Martha, Martha, Martha...Part Deux...

After reading a comment that was left for my last entry and perusing the GS board on 2peas I decided that Martha has earned yet another 5 minutes of my time today.

Not that I adore the woman. Believe me when I say that I really don't have an emotional attachment to her or her product line. Her line is sophisticated cute and it caters to the demographic that really wouldn't give a flying flip if 2Peas dried up and rolled away.

I just want to toss my last 2 pennies in the mix concerning all of this Martha-Mess because I think that it is getting way out of hand. It used to be that women veiled their venom, not anymore. Check out this eloquently tolerant statement that was posted by a veggie:

"Actually, the A/F construction paper will fade like there's no tomorrow. It's crap. She is just so off-base. So far, Marie Osmond and Leeza Gibbons have crashed and burned in this industry. Martha will be next. We don't need outsiders, thank you very much, to smack their names on overpriced products that they don't even know how to use. We have plenty of products without them."

Whoa Bessy!

I'm sorry, but I think that the lack of oxygen must be getting to some people; obviously the high horse is not the best place to be after all?

OUTSIDER? Since when was scrapping a prerequisite for selling product to our horde happy masses? How many LSS owners do I know that don't scrap? 3 thus far, and I wouldn't dare tell either one of them that they need to quit the business because they don't scrapbook.

All of this latest Martha bashing is stemming from the fact that Martha mentioned matting photos with construction paper. Somebody get out the cattle prod, Martha's gone wacko! Seriously! Who the heck are we to dictate what someone else uses for THEIR scrapbook? Well, I know that that I would never do that so let me rephrase that: Who the heck are they to dictate whether the way someone else scraps is right or wrong? I don't know exactly when it was that scrapbooking got it's start but I'm sure that it long, long before anyone cared about acid & lignin free properties.

You see, this is the same attitude of judgement and intolerance that is bringing the industry down. Martha Stewart admitted that she doesn't scrapbook but would like to start. In normal, civilized society (complete with regular rabies shots) this would be a note worthy admission that shows the character of the speaker. In our rabid online community that admission was the equivalent to permission to pick apart every word that fell out of the woman's mouth from that point afterwards. And they did. Shamelessly so.

I really wonder how many of those people are of the bunch that were oh so eager to get her product on their store shelves or who held out against all hope for a DT shot? Sour grapes are a biatch, as my buddy would say. It's just really sad that the transparent motivations for all of this recent Martha Lynching activity aren't address instead of how much hands on knowledge she has of the scrapbooking hobby.

Here is my stance on this:

1. Martha has yet to send subliminal messages over the boob tube or Internet, so you are still at liberty to NOT buy her product. If you buy her product and don't like it, don't buy it again and tell a friend. If you have never bought her product but like riding that ugly wave of chaos, ask yourself how you would feel if you were subject to the same malicious attacks. NOBODY HAS TO BUY HER PRODUCT! Why is that a moot point in all of this? Is there really a consensus that all of this negativity and back biting will somehow make her go away? I'm sorry, but I think that Martha Stewart has been playing hardball a lot longer that the veggies who think she's an outsider...she'll leave when SHE wants to leave.

2. This whole 'outsiders' thing is prepubescent at best and blatantly arrogant at worst. So until a person earns their strips in scrapbooking, they are 'outsiders'? I'm sure I already have my stripes, but I tell you what, if that is what I would be a part of as an 'insider', I'd gladly rip off those stripes and skip my naked behind off to the land of the outsiders. We have been talking about overpriced supplies and the over saturation of the market for over a year now, and now that Martha is here doing things her way (as opposed to the way the 'insider masses' want her to), there is a problem with overpriced product and too much of it. 2 words come to mind here:
Grow Up!

3. I don't care if Martha Stewart has ever scrapbooked a darned thing in her life. She has proven herself as an uber crafty person...it's not a far leap from there people... I made it myself. SO WHAT if she's learning how to scrap as she goes! Do you need to know how to scrapbook to design a eye-pleasing patterned paper? I don't think so! Now, she might've been a little behind on her information (i.e., paper tearing being the latest thing... according to a dated scrapbooking show that she watched) but does it really matter? I really thing that a lot of people watched the show just so they could take her every word out of context. Martha has a supporting staff and marketing people who have done the studying that she has yet to get around to. Hello! I looked at her line and I liked the way it looked, and I'm not the only one. What does that mean? It means that somebody must be studying the scrapbooking public. It means that Martha may be a novice in the area of scrapbooking, but obviously there is somebody behind the scenes that knows what they are doing.

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Do what you like. Think what you like. Say what you like. It's the Internet, words are virtually free here and the price you pay for abusing other faceless people on it is small. I won't tell anyone what they should feel about Martha's line, that is a personal preference. I've made my decision based on what I've seen of her line, and not based on personal baggage that I want to lump in her lap. I couldn't care less if Martha makes it in this business or not, but I will wish her the best. I just wonder if she knew what type of judgemental, superficial, self-important, intolerant people she would have to be subjected to? I certainly hope that she didn't make the mistake of hoping for hand holding and rounds of 'kumbaya' that I did... otherwise she is in for a rude awakening.