We’d Like To Smudge The New York Times

If you keep up with the real estate section, you no doubt came across a recent article covering the housing trend of “smudging.” Just the name of this so-called practice made eyes roll. But in case you, dear reader, aren’t familiar, we’ll break down smudging for you.

Smudging, originally a Native American ritual, is now a money-maker for feng shui experts who come into a newly purchased home and rid the place of any lingering negative energy. This task is accomplished through mediating over an altar of candles and wildflowers. The Teller is sure that unicorns and hobbits are somehow involved, too. And the best part? This oh-so-useful service can be purchased for as little as $900.

One couple interviewed for the New York Times article who hired a smudger admitted to downsizing to Ikea cabinets so they could afford to get rid of a dead aunt’s aura. Another person claims to have found love after having their just-purchased condo smudged for romance. Uh huh.

While The Teller could make fun of the sort of people who buy into this kind of malarkey until the next issue of Banker & Tradesman hits the newsstands, we’re instead going to focus on how absurd the New York Times has been lately at its reporting of so-called real estate trends.

In the Nov. 1 edition of B&T, The Teller brought to your attention another such story focusing on how an increasing number of consumers are relying on numerology to influence their home purchases. The Teller would love to know what sort of survey the Times conducted with the numerology and smudging stories to establish these as homeowner trends. The Teller senses that its sources were limited to believers of these “new-agey” practices, and not much gumshoeing went into it.

It seems like the New York Times isn’t keeping their thoroughly reported trend stories to just its real estate section. Others (such as online magazine Slate) have taken notice that the paper’s style section loves to publish similar articles, with recent pieces focusing how fashionable women have taken to riding bicycles
around the city, that people are giving up bathing and how criminals are more likely to wear Yankees caps. Okay, The Teller has to agree that the last one is a given.

But come on, New York Times – for a much-respected national newspaper, you sure are churning out a lot of … well … malarkey. Please don’t make us turn to the New York Post. Page Six is almost too much for us to handle. Almost.