Austin-based blogger Cindy Casares of Guanabee.com has a knack for turning up some doozies on her beat following Latino life and culture in these United States (see my profile of her here).
Recently, not only did she find a big, whopping pedo emitted by Dallas-based D Magazine, when offered a chance to withdraw the stench of idiocy now wafting through the media sphere, the folks at the D dug in their heels and decided to defend themselves.
The item in question is D Magazine‘s fluff piece about the things you need to do in Dallas to prove you’re a local. Right between “Move your spirit at the Potter’s House” and the “Texas State Fair”: “Hire a Day Laborer.”
Among the article’s helpful “tips”: “Give them clear instructions, buy them lunch, and keep them in water. If a guy is a loafer, pay him, take him back to the lot, and pick up another one. Sounds cruel, but in this job market it’s survival of the fittest.”
It seems to me that in this fast-changing media climate, when the future of print publications is uncertain, and eyes and dollars can be redirected with a few clicks, the folks at D might want to consider this: Join the clued-in and discover how to cultivate, rather than insult, that rapidly growing Latino demographic. The so-called “sleeping giant”? Guess what? Not asleep. And that brown dollar has a great deal of buying power. Remember, in this media climate it’s, ahem, survival of the fittest.
Here’s the link to Casares’s D Magazine post.
You can’t make this stuff up.
This article appears in March 25 • 2011.