Mem’ries - RS subscription cancellation
Oh wow, look at me go!!
Oh, there is no mistake. I will no longer give my money to your magazine. I have been a subscriber since 2002 and have been unimpressed with your content over the last 4-5 years. Allow me to elaborate:
1. Led Zeppelin broke up in 1980. For a supposed Rock 'n Roll magazine, you are blissfully unaware of this fact. Somehow, against all logic, you make mention of this band-that-no-longer-is in about half your issues per year, taking up precious margins about a band that has been broken up for longer than they were together. Surely, there are more interesting bands or artists that are actually bands in the present about whom you could write. I like Zeppelin as much as the next person, but I have accepted that they broke up. 35+ years ago. LET IT GO. LIVE IN THE NOW.
2. In the rare times you actually put a female on your cover, she is in a white Hanes-like tank top. If this is a running joke that they (J. Lawrence, T. Swift, N. Minaj, OITNB ladies) all wore the same tank, well, then, kudos b/c that at least acknowledges your lack of creativity, clothing budget, care.
3. It wasn't so much the UVA story itself, but how you indignantly misrepresented how much research and cross-checking and source finding you did when the article was, inevitably, called into question. You straight up embellished the efforts made to seek clarification from other witnesses or individuals otherwise involved with this matter and then *blamed your subject* for what is RS's lack of research, true objectivity, and editorial integrity. It's YOUR magazine, not Jackie's. It's YOUR printing press, not Jackie's. Pathetic. Enragingly pathetic. You Should Know Better Pathetic. Do You Even Know What Journalism Is? Pathetic. You Got So Beat After All Pathetic. Maybe if Jackie agreed to appear in the magazine in your Famous Female Frock, the RS white tank, you would have been reminded of your duty to yourselves and your readers to tell a story with proper criticism and respect, ideas I know you know are not mutually exclusive. You barely tell women's stories in your magazine in the first place, "GET THE WHITE TANK OUT OF STORAGE!!", and you fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucking blew it with the UVA story. The frat can get its own story told and citing their lawsuit against you, they will!! You were telling Jackie's story and I appreciate that angle, however, you took a torch of rape victim advocacy that LITERALLY NO ONE passed to you and I'll go so far to say that you snuffed it out on purpose - I refer you back to you placing blame on the subject as proof, retraction of the same or not. I hope we can agree that it is not surprising that UVA (or any college/univ.) "investigating" a rape 2+ years post incident comes up with nothing. And, let's face it, an accused rapist's calendar needn't feature a "Butt Fucking Tonight!" entry to prove a sexual assault occurred. I digress. You bore me, Rolling Stone. I am bored and I am going to keep my money.
4. Ending on a positive note, Rob Sheffield is a treasure and treat him accordingly!!
No regards in the slightest,
Jaculin
Publications I subscribe to these days: New York Magazine and all its pages (Vulture, The Cut, etc.), The Colorado Sun, The Audacity, Crème de la Crème, Longreads, CEP Magazine (compliance and ethics industry stuff), and though not a site a subscribe to but the “Fugs & Pieces” weekly round-up on gofugyourself.com is expertly curated and I end up reading pretty much all the articles posted (and share them, too!). I do believe in paying for good journalism. Plenty of publications will have a banger article here and there, and that includes your Rolling Stone, your NY Times, g.d. TIME, shit even your the National Review, and all those mainstream, regular, “go-to” publications, b/c it’s fun to hate “the establishment”.
ANYWAY, I doubt RS has improved its content. I’m wondering if I should finish OINTB?? Season 4 was haunting a.f., I recall Season 5 being pretty good, and then starting Season 6, but not getting past ep. 1, and oh look something shiny…………
Good ol’ Gmail with the treasures!
