Asides

Hating The Business Daily Africa

It’s been a long time since I read something so crappy that it made me want to write about it, and bash it. My target today is an article at the Business Daily Africa titled, “Alfa Romeo is Beautiful But it Has its Flaws.” Why? Because in my honest, humble opinion, the writer is a little silly (just a little). I love cars so I read the article eagerly expecting an informative and well written review. Frankly, what I got wasn’t a well-written review. It’s arguably informative - though I’d argue it tells us more about that paper’s editors than anything else. Am I being too harsh?

I don’t think so. I believe the Business Daily Africa wasn’t meant to be a part of the gutter press. I could be wrong, though, as this particular article is straight from the gutter. I quote:

“Obviously you can’t buy a Toyota Prius. Quite apart from the acid rain caused by mining the nickel for its battery, and the fact it uses an enormous amount of fuel to cover incredibly short distances, it looks absolutely stupid.

And, interestingly, it looks absolutely stupid on purpose. You see, car makers have got it into their heads that cars that run on holistic, fair-trade technology should not look like normal cars. We saw this first of all with the silly Honda Insight and we see it now with the Prius.

There is, of course, a very good reason for this. It’s because the people who are interested in bear-friendly motoring tend to look like you and I. There is no way of knowing as we walk past them in the street that they have bought a wood-burning stove that runs on melted-down bankers and limbs hacked from McDonald’s executives.

However, if they have a weird-looking Prius, they stand out. So we can tell they care about the world. It is part of their uniform, worn in much the same way that murderers always have face hair of some sort. So that other murderers can nod, knowingly, when they pass in a crowd.

We see this in all walks of life.

Enthusiastic homosexuals, for instance, favour the white vest. People who holiday in Cornwall sport Boden swimming trunks. Golfers enjoy dressing as Rupert Bear. And green people have their odd-looking cars.”

It seems someone hates the prius so much that it makes him think of murderers and homosexuals. Goodness! This made me laugh. I mean, seriously?

Not only has he got his facts wrong (including that murderers nod to each other in the street) but his analogy is just silly. The prius no doubt isn’t a perfect car but any negative review should be done more professionally.

Isn’t beauty relative? I love the prius’ look. It needs some work in the interior but it really does save you money on fuel if you live in a city with busy roads. More information on the prius here: The Prius.

The Business Daily is not a well run paper. This particular article should never have been published unless they’re shedding their “Professionally done Business Paper” image. If you read the article carefully, you will notice subtle nuances that suggest the writer is not Kenyan, or at least doesn’t usually live here. Personally, I think he hails from the UK or thereabouts.

What does this mean? Two things:
1. The Business Daily sources articles from freelance writers. Nothing wrong with this, of course.
2. The article was a shameless cut-and-paste by some lazy editor who trusts this particular freelance writer so much that he didn’t bother to read the article fully.

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This post was submitted by kayliz.

© 2008 Kikulacho.