You need to get back at the person who made the mistake. Take over her Twitter account and tweet something of Edinborough being in northern France. (I'm not sure the Scottish would mind that much though)
Giving folks the benefit of the doubt, forgiving a mistake, overlooking an offense -- we have to practice those in our personal lives, lest we become bitter pharisees. Would be good to see more of that in the media landscape too: EVERYONE benefits.
Oh, also -- my beverage tally so far this week: 0.
Dear Gary, I do apologize for turning your life upside down. My irritation was directed at a glossy travel magazine that hires headline writers who don't know -- or even check -- basic geography. Such a mistake would never be made about a European country. Your only mistake was recommending La Docena, where the food was once delicious and is now, sadly, tasteless. (And I was never a bureau chief, just a reporter here in CDMX.) Hope your life is turned right side up now. Best, Elisabeth
Headlines are a nightmare. On a music site where I submitted an article around a list of my favourite songs by a particular band, somebody wrote a headline that included the phrase 'literate songwriter'. It was as though everyone on earth needed to let me know just how stupid I was for suggesting that a songwriter was literate. Even though I hadn't. One dude in Glastonbury (I know) sent me two long emails about how I was the problem etc etc. Hang in there, Gary!
I follow some one who quoted that tweet and I landed here ...As a Mexican and a chilanga who had to explain to my New Yorker niece that Mexico was part of North America and not South America as her teacher had told her, I was also a bit afraid of get her in trouble with said teacher or the school system, I understood the outrage and unwillingness to apologize. It's not personal but an example of something systematic not only in the US but also in Europe.
As a European, if I may, I'd like to point out that continents are a very arbitrary thing and are not divided the same way.
In my country, there is only one American continent (going from roughly the North Pole to Tierra del Fuego) and if you really want to divide, Mexico really could go either way between North or Central America, depending on whether you decide to divide in two: North and South (in that case, I'd say that the divide is Panama) or if you add a Central (in that case, Mexico does belong to it in my perspective).
I'm not sure how people do in Britain, but I wouldn't be surprised if the British editor didn't make a mistake at all, but just used a British perspective on the division of these continents.
In an article I recently declared Albuquerque to be the capital of New Mexico. People in Santa Fe weren't pleased with their demotion, and I apparently need to revisit fifth-grade geography. BONUS: I spend a lot of TIME in New Mexico. Somehow the big important buildings in ABQ versus the cute boutiques in Santa Fe bamboozled my brain. Fortunately it was digital only, and my editor (who also took responsibility for not catching it) cleared it up tout suite. (Tout suite is the capital of France.)
I'm sorry this happened to you Gary. Perhaps all those people are assholes and live for the delicious schadenfreude of rubbing people's mistakes in their faces and now that you went and took it away, their lives had lost all color and taste. They'll never forgive you for that. More likely, some of them are hopeless assholes and some are suffering from the backfire effect cognitive bias that causes people to reject evidence that counters their believes. Twitter can be a cesspool that rewards all the ways our tiny human brains misfire. It magnifies cognitive biases ("amplifying someone's voice"), encourages heuristics ("must respond now, now. meowww!" and creates mobs (a community that burns the witch together stays together). I hope the stress of this incident will pass soon. We (your loyal followers who are ready to defend your geographic prowess or fetch you your favorite marijuana gummies) are here for you!
How a Tweet Turned My Life Upside Down
You need to get back at the person who made the mistake. Take over her Twitter account and tweet something of Edinborough being in northern France. (I'm not sure the Scottish would mind that much though)
I'm so sorry, Gary. This is one reason I left Twitter, that dogpiles like these are what too many users live for.
If you ever need an apology, call on me. My expressions of regret require no regrettable act.
I’m beginning to think that unless you explicitly need twitter for your job, it’s not worth it for anyone of note to be on.
I’m sorry nobody apologised to you. And I’m sorry one of my fellow country people made such a basic geographical error.
Giving folks the benefit of the doubt, forgiving a mistake, overlooking an offense -- we have to practice those in our personal lives, lest we become bitter pharisees. Would be good to see more of that in the media landscape too: EVERYONE benefits.
Oh, also -- my beverage tally so far this week: 0.
Dear Gary, I do apologize for turning your life upside down. My irritation was directed at a glossy travel magazine that hires headline writers who don't know -- or even check -- basic geography. Such a mistake would never be made about a European country. Your only mistake was recommending La Docena, where the food was once delicious and is now, sadly, tasteless. (And I was never a bureau chief, just a reporter here in CDMX.) Hope your life is turned right side up now. Best, Elisabeth
Headlines are a nightmare. On a music site where I submitted an article around a list of my favourite songs by a particular band, somebody wrote a headline that included the phrase 'literate songwriter'. It was as though everyone on earth needed to let me know just how stupid I was for suggesting that a songwriter was literate. Even though I hadn't. One dude in Glastonbury (I know) sent me two long emails about how I was the problem etc etc. Hang in there, Gary!
It's one of the problems with Twitter. People post stuff and don't read the replies. Probably nobody bothered to read your explanations.
I follow some one who quoted that tweet and I landed here ...As a Mexican and a chilanga who had to explain to my New Yorker niece that Mexico was part of North America and not South America as her teacher had told her, I was also a bit afraid of get her in trouble with said teacher or the school system, I understood the outrage and unwillingness to apologize. It's not personal but an example of something systematic not only in the US but also in Europe.
sorry to hear about this; as a writer and editor, I am very sympathetic. take care, Gary.
wait, what drug??
As a European, if I may, I'd like to point out that continents are a very arbitrary thing and are not divided the same way.
In my country, there is only one American continent (going from roughly the North Pole to Tierra del Fuego) and if you really want to divide, Mexico really could go either way between North or Central America, depending on whether you decide to divide in two: North and South (in that case, I'd say that the divide is Panama) or if you add a Central (in that case, Mexico does belong to it in my perspective).
I'm not sure how people do in Britain, but I wouldn't be surprised if the British editor didn't make a mistake at all, but just used a British perspective on the division of these continents.
In an article I recently declared Albuquerque to be the capital of New Mexico. People in Santa Fe weren't pleased with their demotion, and I apparently need to revisit fifth-grade geography. BONUS: I spend a lot of TIME in New Mexico. Somehow the big important buildings in ABQ versus the cute boutiques in Santa Fe bamboozled my brain. Fortunately it was digital only, and my editor (who also took responsibility for not catching it) cleared it up tout suite. (Tout suite is the capital of France.)
Whoever made that mistake needs to be “made redundant,” as they say. Also, what strain of weed is best for recuperating from Twitter attacks?
I'm sorry this happened to you Gary. Perhaps all those people are assholes and live for the delicious schadenfreude of rubbing people's mistakes in their faces and now that you went and took it away, their lives had lost all color and taste. They'll never forgive you for that. More likely, some of them are hopeless assholes and some are suffering from the backfire effect cognitive bias that causes people to reject evidence that counters their believes. Twitter can be a cesspool that rewards all the ways our tiny human brains misfire. It magnifies cognitive biases ("amplifying someone's voice"), encourages heuristics ("must respond now, now. meowww!" and creates mobs (a community that burns the witch together stays together). I hope the stress of this incident will pass soon. We (your loyal followers who are ready to defend your geographic prowess or fetch you your favorite marijuana gummies) are here for you!