Fed Up?

Gail Collins, writing in her NY Times column, opines that she's having a hard time dealing with things that range from former heads of financial institutions now cleaning up by buying discount mortgages caused by their own faulty business practices to how The Bachelor shafted a chick in prime time.

Once again, we are reminded that life is not fair. Lately these unfairness bulletins have been coming so fast and furious that there isn’t time to get upset about all of them. Prioritization is essential.

I've struggled mightily at times with the concept that life is unfair, and in looking at Gail's rant list, from Blago to Burris, Santelli to Kurland, it's clear that unfairness and inequity are every bit as constant and present as their alternatives. Which means, oddly enough, that there is some measure of balance to things.

Gail's right. It's hard to get worked up over some woman who got dissed on a reality television program when it's clear to everyone that's the basic premise of the show. C'mon, man! But Gail uses her psychic knife to make a broader point.

“I had to hurt people in a way, but I feel I did it with integrity,” said the bachelor in question, whose name is Jason Mesnick.

The big objection to Mesnick’s behavior is not the dumping but the fact that he waited until everybody had gathered together for a follow-up special to break the news to his about-to-be-ex fiancée. Mesnick told People magazine that he would have preferred to spare the poor woman the humiliation of being rejected in prime time, but the producers wouldn’t allow it. “That was part of the deal,” he said.

Unfair, but not making my Top 10. A woman who volunteers to find true love on a reality TV show is really uniquely qualified to get past this sort of trauma. Plus, at least Mesnick made good on his contract. Not enough of that going around these days.