Why people are bummed with the Newsweek cover story on luxury.

Recently(ok not so recently, since this post was originally written about a year ago. however i feel that the issues it rakes up are still relevent) Newsweek brought out a cover story on luxury or some such thing, and judging by the mail to the editor, the readers were upset. They were incensed that in these sad times, with the deluge of misfortune upon many people in the world, an established magazine of such a stature chose to focus on seemingly frivolous things.
Well, they had a very, very fair point. There is rampant inflation and a fear of economic slowdown all over the world. There have been major tragedies recently, most unfortunate among them being the cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in China. There were two terrible blasts in India, although they happened long after Newsweek had published their story.

However, despite tragic occurrences, we have to concede the fact people on the whole want to them behind and move on, remaining hopeful about better times. People won’t buy the magazine to OD on the gloom. Nonetheless, there are plenty of things to report about than the most expensive yachts on offer. For one, they could offer tips and advice on how to get over the gloom.

Newsweek has had several good ideas for a cover story in the past, like those on blogs, environment, etc (strictly speaking, I haven’t come across a cover story on blogs in Newsweek. I am not a regular subscriber and reader, thanks to the Rs. 100 or so that one has to fork out to purchase it. But its sister publication, Business Week ran a cover story on the business of blogs at least twice. Anyway, you get the drift)
One wonders at the lapse of judgement by the editors of such an esteemed publication. Surely they must have realised that readers interested in stories pertaining to luxury have various magazines to choose from which are focussed on this field only and therefore have several years worth of experience and plenty of expertise to possibly handle such stories better.

Another thing I noticed was the frequent attention given to environmental issues in the issues, which is laudable on its own. Recently, they ran a cover story on environment friendly countries in the world, rating the best and the worst, and those in between. How, then, can they promote the lifestyle of the so-called “rich and famous”, which gives scant regard to environmental concerns, that is if they ever bothered their heads about it. They have fuel-guzzling yachts, private jets, giant/ speedy cars they buy for obscene amounts. The carbon footprint of one individual or a group of them could well be more than that of a third world country. I can’t write further about them lest I get sick.

Can the guys at Newsweek please have some consistency with the issues they take up?