Priorities
In order to do some research for my previous blog post, I spent some time clicking through the various blogs offered up by blogspot's "Next Blog" button, taking a look at the community competition. Having seen a few dozen blogs, the conclusion I came to was that every blogger except me, Ezra Klein, Paul Krugman and maybe Tucker Max is a mommyblogger.
The blog that eventually halted my browsing was fairly standard - the phrases "precious angel" and "my crazy life" made their routine appearances - but I was astonished to discover that this particular woman was, in her own words, "married to the most wonderful man in the world".
Surely not, madam, I thought. The superlative "most wonderful" can only apply to one man out of a population of three billion... and you just happened to snag him? And if he is indeed the most wonderful man in the world, why is your blog predominantly about the unremarkable exploits of your children, and not a meticulously crafted and updated paean to this paragon? You are in a position to share with global civilisation the stories of the person who has achieved the apex of masculine virtue... and you blog about some slack-jawed toddler's birthday party instead? Are you, madam, bonkers?
However, just on the offchance that this woman was indulging in a little light hyperbole, I did a google search for the phrase "married to the most wonderful man". I was given two million, four hundred and ten thousand results.
Crikey, I said. Either monogamy is not one of this man's virtues, or there are at least two million, four hundred and nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine women out there who are laboring under false assumptions.
My curiosity piqued, I did a little further research:
Google results for "married to the most wonderful man" = 2,410,000
Google results for "married to the most wonderful woman" = 781,000
Oops. Across the world, 1,629,000 men are suddenly in BIG trouble.
To be fair, though, men and women are generally recognised as having different priorities. The things that a woman identifies as being great in a man are not the same things that a man identifies as being great in a woman:
Google results for "married to the hottest woman" = 442,000
Google results for "married to the hottest man" = 262,000
Ouch. Suck in those guts, lads.
The blog that eventually halted my browsing was fairly standard - the phrases "precious angel" and "my crazy life" made their routine appearances - but I was astonished to discover that this particular woman was, in her own words, "married to the most wonderful man in the world".
Surely not, madam, I thought. The superlative "most wonderful" can only apply to one man out of a population of three billion... and you just happened to snag him? And if he is indeed the most wonderful man in the world, why is your blog predominantly about the unremarkable exploits of your children, and not a meticulously crafted and updated paean to this paragon? You are in a position to share with global civilisation the stories of the person who has achieved the apex of masculine virtue... and you blog about some slack-jawed toddler's birthday party instead? Are you, madam, bonkers?
However, just on the offchance that this woman was indulging in a little light hyperbole, I did a google search for the phrase "married to the most wonderful man". I was given two million, four hundred and ten thousand results.
Crikey, I said. Either monogamy is not one of this man's virtues, or there are at least two million, four hundred and nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine women out there who are laboring under false assumptions.
My curiosity piqued, I did a little further research:
Google results for "married to the most wonderful man" = 2,410,000
Google results for "married to the most wonderful woman" = 781,000
Oops. Across the world, 1,629,000 men are suddenly in BIG trouble.
To be fair, though, men and women are generally recognised as having different priorities. The things that a woman identifies as being great in a man are not the same things that a man identifies as being great in a woman:
Google results for "married to the hottest woman" = 442,000
Google results for "married to the hottest man" = 262,000
Ouch. Suck in those guts, lads.
posted by Blandwagon at 3:44 PM
3 Comments:
As someone who knows an unfortunately large proportion of mommy bloggers, one of the things that bugged me the most was when this girl I knew growing up posted how "My husband is way better than yours... sorry!"
I was appalled by her presumption. Sure, her husband seemed nice and all. But I don't think we'd get along. In fact, I have no interest in the type of guy he is. He seems pretty shallow, girlie.
That's why I married the person I did, because he was right for me. Having a contest to see whose spouse is the best is going to lead nowhere, because everyone is biased (either to the good or bad). Naturally.
Ah, but how many of those google search results were from gay/lesbian unions?
If we assume equal rates of lesbianism and gayosity, then the ratios remain valid even if the numbers shrink somewhat.
However shining the light of statistical reason on this post will probably not illuminate it as much as cause it to shrivel and burst into flame.
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