Crass to the last

Toward the end of WWII, two types of advancing Russian armies emerged. One was competent and professional. The other was a rabble of Cossacks. The former swept aside the Nazis and captured territory. The latter pillaged and looted (and worst) in the wake of their betters. The omnipresent army of "entertainment" journalists is similarly structured. After the first wave of thoughtful tributes to Elizabeth Taylor following her death, the rabble began running amok. It explains how we go from: "In a world of flickering images, Elizabeth Taylor was a constant star" (Mel Gussow, NY Times), and end up with this: "I was slightly crushed to discover that [...] Taylor's eyes were actually a deep blue that appeared purple when enhanced by lighting and makeup. Truly violet eyes occur only in albinos." I won't name the writer, but she writes for a prominent web publication. The late Gussow described Taylor as "A Lustrous Pinnacle of Hollywood Glamour." Our Cossack finger-painted her as a "Beautiful Mutant." It's another reminder that war is hell.