Magazine Filler Ain't Shit

A friend of mine sent me this data visual (below) that breaks down the samples in a Girl Talk song. I don’t think he expected my venomous screed against magazine filler pieces in reply. I don’t mind fan art. Some dude takes the time to make these videos, so an infographic isn’t outlandish. I have a problem with intent. See, the graphic below comes from Wired magazine, and earlier this week the Vice Blog had a link to this piece of navel-gazing bullshit reportage, which is probably the worst thing I’ve read on the internet in a long time, which is saying a lot. Just read it and try not to get angry and see if you can keep yourself from immediately hating the author. If you’re successful in your attempt I probably don’t like you. I don’t read magazines often, mostly because the majority of their content doesn’t interest me and much of it annoys me. Filler exists for a couple reasons. Obviously, they need to fill pages so they can have more ads and, secondly, filler is used as a way of branding their magazine. Any magazine using filler does so with a particular style, and it’s usually bullshit. Now, there are innumerable things to write about for money, and people have to sit around trying to think of what they consider fresh ideas, but if in losing some bowl-cutted hipster’s solipsistic musing, we also lost the occasional vaguely interesting infographic, I’d gladly sign on to eradicate the whole mess.