The confessional website Thought Catalog is kind of like an online bathroom stall. Writers of all ages -- but mostly below 25 -- scrawl their thoughts on its beautiful blank walls for a public that didn't necessarily ask for them. So when the "perfect Thought Catalog post" went viral this week -- "Being Privileged Is Not A Choice, So Stop Hating Me For It" -- the public lost its mind.
"Thought Catalog" should change its name to "Giving 19-Year-Olds Enough Rope Catalog." http://t.co/XWajyJeI67
— Lindy West (@thelindywest) September 23, 2013
@jaredbkeller The word "I" appears 88 times in this seven-paragraph piece. Damn Millennials to Hell.
— Scott Bixby (@ScottBix) September 23, 2013
The post tells the tale of a girl (writer Kate Menendez), who just wants people to stop harshing her buzz. She is privileged, and so what? As she puts it in her first line, "What do you suggest I do about it?" We get the story of the annoying looks her doorman gives her when he fields her J. Crew packages. Somewhere, the smallest violin in the world gets tuned.
As The Atlantic notes, not only does the piece confirm all the worst tropes about Gen Y (whiny, entitled, delusional), it's a perfect example of the hate-click-bait that Thought Catalog has become so good at producing. "We want to tell all sides of the story," goes the site's earnest bio -- but its headlines still read like you're being trolled.
Which is why we created Onion Article Or Thought Catalog Essay, a quiz begging to be made. All quotes below come from one of the two sites. Can you spot the satire?