Maureen Dowd, "Pompom Girl for Feminism": Dowd Bares Her Claws

Have you ever visited my Facebook page? Probably not, because it no longer exists. I put an end to it after limiting myself to three "friends," one of whom was dead. Do you really want to be my friend? Okay, if you're willing to assume the risk (there are several people in several countries who are a bit "annoyed" with me), but first let's talk about books and movies, exercise and aging, economics and morality, raising dogs and growing broccoli.

Business? The corporate world? Inasmuch as you are now my buddy, I suppose we can talk about that, too. Today, I advise; my place is not within the corporation. After leaving several government jobs, I foolishly agreed to work in a managerial role for a financial institution. After several tedious years, my boss informed me during my annual review that the CEO, the head of the corporate division, and the head of human resources all despised me. "Peculiar," I thought to myself. Had they caught me walking barefoot through the hallways? Was it the rock music that occasionally blasted from my office? Had someone seen me quietly mimicking horses and sheep at a board meeting? Or maybe they didn't believe me when I denied ratting on them to the Treasury Department? Curious, I made appointments with two of the three: both denied ever saying anything untoward to my boss about me and immediately offered to pick up the phone and sort the matter out. "No need," I said and resigned the following day.

Or stated otherwise, Facebook doesn't interest me, and I never assigned much importance to scaling the corporate ladder.

In her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Pompom Girl for Feminism" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/opinion/sunday/dowd-pompom-girl-for-feminism.html?src=twr&_r=0), Maureen Dowd takes a swipe at Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg. Sandberg, it turns out, has written a new book entitled "Lean In," which is intended to assist women in advancing themselves in the workplace. Dowd cynically writes:

"She seems to think she can remedy social paradigms with a new kind of club — a combo gabfest, Oprah session and corporate pep talk. (Where’s the yoga?)"

Okay, I am not of the female "denomination," but even if I was, this book would not be for me. Consciousness-raising sessions, Oprah and corporate pep talks? I develop hives just listening to these words. However, having bared her claws, Dowd is not finished with Sandberg. Dowd concludes:

"Sandberg may mean well, and she may be setting up a run for national office. But she doesn’t understand the difference between a social movement and a social network marketing campaign. Just because digital technology makes connecting possible doesn’t mean you’re actually reaching people.

People come to a social movement from the bottom up, not the top down. Sandberg has co-opted the vocabulary and romance of a social movement not to sell a cause, but herself.

She says she’s using marketing for the purpose of social idealism. But she’s actually using social idealism for the purpose of marketing."

Don't you think you're going a bit too far, Maureen? In this age of narcissism, who isn't selling themselves? Moreover, given that Sandberg's book is intended to promote gender equality in the workplace, why not cut her some slack?

My question is otherwise: Given the direction of the economy and America's faltering stature on the world stage, ultimately will there be any buyers of books?

For that matter, does anyone still read, or are we, as a society, too preoccupied with our Facebook pages?