Ophelia Benson is a better blogger than I am. She has claimed as much, and I pretty much believe her. There is no shame in this. For me, writing is strictly avocational, something I do on lunch breaks and in the evenings after tucking the kids into bed. For her, writing is a profession, so it makes sense that she would be far more prolific and professional about it than I am.
With that in mind, even professionals behave unprofessionally some of the time, and it was an act of extraordinary insensitivity to use the phrase “privileged rich coffee sippers” in reference to the siege in Sydney, in which two people died yesterday. One of them was the manager of the Lindt cafe, and the other was a well-off legal professional (and mother of three) who had showed up to meet with a colleague and, yes, sip coffee.
How utterly shameful to imply that the lives of those who sip coffee are worth less than the lives of those who serve it.
Ophelia has, to her credit, apologized and at least partially walked back this bit back. While I remain an inferior writer, I’d like to give her a small piece of advice for the future: When lives are on the line, do not denigrate those who are actively at risk. Whether you do this in the name of waging class warfare or for some other “social justice” cause, the ends will not justify the means, and you will end up looking like someone who values ideology more than people. Needless to say, this is not a good look.
