The Bent Pin

THE only thing about Alec Baldwin’s tirade I don’t understand is that everybody keeps calling it a “voicemail.” Is that the same thing as what I call an “answering-machine message”? I am not offended by the way he spoke to his daughter, it’s just that I have Luddite tendencies and want to know if the Upgraders have been going behind my back again.

Some things should never be upgraded, and one of them is a fire-breathing father who gives his erring daughter what used to be called “a good talking-to.” Unhappily, this once universal family event has already been so relentlessly upgraded that fathers have gone the way of the 300-baud modem, regarded as quaint at best, mocked and scorned by the one-gender-fits-all zealots of Wireless Parenting.

About the Author

Florence King

Florence King was a contributing editor of National Review.

Featured Tags

THE only thing about Alec Baldwin’s tirade I don’t understand is that everybody keeps calling it a “voicemail.” Is that the same thing as what I call an “answering-machine message”? I am not offended by the way he spoke to his daughter, it’s just that I have Luddite tendencies and want to know if the Upgraders have been going behind my back again.

Some things should never be upgraded, and one of them is a fire-breathing father who gives his erring daughter what used to be called “a good talking-to.” Unhappily, this once universal family event has already been so relentlessly upgraded that fathers have gone the way of the 300-baud modem, regarded as quaint at best, mocked and scorned by the one-gender-fits-all zealots of Wireless Parenting.