BuzzFeed's Ben Smith Is Not A Snob -- But He Thinks You Are
Roshow | Tuesday, February 19, 2013 at 7:00AM 
In case you missed it, towards the end of the Sunday Styles profile of BuzzFeed "Boy Wonder," Ben Smith, his wife is quoted saying that they left Park Slope for Ditmas Park because “we got tired of being criticized for keeping our kid on a leash."
To emphasize this point Smith himself took to Twitter and confirmed:
This all stems from his admiration of his grandfather, a novelist, who ended up writing books about baseball:
Of the many things he learned from his grandfather, snobbery was not one of them. “He said to me at one point, ‘I wrote for my friends, and my friends aren’t intellectuals,’ ” Mr. Smith said. “I kind of worshiped him growing up.” He and his wife, Liena Zagare, cite a distaste for elitism as the prime reason they fled Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood for the less trendy Ditmas Park.
Apparently, Mr. Smith thinks that leashing his son proudly makes him not a snob. Does that mean he believes not keeping your kid on a leash is “snobby?” Or is it that people who judge him for treating his kid like an old Mike Meyers skit on SNL is “snobby?” Well, call me a snob because I think keeping a kid on a leash is all kinds of not-normal. And I applaud the people who called him on that shit.
Either way, Mr. Smith should consider listening to his kid more often. While he’s busy not-tweeting an article his son recently sent him and telling his editors not to publish it, he’s clearly missing the message. His son’s article is, appropriately enough, about “The 10 Best Clown Dog Pictures.” Perhaps, Mr. Smith, your son isn’t trying to get Internet famous like you. Perhaps he’s just telling you that he feels like a clown when you walk him on a leash, something usually reserved for dogs.
-->
Reader Comments (1)
I do not appreciate you making assumptions on my behalf. This post has nothing to do with me feeling like a clown. I did it because I thought it would be interesting to me, and others. So please keep your false assumptions to yourself. I was rowdy, and a leash was one way to keep me safe. I did not, and still do not, have any hatred about that. Please stop insulting me and my family.
-H