Nah, feel free to ridicule someone for bringing attention to a horrible situation overseas. Later on we are going to rip on the #bostonstrong campaign as well. God knows a hashtag will stop the terrorists here as well.
plus she's black and standing up for a actual black cause. Seriously I hope this crap happens to the people that make fun of the situation. Oh wait it's over seas so Fox News won't broadcast it....
plus she's black and standing up for a actual black cause. Seriously I hope this crap happens to the people that make fun of the situation. Oh wait it's over seas so Fox News won't broadcast it....
Factoid: FOX news has been reporting on this since the get go, in fact, before and in more detail then any of the other "news" shows.
Since when is this a black cause and not a world cause..?
She's the first lady trying to make people aware of a situation that the average (A)american has no clue about.......whats the issue here?
The vast majority of the people in this country are very well aware of what is going on. My apologies to those of you in real colleges for a real education, but when interviewed at colleges and the beach it was college age kids that did not know what is going on.
Nah, feel free to ridicule someone for bringing attention to a horrible situation overseas. Later on we are going to rip on the #bostonstrong campaign as well. God knows a hashtag will stop the terrorists here as well.
What in my statement did you glean any ridicule..? Ridicule the Boston Strong campaign....where the hell did that come from?
Factoid: It was the clintonistas who refused to label this animal as a terrorist...when they had the chance. Just like they failed to act on uncle bin, 3 times. Gee, I'm sure I learned that on cnn or msnbc.
Now, here I had imagined that Michelle's carefully crafted three point strategy was the most fatuous possible: 1) sharpie a hash tag, 2) make a frowny face, 3) tweet a selfie. But I had it all wrong. I far prefer Lee's strategy: play the race card. Yeah. That ought to do it. Bash Fox News for good measure. Even better.
Look. The one man on the globe who wields the power to set this right sleeps in her bed, has two daughters himself, with her, has family in Nigeria... Who better than him to ditch the tweet and bring the heat?
I'd cheer him. You? End slavery in this century. High time. Do it now. Nigeria has asked for our help. Where is it?
Saw a Navy recruiting commercial on the toob the other day: "A global force for good." Brings to mind the Marines hymn: "... to the shores of Tripoli". Our first overseas adventure, Jefferson, wasn't it? All those effete European monarchs were content to pay those vile raghead bastids off in gold, but Jefferson said no way, rather pay them off in lead. That was the end of that.
If we don't roll, who will?
If all we do is tweet, why bother?
Now, here I had imagined that Michelle's carefully crafted three point strategy was the most fatuous possible: 1) sharpie a hash tag, 2) make a frowny face, 3) tweet a selfie. But I had it all wrong. I far prefer Lee's strategy: play the race card. Yeah. That ought to do it. Bash Fox News for good measure. Even better.
Look. The one man on the globe who wields the power to set this right sleeps in her bed, has two daughters himself, with her, has family in Nigeria... Who better than him to ditch the tweet and bring the heat?
I'd cheer him. You? End slavery in this century. High time. Do it now. Nigeria has asked for our help. Where is it?
Saw a Navy recruiting commercial on the toob the other day: "A global force for good." Brings to mind the Marines hymn: "... to the shores of Tripoli". Our first overseas adventure, Jefferson, wasn't it? All those effete European monarchs were content to pay those vile raghead bastids off in gold, but Jefferson said no way, rather pay them off in lead. That was the end of that.
If we don't roll, who will?
If all we do is tweet, why bother?
+1
It has been reported that American forces have been already sent. What kind of force was not mentioned in the report I read.
Ridicule the Boston Strong campaign....where the hell did that come from?
That would be sarcasm. We are attacking someone for bringing awareness through a hashtag campaign, right? That's what the #bostonstrong campaign is, as well. Considering your reaction to ridiculing that campaign, perhaps you understand the confusion over attacking Obama over this. Believe it or not, not everyone reads/watches cnn or foxnews and they get a lot of their news from Twitter/Facebook. I think everyone knows that hashtagging something won't end terrorism, but it will increase social awareness, which is the point of both campaigns.
For the record, I know I'm wasting my time here
Ridicule the Boston Strong campaign....where the hell did that come from?
That would be sarcasm. We are attacking someone for bringing awareness through a hashtag campaign, right? That's what the #bostonstrong campaign is, as well. Considering your reaction to ridiculing that campaign, perhaps you understand the confusion over attacking Obama over this. Believe it or not, not everyone reads/watches cnn or foxnews and they get a lot of their news from Twitter/Facebook. I think everyone knows that hashtagging something won't end terrorism, but it will increase social awareness, which is the point of both campaigns.
For the record, I know I'm wasting my time here
Ridicule the Boston Strong campaign....where the hell did that come from?
That would be sarcasm. We are attacking someone for bringing awareness through a hashtag campaign, right? That's what the #bostonstrong campaign is, as well. Considering your reaction to ridiculing that campaign, perhaps you understand the confusion over attacking Obama over this. Believe it or not, not everyone reads/watches cnn or foxnews and they get a lot of their news from Twitter/Facebook. I think everyone knows that hashtagging something won't end terrorism, but it will increase social awareness, which is the point of both campaigns.
For the record, I know I'm wasting my time here
Ridicule the Boston Strong campaign....where the hell did that come from?
That would be sarcasm. We are attacking someone for bringing awareness through a hashtag campaign, right? That's what the #bostonstrong campaign is, as well. Considering your reaction to ridiculing that campaign, perhaps you understand the confusion over attacking Obama over this. Believe it or not, not everyone reads/watches cnn or foxnews and they get a lot of their news from Twitter/Facebook. I think everyone knows that hashtagging something won't end terrorism, but it will increase social awareness, which is the point of both campaigns.
For the record, I know I'm wasting my time here
Unfortunately... Yes
I guess I am too.
Posting to non cigars is a waste of time.
I was reminded today that.
Welcome to the club guys. ; )
Guess I'll stick to texting.
Now, here I had imagined that Michelle's carefully crafted three point strategy was the most fatuous possible: 1) sharpie a hash tag, 2) make a frowny face, 3) tweet a selfie. But I had it all wrong. I far prefer Lee's strategy: play the race card. Yeah. That ought to do it. Bash Fox News for good measure. Even better.
Look. The one man on the globe who wields the power to set this right sleeps in her bed, has two daughters himself, with her, has family in Nigeria... Who better than him to ditch the tweet and bring the heat?
I'd cheer him. You? End slavery in this century. High time. Do it now. Nigeria has asked for our help. Where is it?
Saw a Navy recruiting commercial on the toob the other day: "A global force for good." Brings to mind the Marines hymn: "... to the shores of Tripoli". Our first overseas adventure, Jefferson, wasn't it? All those effete European monarchs were content to pay those vile raghead bastids off in gold, but Jefferson said no way, rather pay them off in lead. That was the end of that.
If we don't roll, who will?
If all we do is tweet, why bother?
So when is the job of the U.S. military to rescue non-U.S. hostages (besides, like, Kuwait, I mean)? As horrible as this thing is, it's an African problem. Rescuing kidnapped women around the world is not something that is in the U.S. interest. If it were, we'd have military forces in nearly every country in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Nor is it the kind of action that would likely have a successful outcome. Supposedly there is an some kind of pan-African army that's supposed to deal with these things. Let them do it. If we want to provide training, even some weapons, that's fine. But haven't we learned from the Iraq and Afghan wars that every time we step into a battle against Islam terrorists we're neither welcome and all it ends up in is more U.S. troop deaths and more quagmires?
Now, here I had imagined that Michelle's carefully crafted three point strategy was the most fatuous possible: 1) sharpie a hash tag, 2) make a frowny face, 3) tweet a selfie. But I had it all wrong. I far prefer Lee's strategy: play the race card. Yeah. That ought to do it. Bash Fox News for good measure. Even better.
Look. The one man on the globe who wields the power to set this right sleeps in her bed, has two daughters himself, with her, has family in Nigeria... Who better than him to ditch the tweet and bring the heat?
I'd cheer him. You? End slavery in this century. High time. Do it now. Nigeria has asked for our help. Where is it?
Saw a Navy recruiting commercial on the toob the other day: "A global force for good." Brings to mind the Marines hymn: "... to the shores of Tripoli". Our first overseas adventure, Jefferson, wasn't it? All those effete European monarchs were content to pay those vile raghead bastids off in gold, but Jefferson said no way, rather pay them off in lead. That was the end of that.
If we don't roll, who will?
If all we do is tweet, why bother?
So when is the job of the U.S. military to rescue non-U.S. hostages (besides, like, Kuwait, I mean)? As horrible as this thing is, it's an African problem. Rescuing kidnapped women around the world is not something that is in the U.S. interest. If it were, we'd have military forces in nearly every country in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Nor is it the kind of action that would likely have a successful outcome. Supposedly there is an some kind of pan-African army that's supposed to deal with these things. Let them do it. If we want to provide training, even some weapons, that's fine. But haven't we learned from the Iraq and Afghan wars that every time we step into a battle against Islam terrorists we're neither welcome and all it ends up in is more U.S. troop deaths and more quagmires?
Times like this I really wish there was a "Like" button on this screen!
She's the first lady trying to make people aware of a situation that the average (A)american has no clue about.......whats the issue here?
The vast majority of the people in this country are very well aware of what is going on. My apologies to those of you in real colleges for a real education, but when interviewed at colleges and the beach it was college age kids that did not know what is going on.
no they aren't. If you went to your local grocery store and asked them what that picture was about i would venture to say well over 70% of the people would have no clue what is going on in Nigeria
i honestly still don't see the issue with her starting a social campaign to bring awareness to this issue. What is it about that picture that required a thread to be created? There isn't a person in this thread who has answered that question yet.
Why is it wrong for Michelle Obama to put out a picture to bring awareness to an unjust cause?
p.s. If Barack would have done it, I would have completely agreed with you, but Michelle is not the president.
The White House on Monday defended the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign as a valuable part of the global response to the abduction of more than 200 Nigerian girls. But spokesman Jay Carney dismissed suggestions that hashtag activism would lead Boko Haram kidnappers to free their hostages.
“No, I wouldn’t say that,” Carney told reporters at his daily briefing when asked whether the outpouring of support would lead the extremists to set the girls free.
“We're not anything but realistic about the challenge here. It's extremely difficult,” the spokesman said. “The area that the Nigerian government is looking for the girls in constitutes roughly the size of New England.”
Still, “I think that highlighting the situation there and the tragedy that the abduction of those girls represents helps focus attention on the matter and helps, I think, focus the attention of those who would want to assist in the finding and recovery of those girls,” Carney said.
That appeared to be a reference to the sluggish response the government of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. Carney, Secretary of State John Kerry and others criticized Jonathan’s handling of the crisis sharply last week even as they announced the deployment of a U.S. team to help with search and rescue.
In private, U.S. officials said the social media campaign had helped to pressure Jonathan’s government finally to accept repeated U.S. offers of help with the rescue effort — even before first lady Michelle Obama lent her voice to the cause.
Carney said the American team includes five State Department officials, including a team leader, two strategic communications experts, a civilian security expert and a regional medical support officer. It also includes 10 Defense Department “planners and advisers” who were already in Nigeria and an additional seven brought in from AFRICOM, the regional U.S. military command in Africa. And the team includes four FBI officials “with expertise in safe recovery, negotiations and preventing future kidnappings,” Carney said.
“They are digging in on the search and coordinating closely with the Nigerian government, and you know, we obviously want to do whatever we can to assist that effort,” he said.http://news.yahoo.com/white-house--no---bringbackourgirls-won-t-sway-the-kidnappers-203903963.html
"That appeared to be a reference to the sluggish response the government of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan"Can't help people that won't help themselves...nor would I want to. People are murdered, kids are abducted, cars smash in to each other, people cheat on their taxes....all around the world, 24/7. It's horrible, but I don't lose any sleep over it. I'm worried about MY family. My family lives in THIS country. "Jonathan’s government finally to accept repeated U.S. offers of help with the rescue effort "How are we helping and who are we sending? How much money are we spending on this help?
She's the first lady trying to make people aware of a situation that the average american has no clue about.......whats the issue here?
I don't have any issue with her wanting to raise awareness about this....
The first lady is not the issue IMO....
The picture/tweet is not the (biggest) issue IMO....
The problem I have with this, is it's taking a serious situation and boiling it down to a 4-word phrase.
#BringBackOurGirls?
Where'd the girls go?
Who has them?
And who are "our" girls?
Why do we need to do this?
No, seriously, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. I'm not really into twitter other than for cigar news/contests and I'm not as young as I like to think I am, so maybe I just don't get the whole "twitter" thing and am out of touch with today's "hot" trends.
Is this the world we live in now?
Where all news stories/serious issues need to be deconstructed into small, bumper-size phrases, that can be tweeted, shared, chirped, liked, pinned, or posted?
I have no problem with Mrs. Obama (I voted for her husband last time around FFS), and appreciate that she wants to raise awareness about this...but I just don't get it. Was this the best approach? Is this the "new" way to do things?
If any other famous/important person took a "selfie" with a hashtag written on a piece of paper, to try and raise awareness about an important issue, I'd feel the same way.
Turning a situation like this into a one-line "hashtag" just seems to lessen the importance of it, IMO.
(But maybe I'm just out of touch with the world today.)
And, for the record, I didn't care for the #bostonstrong campaign either.
She's the first lady trying to make people aware of a situation that the average american has no clue about.......whats the issue here?
I don't have any issue with her wanting to raise awareness about this....
The first lady is not the issue IMO....
The picture/tweet is not the (biggest) issue IMO....
The problem I have with this, is it's taking a serious situation and boiling it down to a 4-word phrase.
#BringBackOurGirls?
Where'd the girls go?
Who has them?
And who are "our" girls?
Why do we need to do this?
No, seriously, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. I'm not really into twitter other than for cigar news/contests and I'm not as young as I like to think I am, so maybe I just don't get the whole "twitter" thing and am out of touch with today's "hot" trends.
Is this the world we live in now?
Where all news stories/serious issues need to be deconstructed into small, bumper-size phrases, that can be tweeted, shared, chirped, liked, pinned, or posted?
I have no problem with Mrs. Obama (I voted for her husband last time around FFS), and appreciate that she wants to raise awareness about this...but I just don't get it. Was this the best approach? Is this the "new" way to do things?
If any other famous/important person took a "selfie" with a hashtag written on a piece of paper, to try and raise awareness about an important issue, I'd feel the same way.
Turning a situation like this into a one-line "hashtag" just seems to lessen the importance of it, IMO.
(But maybe I'm just out of touch with the world today.)
And, for the record, I didn't care for the #bostonstrong campaign either.
a hashtag is just an organizational tool to allow for all thoughts and opinions to be grouped together. You could go to twitter right now and type in #bringbackourgirls and find out all the information that you would want on the issue.
This was 100% the right approach to bring the awareness of this issue to the people that photo was aimed at......young people who use twitter. It wasn't aimed at middle aged white guys who already go to cnn or fox to get our news. It was aimed at bringing awareness of the atrocities that other cultures are responsible for to YOUNG WOMEN just like the people that this hashtag was aimed at. Young people (women specifically) who follow Michelle and understand how to use a hashtag.
When you think of hashtags think of them as slogans, headlines, titles of books, covers of magazines, etc....in old media. Just a way to catch your attention and then you read the data that accompanies the headline.
Apparently to some of you, this photo and her hashtag activisim is holy, sacred, off limits and above reproach. But, is it possible for you guys to acknowledge that there could be specific objections to her METHOD of bringing awareness to the problem rather than assert that any objection must be entirely BECAUSE she is bringing awareness to the problem?
I'm glad for anybody to bring awareness to the problem. And even though I object to her method, I hope it helps. But, I would prefer that she go about it differently. Give a statement. (She probably did.) Get hubby to drop a drone on the Bokos. (We can hope.) But I object to hashtag activisim in general. And, in this instance particularly. To me, it seems weak. A first world selfie in reaction to third world savagery? Kidnapping, rape, slavery and murder, replied to with a selfie? Some people love the idea. Some people don't. It doesn't mean I think you're wrong and I'm right. It just means I don't like her method. And it's OK if I don't, isn't it? Some of the reactions in this thread remind me of the old bumper sticker. “America, love it or leave it” but now it's “The Obamas, love 'em or you're racist”.
She's the first lady trying to make people aware of a situation that the average american has no clue about.......whats the issue here?
I don't have any issue with her wanting to raise awareness about this....
The first lady is not the issue IMO....
The picture/tweet is not the (biggest) issue IMO....
The problem I have with this, is it's taking a serious situation and boiling it down to a 4-word phrase.
#BringBackOurGirls?
Where'd the girls go?
Who has them?
And who are "our" girls?
Why do we need to do this?
No, seriously, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. I'm not really into twitter other than for cigar news/contests and I'm not as young as I like to think I am, so maybe I just don't get the whole "twitter" thing and am out of touch with today's "hot" trends.
Is this the world we live in now?
Where all news stories/serious issues need to be deconstructed into small, bumper-size phrases, that can be tweeted, shared, chirped, liked, pinned, or posted?
I have no problem with Mrs. Obama (I voted for her husband last time around FFS), and appreciate that she wants to raise awareness about this...but I just don't get it. Was this the best approach? Is this the "new" way to do things?
If any other famous/important person took a "selfie" with a hashtag written on a piece of paper, to try and raise awareness about an important issue, I'd feel the same way.
Turning a situation like this into a one-line "hashtag" just seems to lessen the importance of it, IMO.
(But maybe I'm just out of touch with the world today.)
+1.
There was a time when these things happened the President would get on the air, make a speech, and his press team would generate all kinds of background statements, position papers and newspapers and networks would cover the story. The president would convene meetings with foreign leaders and announce strategies to resolve the problem.
Social media (and Twitter in particular) have replaced all that. Everything has been reduced to hashtags, 128-character drivel and "like buttons." As if clicking on a Tweet is going to solve the problem.
Imagine if 9/11 had occurred in 2014 and the White House's response was the Presidentholding up a sign that read "#Dontforget9/11". Distilling a tragedy into a meme. The closest we had to that after 9/11 was Dubya's idiotic "Mission Accomplished" meme. Which worked wonders for him, as we saw.
In the end, this social media nonsense solves nothing. Remember all that hooplah over the Kony video? The guy who shot and posed the thing gets a huge ego boost and publicity, and this little known terrorist achieves global notoriety. For fifteen minutes. Then he's forgotten, and hasn't been caught or killed and still carries on his atrocities with impunity.
We've become a nation where instead of marching on the streets and writing our Congressmen and President to demand action for our elected leaders, we "like" inane Facebook and Twitter feeds instead --and get that "warm all over" feeling that we've done something that will actually make a difference.
Apparently to some of you, this photo and her hashtag activisim is holy, sacred, off limits and above reproach. But, is it possible for you guys to acknowledge that there could be specific objections to her METHOD of bringing awareness to the problem rather than assert that any objection must be entirely BECAUSE she is bringing awareness to the problem?
I'm glad for anybody to bring awareness to the problem. And even though I object to her method, I hope it helps. But, I would prefer that she go about it differently. Give a statement. (She probably did.) Get hubby to drop a drone on the Bokos. (We can hope.) But I object to hashtag activisim in general. And, in this instance particularly. To me, it seems weak. A first world selfie in reaction to third world savagery? Kidnapping, rape, slavery and murder, replied to with a selfie? Some people love the idea. Some people don't. It doesn't mean I think you're wrong and I'm right. It just means I don't like her method. And it's OK if I don't, isn't it? Some of the reactions in this thread remind me of the old bumper sticker. “America, love it or leave it” but now it's “The Obamas, love 'em or you're racist”.
She's the first lady trying to make people aware of a situation that the average american has no clue about.......whats the issue here?
I don't have any issue with her wanting to raise awareness about this....
The first lady is not the issue IMO....
The picture/tweet is not the (biggest) issue IMO....
The problem I have with this, is it's taking a serious situation and boiling it down to a 4-word phrase.
#BringBackOurGirls?
Where'd the girls go?
Who has them?
And who are "our" girls?
Why do we need to do this?
No, seriously, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. I'm not really into twitter other than for cigar news/contests and I'm not as young as I like to think I am, so maybe I just don't get the whole "twitter" thing and am out of touch with today's "hot" trends.
Is this the world we live in now?
Where all news stories/serious issues need to be deconstructed into small, bumper-size phrases, that can be tweeted, shared, chirped, liked, pinned, or posted?
I have no problem with Mrs. Obama (I voted for her husband last time around FFS), and appreciate that she wants to raise awareness about this...but I just don't get it. Was this the best approach? Is this the "new" way to do things?
If any other famous/important person took a "selfie" with a hashtag written on a piece of paper, to try and raise awareness about an important issue, I'd feel the same way.
Turning a situation like this into a one-line "hashtag" just seems to lessen the importance of it, IMO.
(But maybe I'm just out of touch with the world today.)
+1.
There was a time when these things happened the President would get on the air, make a speech, and his press team would generate all kinds of background statements, position papers and newspapers and networks would cover the story. The president would convene meetings with foreign leaders and announce strategies to resolve the problem.
Social media (and Twitter in particular) have replaced all that. Everything has been reduced to hashtags, 128-character drivel and "like buttons." As if clicking on a Tweet is going to solve the problem.
Imagine if 9/11 had occurred in 2014 and the White House's response was the Presidentholding up a sign that read "#Dontforget9/11". Distilling a tragedy into a meme. The closest we had to that after 9/11 was Dubya's idiotic "Mission Accomplished" meme. Which worked wonders for him, as we saw.
In the end, this social media nonsense solves nothing. Remember all that hooplah over the Kony video? The guy who shot and posed the thing gets a huge ego boost and publicity, and this little known terrorist achieves global notoriety. For fifteen minutes. Then he's forgotten, and hasn't been caught or killed and still carries on his atrocities with impunity.
We've become a nation where instead of marching on the streets and writing our Congressmen and President to demand action for our elected leaders, we "like" inane Facebook and Twitter feeds instead --and get that "warm all over" feeling that we've done something that will actually make a difference.
Now...just to set the record since we have some apparently newer additions to this shark-infested area of the site, I'm one of the minority here. I voted for Obama twice, would vote for him again if he ran, and am proud to call myself a loony left wing liberal, although I'll smoke or trade cigars with any sane person on all sides of the political spectrum.
But just some of the things the Obamas do (or fail to do, like have a backbone and stand up for what I voted for them to believe in or substitute trendy hashtags for policy and action) just get me pissed off.
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Obviously, not at the horrible crime that has been perpetrated by the Boko Haram, but at the inanity and pure impotency of such responses.
.....
really?
Factoid: FOX news has been reporting on this since the get go, in fact, before and in more detail then any of the other "news" shows.
Since when is this a black cause and not a world cause..?
The vast majority of the people in this country are very well aware of what is going on. My apologies to those of you in real colleges for a real education, but when interviewed at colleges and the beach it was college age kids that did not know what is going on.
It is how ever catching on. Even sean penn has one out.
Look. The one man on the globe who wields the power to set this right sleeps in her bed, has two daughters himself, with her, has family in Nigeria... Who better than him to ditch the tweet and bring the heat?
I'd cheer him. You? End slavery in this century. High time. Do it now. Nigeria has asked for our help. Where is it?
Saw a Navy recruiting commercial on the toob the other day: "A global force for good." Brings to mind the Marines hymn: "... to the shores of Tripoli". Our first overseas adventure, Jefferson, wasn't it? All those effete European monarchs were content to pay those vile raghead bastids off in gold, but Jefferson said no way, rather pay them off in lead. That was the end of that.
If we don't roll, who will?
If all we do is tweet, why bother?
+1
It has been reported that American forces have been already sent. What kind of force was not mentioned in the report I read.
I guess I am too.
I was reminded today that.
Welcome to the club guys. ; )
Guess I'll stick to texting.
i honestly still don't see the issue with her starting a social campaign to bring awareness to this issue. What is it about that picture that required a thread to be created? There isn't a person in this thread who has answered that question yet.
Why is it wrong for Michelle Obama to put out a picture to bring awareness to an unjust cause?
p.s. If Barack would have done it, I would have completely agreed with you, but Michelle is not the president.
"Jonathan’s government finally to accept repeated U.S. offers of help with the rescue effort "How are we helping and who are we sending? How much money are we spending on this help?
The first lady is not the issue IMO....
The picture/tweet is not the (biggest) issue IMO....
The problem I have with this, is it's taking a serious situation and boiling it down to a 4-word phrase.
#BringBackOurGirls?
Where'd the girls go?
Who has them?
And who are "our" girls?
Why do we need to do this?
No, seriously, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. I'm not really into twitter other than for cigar news/contests and I'm not as young as I like to think I am, so maybe I just don't get the whole "twitter" thing and am out of touch with today's "hot" trends.
Is this the world we live in now?
Where all news stories/serious issues need to be deconstructed into small, bumper-size phrases, that can be tweeted, shared, chirped, liked, pinned, or posted?
I have no problem with Mrs. Obama (I voted for her husband last time around FFS), and appreciate that she wants to raise awareness about this...but I just don't get it. Was this the best approach? Is this the "new" way to do things?
If any other famous/important person took a "selfie" with a hashtag written on a piece of paper, to try and raise awareness about an important issue, I'd feel the same way.
Turning a situation like this into a one-line "hashtag" just seems to lessen the importance of it, IMO.
(But maybe I'm just out of touch with the world today.)
And, for the record, I didn't care for the #bostonstrong campaign either.
This was 100% the right approach to bring the awareness of this issue to the people that photo was aimed at......young people who use twitter. It wasn't aimed at middle aged white guys who already go to cnn or fox to get our news. It was aimed at bringing awareness of the atrocities that other cultures are responsible for to YOUNG WOMEN just like the people that this hashtag was aimed at. Young people (women specifically) who follow Michelle and understand how to use a hashtag.
When you think of hashtags think of them as slogans, headlines, titles of books, covers of magazines, etc....in old media. Just a way to catch your attention and then you read the data that accompanies the headline.
I'm glad for anybody to bring awareness to the problem. And even though I object to her method, I hope it helps. But, I would prefer that she go about it differently. Give a statement. (She probably did.) Get hubby to drop a drone on the Bokos. (We can hope.) But I object to hashtag activisim in general. And, in this instance particularly. To me, it seems weak. A first world selfie in reaction to third world savagery? Kidnapping, rape, slavery and murder, replied to with a selfie? Some people love the idea. Some people don't. It doesn't mean I think you're wrong and I'm right. It just means I don't like her method. And it's OK if I don't, isn't it? Some of the reactions in this thread remind me of the old bumper sticker. “America, love it or leave it” but now it's “The Obamas, love 'em or you're racist”.
Social media (and Twitter in particular) have replaced all that. Everything has been reduced to hashtags, 128-character drivel and "like buttons." As if clicking on a Tweet is going to solve the problem.
Imagine if 9/11 had occurred in 2014 and the White House's response was the Presidentholding up a sign that read "#Dontforget9/11". Distilling a tragedy into a meme. The closest we had to that after 9/11 was Dubya's idiotic "Mission Accomplished" meme. Which worked wonders for him, as we saw.
In the end, this social media nonsense solves nothing. Remember all that hooplah over the Kony video? The guy who shot and posed the thing gets a huge ego boost and publicity, and this little known terrorist achieves global notoriety. For fifteen minutes. Then he's forgotten, and hasn't been caught or killed and still carries on his atrocities with impunity.
We've become a nation where instead of marching on the streets and writing our Congressmen and President to demand action for our elected leaders, we "like" inane Facebook and Twitter feeds instead --and get that "warm all over" feeling that we've done something that will actually make a difference.
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But just some of the things the Obamas do (or fail to do, like have a backbone and stand up for what I voted for them to believe in or substitute trendy hashtags for policy and action) just get me pissed off.