Sometimes accidents in life expose general truths that you might otherwise be unaware of. Take today for instance. I went to check the mail and discovered that along with the usual bills and junk mail I was now in possession of a Forbes Magazine for the week of March 16, 2009.
Since I don’t read Forbes magazine, much less subscribe to it, I took a quick look at the mailing label and deduced that the magazine had been mis-sorted and was addressed to a house with the same street number as mine but on a street 5 blocks away from my house.
I was about to go on my nightly stroll anyway so I decided to walk over to that address and to properly deliver their magazine.
When I arrived I discovered that the house was empty and that there was a bundle of mail piling up in the mailbox. I was about to throw Forbes in with the rest of the refuse when I took a look at the headlines on the front cover. It was at that point that I decided to take the magazine home with me to read so that I might see what the Business Class was thinking about our recent economic upheavals.
The main cover story trumpeted:
TERMINATED
Why the Women of Wall Street are Disappearing: Former Bankers Accuse Citigroup of Discrimination
This was all superimposed over a photo of five women with pissed off looks on their faces like that had just noticed that some man had pulled off his socks and thrown them on the dining room table!
That seemed to be the very sort of pinko, Commie, Hate America attitude that I would have never expected to find in Forbes magazine. A quick read of the article followed the usual corporate horror story of well qualified women with good reviews being terminated in favor of lesser qualified males who were a part of the good old boys club.
Next, came a statement from the woman’s lawyer and then the Orwellian reply from the offending company’s PR shill.
The bottom line was that there weren’t many women in high positions in American financial institutions before the current crisis and there are even less now.
Had I been wrong about Forbes Magazine all these years? Was it really a fair and balanced example of good business journalism?
I decided to check out the other articles from the issue touted on the cover.
SO WHAT’S IN THE STIMULUS FOR YOU? NOTHING!
YES-YOU DESERVE A FAT BONUS
Hmmmmmm... That sound pretty much like what I expected to find in Forbes.