Did Times Get Duped By Dating a Banker Anonymous?

The Internets lit up with Schadenfreude Wednesday when the Times published an article about a group of some 30 unabashedly materialistic ladies who gather regularly to vent about how their financial industry boyfriends are no longer keeping them in Manolo Blahniks and Megu. But some observers immediately smelled something fishy, and when the two women who started the Dating A Banker Anonymous group and blog swiftly scored a (rumored) book deal, the needle on the bullshit meter jumped. Media Bistro points us to one NPR blogger's thorough debunking, which asserts there most likely is no support group of 30 women, just a couple of media-savvy satirists who cleverly exploited the nation's eagerness to play tiny violins for bankrupt banking tools and the disillusioned gold diggers who "love" them. True or not, it's still a fun show, but the paper of record is going to have some serious 'splaining to do if this is indeed just an elaborate hoax. (Blogs, naturally, are unaccountable.)