That’s Entertainment
Posted on May 23, 2007 by C Johnson
Culture
Corey Serin is a 24-year-old California suburbanite who has managed to run up a dept of nearly $200,000 in credit debt in addition to his failed financial exhibitionism in the real estate market where he bought 8 homes intended to be resold for profit.
So what does he do? What else? He starts a blog.
His website iamfacingforeclosure.com launched last year wherein he shares his financial troubles and then some. He posts his bank statements, financial spreadsheets and is blatantly honest over his cheating on mortgage application as well as his outright refusal to get a job: forcing his wife to clean homes to pay for food and rent.
And as you’ve probably imagined, the site became an overnight sensation. For flame-loving bloggers, that is. From moral conservatives, to the average blue-collar worker to everyone in between, Serin has earned some very vocal haters for very obvious reasons.
But the irritation his site causes has translated into some much-needed dollar signs for Serin. Thanks to Google ads, the high traffic his site generates rakes in about $1,000 a month. Not only that, but some have even lent financial support outright. On his website, Serin held a “beg-a-thon” to raise $220.48 for bills. And the readers paid the money. That’s right. He’s getting profit out of it.
Unbelievable? It shouldn’t be. Because although, yes, Serin’s outright arrogance and foolhardiness in just about every aspect of his life is upsetting, it’s also something else:
Entertainment. Or, rather, “irritainment.” (Look that one up in your Funk n’ Wagnalls, eh?) The fact is, we do live in the era of “irritainment” when media spectacles that are grating on the nerves and, for lack of a better term, annoying as hell become compulsively watchable. Or in Serin’s case, readable.
And really, we can blame Serin all we like for being this and that and the other (which he is without question!) but the fault, ultimately, lays in the hands of We the Bloggers. Serin knows exactly which buttons to get the reaction that will have his “hater” blog base revisit the site again… and again… and again…
Read more about Serin on MSN news
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