Brow Beat

Slate 's pop critic, Jonah Weiner, published an article Wednesday arguing that Creed — a band dismissed by "critical gatekeepers" as "derivative blowhards with a self-righteous Christian agenda" — is severely underrated. This contrarian take has outraged the gatekeepers of conventional wisdom. And even fairly unconventional members of the commentariat, like Ezra Klein and Matthew Yglesias, have roundly condemned Weiner's — and Slate 's — taste. Klein suggested yesterday that Slate " should be burned to the ground ," and Yglesias called the take " ridiculous ."

Did Weiner's Creed defense also set off a new twitter meme? About 15 hours ago, tweets with the hashtag "slatepitches" started circulating. These tweak the magazine for its contrarian bent, suggesting story ideas like "Suicide: Why it might not actually kill you." Maybe it's contrarian for us to say so, but some of these are quite brilliant. A few of our favorites so far:

brianbeutler : The New York Yankees deserve to be loved, but not for the reasons you think.

gabrielroth : Wings: Better than the Beatles, or just different?

gabrielroth : What's the giraffe's most distinctive feature? Hint: It's not the neck.  

JohnJMcG : Hitchens: What all the obituaries about the beloved figure who recently died fail to mention.

Have an idea for a Slate headline? Use the hashtag #slatepitches. Be careful what you wish for!

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