No mercy

There are times when I read something and I actually get excited. I have to stop reading for a second, make myself stop bouncing up and down in my seat and calm myself a bit. Because you know what's coming is good. A finely crafted piece of writing that I need to savor and not rush through.

Now me being me, this normally happens when it's a lovingly craft piece of evil. Where one person has taken it upon themselves to spank someone else for something really stupid they've done. And by God, Rick Mercer can really do that when he feels like it.

I don't catch the Mercer Reporter as often as I should. Weird time zone difference with where I live (we actually get CBC out of Yellowknife here, so shows that should air at 8 p.m. come on at 10 p.m. I constantly forget the time difference. And yes, I know most of it is online, but there are only so many hours in the day I can spend online.) mean I tend to miss it. But as much I love his video bit, I think I like his written rants more. You pay more attention to what he's saying and not the visuals he's using. Never forget that Mercer is one of the best writers in the country when he puts his mind to it.

But this is glorious. Glorious! I was roaring with laughter at the end of the first paragraph. It is as excellent a piece of vivisection as I have read this year. I mean, I have crafted a few attack articles in my day, both on this blog and when I was a columnist. And I thought I did a pretty decent job. However, I bow to the Master on this.

"Noreen Golfman, sadly, is Margaret Wente without the wit."

If you're not from Newfoundland, admittedly, you might not get it. If you're from Newfoundland you're wincing in pain. That, my friends, is about the most evil insult I have read in quite some time. And it only gets better after that! I only wish I could read her original piece, if for no other reason so I could better appreciate this dismantling.

I've had small dealings with Noreen in the past. Technically I was her editor at The Muse when she wrote articles promoting the MUN cinema series. I did her film course and failed, but I suspect that had much more to do with me being in my last semester at MUN and wanting to be out of there than the quality of her course. Although I recall being bored an awful lot.

But in the intervening years she has annoyed me more and more. I'm not entirely certain why. There's just a certain smugness and arrogance that rubbed me the wrong way. How she keeps ending up on the CBC or in print is beyond me. She does good things around town, sure. But watching her being cut down like this fills my dark, cynical heart with joy.

I'm a bad, bad man, I know. I just wish I could write this well