Amen, Brother...

Tell It:

Self-Awareness and the Internet
By Brad Salisbury, Palm Beach Post.

The internet has shattered a number of things: the psyche of emotionally unstable youths, divisions between our personal lives, and barriers preventing the free flow of knowledge and information. It has mostly been a positive force for society, but I can’t help but lament the loss of innocence it has brought about. Namely that nearly everyone using it is too self-aware.

Irony has crept into every comment, video and meme dispersed among it pages and links.
The rampant infection that is self-awareness jumps from host to host at an alarming rate; devouring the the most naive before they realize their internet virginity has been taken.

Those uncontaminated internet maidens like Marilyn Hagerty, 85 year-old restaurant critic of the Grand Forks Herald whose review of the “eagerly anticipated” restaurant – the Olive Garden – went viral. Marilyn’s critique is straightforward as to be recommended reading only for uncontacted peoples and maybe - maybe – extraterrestrials.

But I couldn’t be more proud of her. This is a woman who has, by her estimation, reviewed 1,900 restaurants. Her writing style can best be described as earnest. Of course, someone this earnest is screaming to be trampled by the stampede that is internet culture. In their view, she is simply too on-the-nose to be allowed in the digital world. A review of the Olive Garden without irony is unacceptable. So the internet powers that be have sought to corrupt sweet Marilyn by virally forcing her throughout every corner of the web. Even her own paper has piled on the the self-aware smear campaign by devoting its entire staff to coverage of Marilyn Hagerty. They’ve been pumping out patronizing articles trying to explain her past; attempting to understand the forces that have allowed any person, especially a writer, this earnest to exist in 2012 AND cohabitate the same World Wide Web as the dark armies of the self-aware.

To me, Marilyn Hagerty, from this point forward shall be known as Saint Marilyn; in honor of her contributions to battling the hordes that seek to turn every denizen of the internet into an ironic, self-aware coward. The best and worst aspects of the internet are caused by the anonymity it provides. It is a place where cowards can anonymously spew hatred on their fellow man with no consequences, and a place where people can write earnest reviews about the Olive Garden.

Here’s to you, St. Marilyn, for your unashamed earnestness in an environment that is dumbfounded and too often attempts to capitalize on anti-self-aware heroes. They are only jealous of the innocence they lost – somewhere between the Dancing Baby and a review of the Olive Garden.

--------------------
From the embedded link:

"She writes five columns a week, and they are all this sort of this very direct, no-nonsense approach to what's going on," said Mike Jacobs, publisher of the newspaper. "She has her detractors, but she's very popular. She's a real asset to the Herald."

It's not the first thrill created by an Olive Garden opening in North Dakota. Back in 2008, when construction began on a location in Bismarck, it was front-page news in the Bismarck Tribune.

Hagerty said she was surprised by the reaction. She called her son, Wall Street Journal reporter Bob Hagerty, to ask what it meant to "go viral."

She acknowledged that some bloggers were making fun of her, but said she has received dozens of emails from people defending her, too.

Hagerty, whose late husband, Jack, was the longtime editor of the Herald, has been writing for the paper for six decades. She estimates she's done more than 1,500 restaurant reviews. And when she's found the cuisine to be terrible, she skips the review.

That's the way her bosses want it, she said.

"It's just sort of a way of life for me, to go out and eat," she said, adding that she pays for all her meals.

Tom Sietsema, food critic for The Washington Post and a Minnesota native, said Hagerty need not apologize for her choice of restaurants.

"Here's what I think. People poke fun of the Olive Garden. But, hey, if that's what the people there are talking about, that's theirs. She is covering news," Sietsema said.

He did have one complaint about the review, and it came with a chuckle. Marilyn didn't try any other entrees.

"She based this whole review on one dish, and she didn't even bother to have a lemonade. She did not do a thorough job," Sietsema said.

The restaurant could not have paid for such intense publicity, he added, calling this "Olive Garden's lucky day."

The same could be said for the Grand Forks Herald, Jacobs said.

"I'm delighted," Jacobs said. "We got a quarter of million hits on our website. Every modern newspaper editor dreams of such of thing. But you can never make it happen. It sort of happens on its own."

Heidi Schauer, spokeswoman for Olive Garden, said she read the review and a "lot of the other articles" that have followed.

"We're appreciative of the attention the restaurant is getting," she said. "Business is going well, and we're just excited for the Grand Forks community."