bad, hadenough. MBB was going to offer you a ticket to "The Vagina Monologues." ;-)
While MBB has already overstated her take on appropriate boundaries & Kathy Z., she does take some general issue with your comments.
With the caveat that appropriate context is everything, MBB believes the world would be a far healthier place if folks were less squeamish about their "privates."
So many folks would surely feel so much better about their bodies & themselves, if greater comfort levels for open discussion---not only, for ex., with healthcare professionals, but also with a partner--were more the cultural norm.
So much unnecessary discomfort, guilt & shame, etc., all too often breeds misinformation & many other unfortunate outcomes.
That's right! Going with your boyfriend or husband to watch 'The Vagina Monologues' is highly entertaining. Speaking about your private parts with friends and family is definitely good practice if you're seeking information or help. However, posting personal stuff on Facebook or Twitter or whatever else is out there (I personally think that twitter will be short lived, it's such an useless social media outlet; I would rather read books than open an account on twitter) reveals how empty people's lives are.
Especially the preference for reading over tweeting.
(And while we're on the subject of books & privates, MBB highly recommends the wonderful historical novel, "Sex Wars," by Marge Piercy. All about the early days of feminism & sexual politics, in post-Civil War America.)
(You're very welcome & hope you enjoy a terrific read! Do hope the kindle-format includes the wonderful cover photo. Piercy's "Gone to Soldiers," about WWII, is also excellent.)
Everybody seems to be dancing around the point here, so let me make it a bit more plain:
Kathy Zucker is someone who took it upon herself not only to blog and tweet the intimate details of her private life, but to solicit a regular column on a community news site (Patch) specifically to position and promote herself as Hoboken's resident motherhood guru, thereby necessarily holding her life up to public scrutiny in order to establish her credibility as an authority on how others should live their lives.
Ms. Zucker proceeded to use this platform not so much to offer genuine, sincere, relatable advice but rather (a) to promote herself and her marketing business, and (b) to cattily, backhandedly brag about her accomplishments with a tone and manner clearly intended to leave the reader feeling underaccomplished and inadequate. Ms. Zucker would present her boasts in a way that did not offer any sort of advice people might use to try to replicate her "succeses," but simply to present herself (accurately or otherwise, I frankly do not know the woman) as a superior being living an ubermensch existence we mortals could merely dream of.
When Ms. Zucker tweets, during labor or at any other time, those who jeer do so not out of mean-spiritness, spite or envy but because we all share a sense of the self-importance she ascribes to her constant blow-by-blow of her self-perceived "perfect life."
She annoys us on Twitter because she is, in fact, a twit. And we react accordingly.
TMI, TMI!!!!
ReplyDeleteThus far, we at "Denial Is Not a River in Egypt" have been far too busy with other narcissists in your little town to take on this particular variant.
ReplyDeletePerhaps as time permits, as Ms. Zucker seems just PERFECT for our show!!
We're curious if her Tweeting-device will be permitted in the delivery room, so that she might keep her perceived circle of "fans" apprised of all the fascinating minutiae in real time.
Perhaps someone could be engaged to "take dictation," in between contractions? Perhaps she has even acquired some voice-recognition application, to enable her to continue to control her communications, all feet-in-stirrups & hands-free!
A videographer would be wonderful to capture the authenticity of the process--primal screaming, etc. (Perhaps "Tiger Mama Roars" will be our working title....)
Especially so that footage of her sure to be highly coveted objects, such as the umbilical cord & placenta, could be captured for posterity! (We already sense the umbilical cord holds a particularly powerful & enduring symbolic resonance for Ms. Zucker!)
Based on what Psycho-Scouts have researched thus far, we imagine she already has very carefully strategized plans. But we would of course be more than happy to offer her a staff member to help with any documentation, so long as a blanket release is signed for use of any material on "Denial."
If anyone ever tweets during sex, it will be she.
ReplyDelete"While I am not...un-moved...still I do not feel constrained to grip the bed frame. I expect to finish before Conan's monologue. I do hope 'everyone' is aware of that time-table...Ahem..."
I am tired of these attacks on Kathy and think that this is going way too far. GA, you know I love you and am a big fan of this blog, but in this case you have gone too far. Kathy is a private citizen, holds no public office, and has done nothing to merit this post or scrutiny. What she chooses to post or twitter under her own private account is really her business, TMI or not. This post is nothing but exploitative and in poor taste.
ReplyDeletethat argument doesn't hold up. are you saying something posted on a social media network isn't for social consumption? yes, what she chooses to post is entirely her business...and when she does it, she implicitly opens herself up to feedback and reactions, both positive or negative. she choose to put the topic out there for all to see. if you don't want feedback/reaction, then don't tweet it.
DeleteHey, if you guys want to bear responsibility for maliciously and publicly going after a pregnant woman twittering her thoughts right before going labor, be my guest. In the court of public opinion, Kathy isn't the one who is going to look foolish or cruel. Wipe your conscience.
ReplyDeleteKathy Z. initiated herself into "the court of public opinion" by styling herself as a local social media persona. Given that, JAM's remarks seem valid.
DeleteGiven the general tenor of her posts and twitterings, MBB suggests her apparent self-aborption is understandably irritating to some readers. Narcissistic behavior often engenders that response.
Some might reasonably suggest she herself has chosen to appear "foolish," even if she does not apparently possess enough self-awareness to realize same.
She chooses to "expose" herself via social media. If others choose to respond, that is simply the nature of the social media beast.
For what it's worth, MBB actually feels sorry for her & her family that she chooses this kind of behavior.
Zucker is not a private citizen. She blogs about her family life in the most intimate detail on her blog, twitter and Patch in a regular column. Zucker reveals the minutia of her life that most people choose to keep private from her financial status to her conception planning. If Zucker doesn't want to be the subject of scrutiny she shouldn't broadcast the intimate details of her life.
ReplyDeleteJulie, I love you too, dear.
ReplyDeleteOne may interpret this post however one wishes. You've interpreted it as an attack on an individual. Which of course is one way to look it at.
As the author, the spirit of the post and my 'point' is more about the use of social media to disseminate highly personal information to countless anonymous strangers- it doesn't get more intimate for us gals than the changes our bodies go through prior to the miracle of birth.
While you are certainly entitled to your opinion, the post stands as a commentary on the use social media to disseminate such intamacies to strangers. Like me.
It is absolutely fair game for commentary. ANYONE who publishes personal information in the public arena is subject to commentary.
And NO kz is not a private person- not in a court of law nor the court of public opinion. She's columnist and as far as I know, gives advice on an array of subjects- from parenting to business. That makes her a 'limited public figure' and subject to the public's commentary.
Bad taste?
Well, I've been accused of that. I would say publishing the status of one's mucus plug or cervix to strangers on Tiwtter and Facebook is in questionable taste.
But really, the post is more directed at the use of social media to apprise the public such things.
Would anyone care to hear about my latest menstrual period? Stay tuned to Twitter.
Then after you've read it, feel free to respond as you wish.
GA, still love you too. Always will. But, sorry guys. Have to disagree. Kathy stopped being a columnist on Patch this past fall. Her blog is just that, a blog. There are thousands of them out there. And in terms of twitter, if you don't like what she has to say, why are you following her?
ReplyDeleteWhether intended to or not, this post and the related comments read as yet ANOTHER personal attack on her. And the timing, when she is 9 months pregnant and going into labor, is really very difficult to justify, even if none of the above were true, even if everything the above posters were saying were true.
She can close the door to her life anytime she wishes. Many individuals keep their blogs and twitter private. Zucker however invited the public into her life. From her Patch column:
Delete"To read more about what makes Kathy Zucker tick, check out her blog at http://momcondoliving.com/ and follow her at http://twitter.com/kathyzucker"
Julie,
DeleteNo, no, no. I don't read kz anywhere- these screenshots were in emails sent to myself and others on a fair-sized distribution of folks likewise intrigued by their intimate nature.
KZ is not a private person. Her column is still on Patch, active or not, and exists as a portal to her other online ventures where she promotes herself, her businesses and offers advice.
Btw, kz blocked me on Twitter long ago based on the views I expressed to her about baby modeling. I think I was quite civil, merely expressed a different POV. You can see for yourself.
http://hoboken.patch.com/articles/baby-models-cinderellas-or-drudges
Sorry, but Tweeting and Facebooking about one's dilating cervix and dwindling mucus plug to anonymous strangers seems (to me) to defile the sacred experience of childbirth more than anything on this blog ever could.
We must agree to disagree on this one, dear friend.
MBB apologizes for belaboring the point, Julie. But somehow, your repeated "coming to the defense" seems to not factor in Kathy Z.'s initiative & free agency.
DeleteKathy Z. has freely chosen, at "9 months pregnant and going into labor" to publicly post the minute personal details of that experience.
not so fast's comment supports that Kathy Z. personally encourages public attention around "what makes Kathy Zucker tick...."
What some may find "really very difficult to justify"--not to mention annoying--is what may motivate her to believe her personal life deserves such public interest in such private matters.
While she is certainly not alone in her narcissistic social media behavior (for ex., MBB was recently subjected to a detailed FB post about someone's post-nasal drip-?!), she has freely chosen to blur the boundaries of her personal and public lives. That seems to be the point GA & commenters are addressing.
Obviously, some of "what makes [her] tick," ticks off some folks. Could they simply choose to not read & comment? Absolutely.
Kathy Z. is also a free agent, including perhaps considering Truman's temperature in the kitchen option.
A FB post about someone's post-nasal drip? Fascinating.
DeleteA dripping nostril vs. a dripping mucus plug.
Eenie meenie miney moe...
I find it quite disgusting and in bad taste to talk about your own vagina in public. K Zucker needs to be ridiculed, otherwise she'll never learn what's socially acceptable and what's not. However, this thread is most entertaining. Kathy is either seeking attention (why otherwise would you talk about your private parts to anyone else but your gynecologist?) or she has no decency boundaries.
ReplyDelete(Too bad, hadenough. MBB was going to offer you a ticket to "The Vagina Monologues." ;-)
DeleteWhile MBB has already overstated her take on appropriate boundaries & Kathy Z., she does take some general issue with your comments.
With the caveat that appropriate context is everything, MBB believes the world would be a far healthier place if folks were less squeamish about their "privates."
So many folks would surely feel so much better about their bodies & themselves, if greater comfort levels for open discussion---not only, for ex., with healthcare professionals, but also with a partner--were more the cultural norm.
So much unnecessary discomfort, guilt & shame, etc., all too often breeds misinformation & many other unfortunate outcomes.
Dear MBB... I think as your caveat noted, context is everything.
DeleteI imagine hadenough's responding to the sharing of such intimacies via social media like Twitter and Facebook.
That's right! Going with your boyfriend or husband to watch 'The Vagina Monologues' is highly entertaining. Speaking about your private parts with friends and family is definitely good practice if you're seeking information or help. However, posting personal stuff on Facebook or Twitter or whatever else is out there (I personally think that twitter will be short lived, it's such an useless social media outlet; I would rather read books than open an account on twitter) reveals how empty people's lives are.
ReplyDeleteAgree completely--well said, hadenough!
DeleteEspecially the preference for reading over tweeting.
(And while we're on the subject of books & privates, MBB highly recommends the wonderful historical novel, "Sex Wars," by Marge Piercy. All about the early days of feminism & sexual politics, in post-Civil War America.)
Thank you MBB. The sample is already on my kindle :)
DeletePolly here provides the most eloquent analysis of the 'twit' numb nuts. Very entertaining!
Yes, Polly's take is uber-on-target!
Delete(You're very welcome & hope you enjoy a terrific read! Do hope the kindle-format includes the wonderful cover photo. Piercy's "Gone to Soldiers," about WWII, is also excellent.)
Everybody seems to be dancing around the point here, so let me make it a bit more plain:
ReplyDeleteKathy Zucker is someone who took it upon herself not only to blog and tweet the intimate details of her private life, but to solicit a regular column on a community news site (Patch) specifically to position and promote herself as Hoboken's resident motherhood guru, thereby necessarily holding her life up to public scrutiny in order to establish her credibility as an authority on how others should live their lives.
Ms. Zucker proceeded to use this platform not so much to offer genuine, sincere, relatable advice but rather (a) to promote herself and her marketing business, and (b) to cattily, backhandedly brag about her accomplishments with a tone and manner clearly intended to leave the reader feeling underaccomplished and inadequate. Ms. Zucker would present her boasts in a way that did not offer any sort of advice people might use to try to replicate her "succeses," but simply to present herself (accurately or otherwise, I frankly do not know the woman) as a superior being living an ubermensch existence we mortals could merely dream of.
When Ms. Zucker tweets, during labor or at any other time, those who jeer do so not out of mean-spiritness, spite or envy but because we all share a sense of the self-importance she ascribes to her constant blow-by-blow of her self-perceived "perfect life."
She annoys us on Twitter because she is, in fact, a twit. And we react accordingly.
Maybe Zucker meant to post on Twatter?
ReplyDeleteYou are just so wickedly funny, Oracle!
DeleteOk, does anyone have a babywatch update?
ReplyDeleteI just checked her Twitter and Facebook pages.
DeleteShe tweeted 7 hours ago- around 9 am. From the hospital?
Wow... we've all gotten sucked in!