This Just In: Monday Moaning Getting Lamer

I've long been a fan of Monday Moaning - seriously, I've been reading it regularly for years - but lately, I'd noticed that the moans were getting pettier, less fun to make fun of. What a bunch of uncreative jerks, I started to think, who couldn't come up with anything more interesting to whine about than snow in Cleveland in January. I figured it was just me, though.

But apparently, it wasn't. Every week, Audient does his Tuesday Talkback, which has been just as entertaining to read as the moans themselves (if not more). This week, however, in response to an especially uninspiring batch of moans, Audient considers throwing in the towel. He says:

Once upon a time, I believed in the power of a well written letter to the editor. I've written a couple in my day. But since then, I look at most letters to the editor with the same sort of disdain that I tend to look at Monday Moaning....Monday Moaning shares the worst attributes of the letters to the editor page with none of the virtues.

Well said. My feeling is that if you want to complain about something, you should first ask yourself what that complaint might accomplish. Theoretically, some of these moans might accomplish something, however trivial: the mailman might be a little politer (or he might not), the snow might get plowed a little earlier (or, again, it might not).

The straw that broke the camel's back, for me, however, was last week's "lost cat" moan:

"To the woman that's been running the lost-cat ad since Thanksgiving: Maybe you haven't noticed, but a gray-striped cat looks like every other gray-striped cat on the planet." - Streetsboro

Now, I consider myself a pretty imaginative person, and I can usually drum up a possible rationale for every irrational behavior. But this one...you know, nobody benefits from this. I can't conceive of why this lost cat ad could possibly be affecting the Streetsboro moaner so negatively that he/she felt compelled to phone this in.

But the most important part of Audient's post today is this:

One of the worst feelings one can have is powerlessness....This is what is wrong about Monday Moaning. It isn't about making a difference. It is about being powerless, complaining in a meaningless way, and then nothing changing. How many of these moaners would be better served if, instead of phoning in, they went to a city council meeting and addressed their elected officials in open forum? But do they do that? There is no evidence of that here.

Now, I guess it depends on what you think the role of a big regional newspaper like the Plain Dealer should be. But. Isn't it maybe a bit irresponsible to foster hopelessness in a down-on-its-luck place like Cleveland? Isn't that like, oh, opening casinos in a state where everybody's poor?