What Exactly is Andrea Peyser Getting At?

Andre Peyser, the sex-obsessed New York Post columnist, recently penned an opinion column on Carroll Gardens and the recent knife fight on Smith Street. I can't say I'm sure what the opinion is, or what the point is, but, have at it, you crazy old coot:

"It was a place where immaculate brownstones came with St. Mary's lawn statues. Kids played stickball in the street to escape un-air-conditioned houses. And grandmas sat on stoops night and day -- gossiping, grumbling and cursing in Italian, while picking specks of trash off well-worn stairs.

You could find a nice clam sauce over macaroni in a diner. But sustainable vegan whole-grain pasta? Fuhgeddaboutit."

Ok. Mainstream stereotypes of Italians, with an apparent lack of knowledge about remaining community? Check.

"Now, it seems the old days never really went away. They just went to sleep.

Earlier this month, in an incident straight out of the Brooklyn of old novels, fancy pizza man Mark Iancono got into a knife fight on Carroll Gardens' posh Smith Street. In broad daylight. With mob-connected ex-con Benny Geritano, whom he's known for decades.  How could this happen in 2011?"

I assume that she is trying to drum up some fears that the mafia is still active in the neighborhood, and that THEY ARE COMING FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN IN EXPENSIVE STROLLERS?

"Others say the beef was over a dame."

Dame? What is this, 1953?

"Unless the knife fighters talk, the stereotypes will continue. And the gossip."

The gossip...that you're starting?