According to the Boston Globe, if you use Craigslist, you may get hacked up into little pieces, served baked, with fine wine. Or something like that. Anyone feel like the Globe should have included a disclaimer? Something akin to, "Note: Craigslist is one of the Globe's biggest competitors in actually making money. They took our lucrative business and put it online, for free. And now the Times is threatening us to close! We hate Craigslist."
Am I right, or am I right? In fact, I'm sure newspapers and media across the country are only too happy to shine a light on Craigslist. Editorial pages will soon be demanding congressional hearings, no doubt. Some sensible advice on life, media and anonymous sex Craigslist below the fold.
Honestly, I didn't even read the whole story at first. I didn't need to. A crime took place. The alleged criminal used Craigslist. He could have used the phone book. He could have staked out random houses on a nice, suburban street -- picking whichever had no one home. He could have went to the mall, picked the nicest, eldest gal walking curbside to her whale-boat caddy. These are things that happen every day, we just don't read about them in the paper. Macy's and JC Penny actually buy ads.
Like all things in life, people should try to be aware. Meeting up with strangers for sex is always going to have a slightly dangerous element to it, to say the least. But, then again, so could going to the Post Office. It's always a good idea to meet people in public places, whether it's for sex or to meet some online friend for the first time. Unfortunately, life doesn't come with a safety guarantee, so it's important to be smart about things.
However, people shouldn't buy into the culture of fear pushed on us by the media. Craigslist, used safely, won't get you mugged or worse. Fear in the media is simply an American tradition, a way to rope us in to buy more papers and sell more ads, not an actual representation of reality. So, don't be afraid to use craigslist, whether it's to sell your old couch or for dirtier deeds, just be smart about it. Crimes were being committed when these ads were printed in newspapers, $50 bucks for 3 lines, now it's just happening online, for free, with fewer code words -- and the old guard's still trying to make what it can off it.
Disclaimer: I have never bought or sold anything on Craigslist, nor used it as a means for sex. I'm just all-too familiar with the fact that panic sells on the media - and life is just rarely that scary. No need to duck and cover or buy extra duck tape. The Mooninites are not coming to get you.
This is cross-posted on my daily blog, Ryan's Take, though I made some edits and additions for my fellow kossacks. I'm posting this diary here because I thought this story had national implications.