Outrage Overload

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Our pinot noir coverage is a bete noire for TPM Reader GT:

I read TPM multiple times per day and regard it as one of the better sources of information and commentary about the political news on the web. But I have been rather put off by the site’s recent attempt to pretend that Paul Ryan’s having expensive wine somehow constitutes a major story.

I should note, first, that I am certainly no defender of Paul Ryan, nor of his ridiculous fiscal policies. But the “outrage” expressed first by Feinberg, and now perpetuated by TPM’s multiple pieces on the story, seems to be to be terribly hypocritical.

While it is true that spending 350 dollars on a bottle of wine is a bad idea, virtually everybody who would ever show up as the subject of a TPM article spends much, much, much more money on trivial things which could be done without. Anyone who drives a fancier car than he or she really needs wastes much more money than Ryan and his friends wasted on that wine, money which could also help those people who are likely to be harmed by upcoming cuts to social programs.

Feinberg, who “couldn’t believe” that Ryan would spend that much money, was herself eating at a posh restaurant. The same money she spent at that restaurant could have fed a fair number of starving people for a fairly large amount of time, while she could have just had some pasta at home.

The point is that what Paul Ryan did is not categorically any different than what virtually all rich or upper middle class people do every time we waste money. For Feinberg to be “morally outraged” that someone could waste $700 while she herself wastes $100 is absurd.

In any case, I get a little more frustrated and a little less likely to return to your site each time I see such faux-outrage dominating your header.

Your thoughts?

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