If you’d like to read this fascinating tale of a petty, long-term grudge and other spilled tea of the seedy automotive journalism underbelly, please consider becoming an Autopian member. Thank you!
If you’d like to read this fascinating tale of a petty, long-term grudge and other spilled tea of the seedy automotive journalism underbelly, please consider becoming an Autopian member. Thank you!
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I was sure this would be about the far-right Putinist fan-boi and auto-journo hack Jack Baruth. Oh well, maybe next time.
I can’t wait to see him publicly dragged for being an insufferable fascist so toxic even the folks at Hagerty couldn’t tolerate him. That said, the most crushing review I’ve yet read from one artist towards another is when the great Pat Metheny weighed in with withering criticism on the lightweight Kenny G: inspired words!
https://ontherecord.co/2020/05/30/pat-metheny-has-a-few-thoughts-about-the-music-of-kenny-g/
Jack is a good friend of mine, and in fact he gave me my start when he was still at Hagerty.
I always enjoyed his automotive writing. Wish that was all I knew about him, after reading his blog a bit.
This was me with Scott Adams. Really enjoyed Dilbert, then made the mistake reading his blog. Yikes.
Adams took Ivermectin for his cancer.
Pretty much sums up who he was: an unintelligent cultist.
See my reply to Adrian Clark, above. Jack’s ardor for Putin and defense of the Jan 6th insurrection is abhorrent.
I had a car on the Amelia Concours field a few years ago and hoped to meet him. Sadly, he’d been shitcanned just prior to it, or so I was told by a Hagerty official on the field.
I’ve never once seen him support either of those things in person or in print (I’m not saying they never happened, but I’ve known him personally for a few years). Certainly not a Putin apologist by any stretch of the imagination.
His firing from Hagerty, I know a little bit about but I’m not at liberty to say anything beyond the fact in the end I was considered too outspoken for them (and I toned it down a lot compared to here, which one well documented shambles aside I have never been edited) and they heavily edited a lot of my pieces where I was critical of a particular OEM.
Adrian I’m not lying. Before he put his Riverside Green blog behind a Substack paywall, he left his despicable politics in the clear. One article on his blog, either written by him or his brother openly praised Putin as a good Christian fighting the evil Ukrainian Nazis. I nearly had an aneurism when I read it.
Then there was his breathless polemic praising insurrectionist Ashli Babbit as a true patriot murdered by Capitol Police. On innumerable occasions I took him to task for his toxic propaganda in comments on his blog and he pushed back, even so far as to threaten to sue me, a nonsensical gambit as I wouldn’t write these things publicly were they not demonstrable.
My interest in world affairs is based upon my lifetime as a world traveler and a degree that focused on history and journalism, unlike Baruth’s which seem predicated upon parroting Tʁump’s propaganda. I know firsthand that Putin is a genocidal war criminal who murders dissidents and defenestrates insubordinates. We have beloved Ukrainian friends and, tellingly, a Russian friend we regard as family such that we helped his daughter escape here where she’s about to graduate literally at the top of her university class. As my British friends always have a far better grasp of world events than Americans, I’m positive you fully understand my visceral hatred for Putin – and Putin’s fanbois.
I’ll bet Jack’s just like Steve Bannon in that he’s interesting to have ales with down at the pub, but the malign darkness concealed beneath that facade should have you reevaluating the superficial kindness he extended to you. It would for me.
Until today, my subscriptions to Youtube, Discord and news sources like TheGuardian or The Atlantic have been based on the need to support journalistic truth in the political and human rights realm.
I just added TheAutopian to the list.
For the record, my wife and I are mid-emigration to The Netherlands. We’d have picked the UK but … Brexit. Despite that, I hope to meet you at an event in the UK like a PULP concert or classic VW show, either would be ideal. Cheers mate.
Thanks for your support. I understand the Brexit thing – we really managed to shoot ourselves in the foot there. It has significantly impacted me personally – as I was unable to get a job in Europe because of it.
I’m not saying he’s incapable of human decency but his blatant sycophancy and defense of Putin’s genocide in Ukraine + his fawning love letter posted on his blog defending Ashli Babbitt is appalling. That and his undying love of the Orange Asspimple in DC makes him radioactive, full stop.
That’s not taking into account his Temu-grade attempts at aping Hemingway’s writing style. 14 year old me might’ve chuckled at his faux-masculine Vodka McBigbra attempts at humor, but thoughtful adults don’t.
You, on the other hand are a good writer who doesn’t fall prey to tropes and caricatures.
Holy
Mother
Of…
I know nothing of jazz and my thoughts on saxophones have always boiled down to “I want to look like Tim Cappello and date Candy Dulfer“, but the above was pure in such a form that even my muggle soul understood it. Kudos to you, Sir, for introducing me to this.
It’s the word manifestation of a public execution; when I want to murder someone with words, it’s my inspiration.
Glad you liked it.
As talented as he is (and he really is), Pat Metheny exhibits strong boomer energy and rectocephaly in that essay without a trace of self-awareness and comes off as a self-important dick, which by many accounts he is.
> Since that record came out – in protest, as insignificant as it may be, I encourage everyone to boycott Kenny G recordings, concerts and anything he is associated with. If asked about Kenny G, I will diss him and his music with the same passion that is in evidence in this little essay.
As if people who listen to Pat Metheny’s pronouncements were also Kenny G fans. That Venn diagram looks like O O.
Or maybe he unconsciously realises his music and Kenny G’s exist on the same spectrum, viz. dentist’s office background Muzak, and he’s salty about it because his elevator music is considerably more elaborate and skilful than Kenny G’s tripe, but mostly because he doesn’t want to accept that it does inhabit the same cultural gestalt as other smooth jazz, including Kenny G (and his friend Jeff Lorber).
I like Pat’s old records like New Chautauqua and Bright Size Life, but he’s turned into a bit of a caricature of old men yelling at more successful elevator music purveyors. His current music is like very expensive cake from a prestigious bakery featured in NYT food critics’ year-end list, while Kenny G’s is a McDonald’s baked apple pie, but ultimately they’re still very sweet and empty calories.
All that being said, I don’t care how much of a grudge that guy has with Jason, telling anybody “F U” to their face is just vulgar, unsporting, and sociopathic, especially in public at a professional function.
I’d adopt Jason if the opportunity ever presents itself.
Re. Metheny, I present his double-barrel shotgun to the face of Kenny G only as an example of one artist hating another. I think Kenny G is boring, but I very much don’t hate him, I save that level of revulsion for Kanye who writes songs praising Hitler, or Baruth who writes articles praising the other Hitler: Putin.
Fair! I don’t know Baruth but take your informed word that he’s a little unsavoury.
Kenny G’s music is pretty bad, but there’s worse, and some people like it, so whatever. A few years back, some of my students told me I looked like him and I still don’t know how I feel about that. I wish my bank account looked like his.
Damn, that’s some thin skin. Guy’s either had it very easy or been completely broken by what he’s been through. Or maybe it was both (some people are just plain weak). I’ve tended to scare people too much for them to confront me directly and now I think the situation you were in might have been fun for me. I read recently that part of having ADHD is that I tend to forget about people when they’re not around (I had thought it was just misanthropy), so I never considered that there might be people out there who hold a grudge against me, but surely there must be. Probably that guy I went to elementary school with who is serving time for holding some woman hostage in his apartment and torturing her (this was after I stopped talking to him because he was a weird creep), but he likely has a long list of people to hold grudges against, so I can’t imagine I’d be preeminent.
I never put much value in reviewers who review everything according to some absolute standard they’ve determined is the highest rather than what that thing they’re reviewing is (that goes for anything, not just cars). Is it reasonably decent for the price? How does it stack up against closest competitors by value and in terms of feel—more sporting, more comfortable, etc.? Some people just want a predictable cost they can budget that comes with a warranty and comparing to a whole different class or purpose makes no sense. Maybe if they’re dumb, it’s too much mental work to figure out what each thing they’re reviewing really is, but then there are other careers.
I think when someone does something objectively awful like this, your revulsion ceases to be a grudge and more of a justified yikes.
I meant in his case. He might hold a grudge against me because I didn’t want to hang out with him, had to give the “it’s not you, it’s me” to a guy. It was like a Seinfeld skit, but creepier. I’m a good deal bigger than he is and I don’t scare easily, so I could only imagine how he was with women and people he could intimidate. Unfortunately, you can’t go to the authorities with “this guy’s a creep and I know he’s going to do something really bad if he hasn’t already”.
Hadn’t seen him since 7th grade, so over 20 years at the time, and he contacted me on FB way back when I was still on it (everyone kept bugging me to make a profile, then they all left within a year or two! Was it something I wrote?! Yeah, probably, but most of them did still talk to me in person.). Couldn’t remember why I didn’t like him back in the day because I don’t hold grudges and, hey, that was a long time ago—the guy has his own martial arts studio and seems to be OK, so I’ll approve him. Short time later, he asks people for help painting his new office and he’s only about a mile away, so my stupid brain starts annoying me: you should socialize, maybe you’ll have fun. Long story short, I did not have fun and my brain has mostly learned its lesson. After he ended up on the news about a year later, I went to the detective on his case with the creepy story I skipped over here and told her I’d gladly testify as an anti-character witness or whatever they call it. She told me they had so many people with stories about him that they wouldn’t likely need me. One woman who thanked him for opening a door for her to a store or something like a normal person would do as part of standard decency ended up followed by him. Next morning, she saw him hiding in here bushes and called the police, but of course he fled. While she was fortunate to not be hurt, it’s a good example of the extreme dysfunction of this clown. If you’re curious, you can search for Joe Louf, Salem, MA. I believe he’s still in prison, though my ex (who never met him, but heard the story) sent me a weird message that he might be out and the description from her son fit his profile, so I don’t know, I can’t find anything online.
Isn’t the dude in question from Santa Barbara? If so, that tracks with my one-and-only experience taking in a concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl. The show was Natalie Merchant in her prime. It was about 12 years ago. But the audience? Entitled buffoons. Drink a lot and talk the whole time? Why not? It’s not as if people PAID to be here to LISTEN TO a concert.
Anyway, it feels good to get that off my chest. Also, little cars are A-OK.
Well maybe he has saddle chap due to the general decline of car related print media. I maintain my car mag subscriptions out of some sense of likely displace loyalty, but more than once I have pointed to a story on this site and thought, THIS is the sort of stuff you guys need to put in your magazine if you want to be around in a few years.
Ah yes, the Sultan of Luxuristan. I remember this well (especially as a Mirage defender, lol).
I am an expert in grudge-keeping, trust me. I cast more curses than an entire Etsy of witches. But lol, chill dude. Torch vehemently disagreed about the expectations put upon a cheap hatchback. He didn’t fuck your mom (at least… I don’t think?).
Ah I think I know which one and it was about the Mitsubishi Mirage.
Yeah some journalists ARE elitist and classist.
And for that guy to hold a grudge over THIS for that long???
That guy definitely has an issue with taking himself waaaaay too seriously.
The guy sounds like he’s a complete douche.
A colleague of mine at a dealer group at the time, who is now a respected auto journalist, borrowed one of these for a week after that jerk-ass review to prove it was a good car, and wrote extensively on it. I guess what I’m saying is this guy probably holds a grudge against half of the industry because he was so wrong. He should reflect on that and become a better person.
Actions like Jason described say a lot about a person.
So I looked him up.
I’m getting weird incel vibes from that guy.
No wonder he needed a Go-Fund-Me to pay his HOA fees.
Sad.
Wait, is that what that was for?
wait WHAT
Man, I *do not understand* holding grudges like that. Life is too short to put up with assholes, and it’s too short to devote that much energy to a grudge.
I’ve subscribed to the NYT for over 25 years and read it for about 40. Like The Autopian, it’s a publication I consider worth supporting with my wallet. Albeit for different reasons – I don’t read it for the car reviews.
Since everyone knows the who/what/when/where/why but not everyone can read the original review, here’s a gift link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/automobiles/autoreviews/its-cheap-but-is-it-overpriced.html?unlocked_article_code=1.LFA.59L8.2ZQfbzF8W562&smid=url-share
Also, since other scorching reviews have been brought up (in particular the Pete Wells review), here is another famous one:
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/north-1994
This has been a very entertaining post and comment thread.
Thank you for the link. If he cringes at a 10 second 0-60 time, he’d have a heart attack finding out that a 25 0-60 time was happily accepted by enthusiasts when it was attached to a 1969 MG Midget.
in high school I drove a BMW 320i with 100 hp. It was about an 11-second car. Fine then, fine now.
Exactly. ????
I wonder if Ebert liked that movie. It’s not entirely clear.
Are you serious? Right in front of the salad (or the charcuterie)?
I’ll admit that I’ve skipped many a work lunch because of who would be attending…but that was because I just didn’t want to be around those people. No grudges, I just didn’t want to be exposed to the sight or sound (or smell, in one case) of them during what should be a relaxing part of my day. But this guy flounces during the opening course over something that happened twelve years ago??? Now that’s something special.
(And who the heck walks out on free charcuterie? Maybe I could understand that if the venue had skimped on cheap deli meat packs from the local grocery store.)
JPH has the appearance and demeanor of a side character on ‘Portlandia’ who is disgruntled Boomer butch lesbian named Meredith (don’t you DARE call her Merry) who has had a virtual stick stuck up you-know-where essentially her entire life and hasn’t kept up well with the times. She’s stubborn, bitter, surly, and her not inconsiderable professional accomplishments are completely overshadowed by her “shrieking blue jay angry that you stole its food cache a dozen years ago/wolverine with its peen caught in a Chinese finger trap” personality.
I think its time for ‘Meredith’ to retire from the industry with what little dignity she still has after this unprofessional, childish and frankly ridiculous incident.
Closing thought:
was, perhaps, Huff’s ostensible professionalism and his talent, merely a… Mirage? *smirk*
lololol
All I can say is that there is a reason I am paying for this site and not any others. (now to scour the comments for the OG post).
What a great use of a paywall!
This is elite Adrian levels of pissing someone off and I am here for it. I’ve only been in this business fir a shirt while but it’s clear to me some people take it all far to seriously and are incredibly thin skinned with it.
There’s a couple of people in particular that have taken offence at things I’ve written in the worst way possible. I have my insults ready should we ever meet in person.
That’s a big part of why I love this site so much. All of you clearly love cars, and you do take delivering quality content seriously, but you’re not up your own asses about it. You can laugh at yourselves, and that gives us permission to laugh along with you.
“ I have my insults ready should we ever meet in person.”
You could probably sell tickets to an event like that!
LOL
I don’t know how someone who was thin-skinned would survive design school, then journalism with public comments.
I’m glad I grew up in dysfunction. If I were thin-skinned, I wouldn’t have survived and if I held grudges for every slight disagreement, I wouldn’t have the strength to hold anything else. I once had someone apologize to me once for something I didn’t even remember. I appreciated it, though.
One of the ‘journalists’ in question unequivocally did not survive car design school.
Ah, well, there you go.
ohhhhhh really
(…did I work with him?)
I think you worked with at least one or possibly both of them.
{ popcorn }
Jalop catching strays again. lol
You forgot to add “Dictated and sent in my absence”.
Or at least I assume that’s one of the people holding a grudge against you. 🙂
A few times during my life, I’ve discovered after-the-fact that I pissed someone off and they didn’t say anything about it at the time. Generally, it was in a work environment and I’ll admit that I’ve always had a Type A personality and talk too fast sometimes, in an effort to stay on top of some the truly staggering wunderkind workloads I had in my 20s. A few(er) other times, I’ve even learned that some lady or other had a bit of a crush on me, and per usual, I had absolutely no idea at the time and am surprised/dumbfounded when I hear of it: I’m no Adonis, and there’s that Type A thing which only appeals to a small segment of women, so being at least as oblivious as the average man, I never had a clue.
When I’ve learned that I’ve rubbed a coworker or colleague the wrong way, I tend to politely/sincerely/professionally apologize, even if objectively, I did nothing wrong whatsoever. I did this not out of guilt, but simply to try to get along with them as best I can from that point on. With women, on that rare occassion that I find out they liked me way back when, it’s more moot, since it was years ago, and their feelings have long since passed (aka, they’ve regained their senses). It’s nice enough that some still email me once in a while or send the occasional Christmas card.
You know of course that you can’t control what others feel about you. All you can do is try your best to be considerate of others, and do good work, and hope for the best. I’m older now, and semi-retired, and I don’t think or talk nearly as fast as I used to, so I hope that I’m rubbing fewer folks the wrong way, but really, what do I know? Maybe they all hate me, and I’m just ignorant of the fact.
I said something in a full meeting room at work and it was a week later that I realized that many people would interpret it much differently than what I intended. Oh well. I’ll never know how many people were offended.
That likely happens more often than most people realize.
Not that you need defending, but even without knowing who this is or having met them, I know with whom I’d rather have a meal or a chat.
I really hope it isn’t someone whose writing I have admired. It’s always disappoints me when someone who has attributes I like, turns out to be a jerk.
I imagine the identity of the grudge-keeper will surface sooner or later.
As long as the menu’s not limited to funny-sounding seafood. There’s gotta be plenty of good bbq around where Torch lives.
I’d be fine with seafood or BBQ. Heck, even Burger King!
https://www.jalopnik.com/this-brutal-nyt-mirage-review-is-whats-wrong-with-cheap-1583123298/
went to check it out, the ads man, so many ads!
set adblockers to STUN
Thanks for the link. It cracks me up JT is still under his Trump-level thin skin and living rent-free in his head so many years later. C/D has had some great writers. He’s not one of them.
Yeah that kind of grudge would only be reasonable of Jason did something serious like fucking the guys wife/GF or burning down his house… AND combining that with criticizing the guys work.
LOL
I vote that you mail a toy replica of the car in question to him, with a nice little valentines card attached. Turn it into a running joke.
“Roses are red, violets are blue, Mirages are shitty, and so are you!”
“Roses are red, violets are blue, Mirages aren’t shitty, unlike you!”
That’s certainly an improvement, lol, or maybe go the opposite direction with something like “Roses are red, violets are blue, Mirages are dreamy, and so are you”
Someone pissed on his cereal that morning geez. What a honor to be called that lol
Sounds like an insufferable prick. Perhaps he will be the final nail in the coffin over at C&D.
Sounds like he’s Rick James… and hasn’t met his Charlie Murphy yet.
He’s a habitual line-stepper.
There can’t be that much of an overlap here. I guess I’ve heard some cars described as missiles?
“Shitboxen” sounds vaguely German and therefore sends me to Google Translate with, after a few tries, this result: “Scheißkisten.” Oh I like that!
Not to be confused with “Fancykristen”. We like her as much, if not more than we like our shitboxen, but she’d never be caught dead in a Scheißkisten.
You know how they say people dont think about you nearly as much as you think?
This guy goes against the rule. You haunt his dreams. He puts uo a devastating review, but will it get a torch reaponse? Will he get that anger high off it? It keeps him up at night, wondering how this man can happily saw batteries while hes angry at the world of print because how dare somebody directly disagree! Hes tellin yall its sabotage. 12 years of stewing, and you appear in front if him. And you dont give him a second thought.
Thia guy could learn a lesson from coach lasso- be a goldfish.
What a weiner. The aussies have a great word for him thats currently being discussed on the discord, but ill leave the family friendlyness here.
Torch, you’ve lived in NC for a while. The appropriate response would have been, “Bless your heart.”
“Bless your little heart,” is Southern for “F*ck you!”
Can confirm! “Bless your heart” can be used in an affectionate context: “Aww, you stopped at the Krispy Kreme just for me!!! Well bless your heart!!”
“Bless your little heart,” on the other hand, means exactly what Huja Shaw says: “Oh, you don’t want me to park the ZJ in the front parking spots because you think it sends the wrong image about the company? Well bless your little heart.”
A couple of years ago I had my ZJ on a cross-country trek where it lived out west for 7 months. Towards the end of the journey, it was in SoCal awaiting my arrival (along with a barely drivable Rover SD1) for a return journey to the East Coast. A friend of a friend of a friend picked up the ZJ from LAX and drove it to their house for me…and his wife made him park it down the street in front of a hedge. I suppose they didn’t want oil from the rear-main seal to etch itself into their driveway, but I later heard it was an “Oh no, you are not parking that thing anywhere near my house” from his better half.
Also, “have a magical day” means the same thing and is also technically southern
I finally got to go on the podcast at work and one of those came out in the first episode, haha.
Holding onto that grudge so hard he’s probably drafting an article right now condemning amber rear turn signals.
It’s tough to square with this article and the following comment section with “I hope he finds some peace, and I’d like to do whatever I can to help him achieve that.” If I’m being honest, it’s feels more like Torch chose violence LOLS.
More like Torch chose clicks, and we are all here for it
Wow. That makes me wonder how many people I’ve pissed off over the years. Needless to say, I don’t go to my high school reunions.
name checks out 🙂
Yeah, I can be a bit of an ass, myself.
Yeah, I can be a real ape too
Another member of the “username checks out” club.