The introduction and prevalence of social media in politics (it was key in getting Obama elected in ’08) seems to have outpaced election laws and decorum. A politician certainly has the right to use it as [...]]]> Is it appropriate for elected officials to use government sites to promote themselves and, potentially, their long-term re-election prospects?

The introduction and prevalence of social media in politics (it was key in getting Obama elected in ’08) seems to have outpaced election laws and decorum. A politician certainly has the right to use it as a means of fundraising and/or campaigning, but in recent years the line between a politician’s social media presence and that of official government agencies has become blurred.

Various state agencies provide a link to Andrew Cuomo’s Facebook page, which blurs the line between dispensing info and outright campaigning.

The latest controversy involves the New York State Tax Department’s website, which had a link suggesting you “like” Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Facebook.  Some cried foul and in response the wording of the website was changed to “like” to “connect.” It got them out of a semantic argument, but doesn’t address the murkiness of promoting a politician’s personal social media presence on the official website of a state government agency.

From The Daily News:

While a Cuomo spokesman said the social-media pitches were not tied to any political campaign, some questioned the use of state agency websites to boost the governor’s online popularity.

…

“The agencies should not be tied to a particular individual but rather to the service of the people of New York,” argued Richard Dadey, executive director of the Citizens Union. “It’s not appropriate to tie a government webpage to an individual elected official’s Facebook page.”

…

After The News asked questions, the wording was changed to urge people to “connect to Governor Cuomo on Facebook” rather than to ask that visitors “like” Cuomo’s page on the popular site.

The line hasn’t just been blurred with social media, but also with the official website for the Governor. Just last week, the site loudly and gaudily touted changes to the existing tax laws effective January 1st. Cuomo lobbied hard for those changes, and the website’s header was unequivocally an announcement of his victory on the issue and a means of self-promotion.

One could make the argument that it’s nigh impossible to legally define the line between distribution of information and campaigning. It would have been preferable on an ethical level for Cuomo to simply post a modest link to a press release explaining the changes in a neutral fashion. But how do you go about making that distinction objectively?

As The Daily News reported, Cuomo’s people insist that the Facebook site is simply a portal to distribute information to New Yorkers. Yet one look at Cuomo’s official Facebook page tells a slightly different story. The first thing you see is a clear promotion of Cuomo rather than the Governor’s office. The wall feed over the past several weeks has been beating he drum for the changes to the State’s tax code (repeatedly touting it as the “lowest tax rate for middle class New Yorkers in 58 years”) as well as links promoting his media appearances on radio shows hosted by Fred Dicker and former Governor David Paterson. Outside the context of the recent controversy, some of those seem harmless and neutral. Yet there’s a clear underlining subtext promoting Cuomo, the man, and not the Executive Branch of State Government.

But again, where the Hell is that line?

I’m loathe to engage the slippery slope, but I’m not really overly concerned about Andrew Cuomo’s Facebook and this particular controversy. I am concerned, however, that it shows a further erosion of that line we talked about.

HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH FACEBOOK CHANGED THE WAY IT DOES THINGS!

GUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

BLUE TABS?

WHAT ARE THOSE BLUE TABS?!

HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNH

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

*punches mirror*

(Above pic with Xzibit was posted by [...]]]> Doo dee doo dee doooooooo, loggin’ in to Facebook in the mornin’ to see pictures of kitties and babies anWHAT THE HELL?!

HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH FACEBOOK CHANGED THE WAY IT DOES THINGS!

GUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

BLUE TABS?

WHAT ARE THOSE BLUE TABS?!

HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNH

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

*punches mirror*

(Above pic with Xzibit was posted by Tom Anderson, the guy who created MySpace who recently said the reason he’s on Facebook is the same reason why everybody else is now – because MySpace sucks. Tom left MySpace in 2009.)

No idea where this originated, but it’s been floating around my Facebook feed over the last twelve hours. Note – according to reader Henri, it looks like it originated from Fark.com.

Other notes:

The President finally took the podium a full hour after his scheduled [...]]]>

In Washington, DC and New York City, people took to the streets and celebrated. Why couldn't I join them?

As I write this, it’s 11:35pm on Sunday night and we have known Osama bin Laden has been dead for about forty-five minutes. Strangely, I don’t feel the same joy and exaltation that I hear and see other people expressing over the news.

The President finally took the podium a full hour after his scheduled announcement and delivered an eloquent speech. There was a particularly powerful statement he made about the worst images of the terrorist acts unseen by most of America, such as the empty seat at the dinner table reserved for those loved ones taken away from us. He finished by reciting the end of the pledge of allegiance and walked away from the podium to silence. It was, I suppose, to allow us a dramatic moment to reflect. Instead, to me, the silence was deafening. As I watched and read reaction on Facebook, Twitter, and from texts of friends, family, and loved ones that came through on my phone, I became confused as to why I didn’t feel that level of joy that everyone else seemed to be expressing.

I turned off my phone’s alerts, closed my Macbook, and went outside to clear my head. Yesterday had been a gorgeous and productive day, capped off by an equally gorgeous evening. The cool night air blew gently on my forearms and neck. Yet, as I looked around, I did not see or feel the world any differently than I had before the news broke; not like I had on that weird day a little less than ten years ago where men under the direction of the now deceased bin Laden crashed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

This realization made me angry. It seemed unfair that he could take away so much from us and leave permanent scars, but when we finally succeed in our mission to capture or kill him the scars didn’t automatically heal. There was no great fix and no restoring that sense of loss of life and security. I felt disappointed at the lack of karmic balance, then ashamed that I thought there somehow might be.

Despite its structure and pretense to the contrary, al Qaeda is a personality-driven organization with bin Laden as a figurehead. His death is definitely a blow to their morale, cohesion, and sense of central purpose, even if it doesn’t destroy the organization in the long run. But the fight of free nations against terrorism isn’t over, and realistically, it may not be in our lifetime. Too many things have to fall into place and much more effort and loss of life will be put towards this venture. It will also require us to perform an honest introspective examination of ourselves and our history, which we as human beings find difficult to do on a large scale. The man is dead, but he’s been a ghost to me for ten years and I can’t help but feel like no great change has occurred, nor can I bring myself to celebrate.

Last night I took the time to thank people like Kate, Tom, John, and so many others I know who opted to serve our country during and after the events of September 11th, 2001, and I’ll do so here again. I will not fault them any revelatory excitement over the news. They were a part of that search and their joy is at a mission accomplished and the justification of the death of compatriots. Nor will I fault any other American who first saw that news confirmed at 10:40pm or thereabouts and said “good” or opened a bottle of wine. Because, to be honest, I envy that sense of closure. What I feel is not a feeling of sadness over a death, but regret that I can’t join in on the celebration.

Maybe one day I’ll be able to look back on last night differently and convey its meaning in a more eloquent manner. For now, all I know is that Osama bin Laden is dead. Also dead, still, are those three thousand civilians in New York City, hundreds of thousands of our soldiers and civilians on both sides, and even more who didn’t know they were on a “side.” No operation, no celebration, no clandestine Presidential announcements, and no assassination of a targeted figurehead can bring them back and fill those empty seats.

———-

On an unrelated note, I want to bring to your attention the fact that you can make a $10 donation to help victims from last week’s tornadoes that swept through the South by texting “REDCROSS” to 90999.

Unfortunately, you can’t get away with that anymore. The first question people will ask is why [...]]]>

A picture of my girlfriend. Nah, you wouldn't know her. She lives in Canada. I met her while I was visiting my Uncle. She's really really into me.

It used to be so much easier to have an imaginary girlfriend. You’d just fabricate or use an existing vacation taken during Spring or Summer Break, lie to your friends about what you did, and boom: girlfriend in Canada.

Unfortunately, you can’t get away with that anymore. The first question people will ask is why you haven’t changed your relationship status on Facebook. Then they’ll ask where she is on Facebook, or Twitter, or Tumblr, or Xanga (if you and your friends are total losers). The internet in the 21st Century has totally blown up our fake girlfriend spot.

…or has it?

The good news, ladies and gentlemen, is that there’s a new service: it’s called Cloud Girlfriend, and boy is it ingenious. Need to support that big lie you told your friends at a sleepover? No worries, Cloud Girlfriend will create her for you with ease. Mom’s on your case about the fact that you watch Bravo reality shows all day and you need a beard to throw her off your scent? Then look no further than Cloud Girlfriend!

The concept is simple: Cloud Girlfriend will create an online social media presence for your fake girlfriend. She’ll even post on your wall.

The bad news, however, is that the company is just a start-up for now. The website for Cloud Girlfriend simply pitches the product and asks you for an e-mail to be notified when it launches.

So until then, you’ll have to tell people that your fake girlfriend in Canada is one of those people that hates Facebook, or she’s not on there because her ex-boyfriend stalks her even though you don’t think he will anymore because you beat him up using your Muay Thai skills.

“What if God was tired of the way they treated [...]]]>

According to some, she deserves this agony.

Reader GenWar linked me to one of many articles I’ve seen lately that I’ve found disturbing and, as an American, a bit embarrassing. It concerns the reaction some have had to the disaster in Japan, this time coming from WNBA guard Cappie Pondexter:

“What if God was tired of the way they treated their own people in there own country! Idk guys he makes no mistakes,” the guard, now with the WNBA’s New York Liberty, tweeted on her account, cappa23.

“u just never knw!” she Tweeted later on. “They did pearl harbor so u can’t expect anything less.”

It’s not a sentiment that Pondexter is alone in. A glance on many Facebook walls and Twitter feeds will show the same sentiment being expressed ad nauseam, some of which have been collected on various websites for posterity.

There’s also Gilbert Gottfried, whose tweeted joke about the disaster resulted in his dismissal as the voice of the AFLAC duck, which was the one thing keeping him in the limelight (since it clearly wasn’t his material).

The amazement I have with this reaction is two-fold: that people whose parents weren’t even alive when Pearl Harbor happened still harbor resentment towards them for it, and also that they’d be stupid enough to share this with anyone – let alone on a public forum – while the body count continues to climb.

So what exactly for these people are the statute of limitations? What’s the statute of limitations? Will we refuse help for England because of the revolution? Do we look past a disaster in our own soil because it’s in the South, which once seceded from our Union?

It was sixty years ago. It was another time. It was a completely different world.

There can’t be an excuse for this behavior. It’s ugly, wrong-headed, and monstrous, and anyone harboring those sentiments at this time needs to do some very deep soul-searching.

Well, let me be your Catholic Priest, except instead of advising you to recite thirteen Hail Marys, I’m asking you to give $20 (or whatever you can afford) to any of the following organizations helping out with the relief:

• Shelterbox in Japan
• Red Cross
• UNICEF

Your conscience requires it.

And if you’re not one of those select few, why not donate anyway to show the world that Americans are better than that?

Ever since I was in High School, I have seen many – including myself – label under the misapprehension of being the overlooked “nice guy.”

“Why doesn’t this girl like me?” we’d ask. “I’m a nice guy, certainly nicer than the guys [...]]]> Somewhat connected in yesterday’s post about things you can’t call yourself.

Ever since I was in High School, I have seen many – including myself – label under the misapprehension of being the overlooked “nice guy.”

“Why doesn’t this girl like me?” we’d ask. “I’m a nice guy, certainly nicer than the guys she goes for.”

Conventional wisdom is that the girls go for the jerks, and the rest of us are left as victims of our own virtues, doomed to sit around and wait for one of the objects of our affections to wise up and realize the error of their ways and how much they’re missing out.

Except that’s the most shallow, pathetic, self-centered, and deluded outlook you can have. Who are you, and what exactly puts you on a pedestal and makes you superior to other men (or women) around you?

I started thinking on this yesterday when I was sent a link to the blog “Failbook” (highlighting the various misadventures of the crazy and the dumb on Facebook). The following was posted as a screen capture. Zoey, High School crush of Toby, complains about guys being jerks. Toby goes on a screed that makes him a folk hero of sorts:

What we’re supposed to take away from it is that, wow, girls can often talk about how mean and heartless guys are, but they’re every bit as bad, if not worse.

…no. No no no.

Firstly, no matter what the past may have been between the two, the dude in this example is highjacking someone else’s problems to make it about himself. If one needs wonder why Toby’s persistence hasn’t paid off, the culmination of his frustration clearly lays out the reason why: he does not, despite pretenses and obsession, know very much about her nor does he care enough to not make everything that she does about himself.

Her pain is inconsequential. His is paramount.

He lays out three years of unrequited affections, though it might be more apt to call it not taking a damn hint. Or, in some cases, borderline harassment. In year 8, Zoey clearly wanted nothing to do with Toby. So then he sent her candy and roses and “tried to be romantic,” which is a super creepy thing to say to a girl that isn’t your girlfriend and has made it clear she doesn’t want anything to do with you. In year 9, he still couldn’t take a hint. In year 10…well, you get the picture.

Now, I’m sure this girl has committed some wrongs in this situation. If we take Toby at face value, then to some extent he’s been taken advantage of in the past, which is wrong. But what makes Toby “the nice guy?”

The answer? Nothing, because he’s not. Instead, he suffers from what I call Nice Guy Syndrome.

Nice Guy Syndrome affects dudes who obsess over women (or a specific woman). The person suffering from it will tell people that he just doesn’t get it, because he’s such a nice guy. Except nothing that the guy does is selfless. All the supposed nice guy things he does – the candy, the roses, the badgering, the begging and the pleading – aren’t favors meant to make her happy, or make her smile. They’re all actions committed with the prerequisite that he gets something in return, in particular the physical affections of his obsession.

As a result, dudes who suffer from Nice Guy Syndrome engage in deluded, self-centered behavior exacerbated by an incessant victim complex. They’ll say and do things to try to evoke pity from others, but when you scratch past the surface you find that there’s no great injustice done other than the person deigning to say “no” to them.

To those who suffer, try this: if someone says they’re not interested, take them at their word. If you’re one of those that must be persistent, then by all means, stick around and be a friend. But that doesn’t mean continually asking them out over and over again only to get a no, sending flowers and candy, and engaging in various other clueless behaviors that strain the relationship and make the other party develop animosity towards you.

Most importantly, remember this one thing: the Universe, and the person you’re crushing on, owes you nothing. You do not deserve this person simply because you decide you want to get in his or her pants.

Try a little empathy for a change. Being the nice guy is impossible without it.

For those who don’t know – basically it’s the smiley face someone uses after they insult you but want to get away with it.

Seriously, we’ve all been just using this the standard smiley face [...]]]> The other day someone sent me an emoticon and I got to thinking with how bored I am with them.

For those who don’t know – basically it’s the smiley face someone uses after they insult you but want to get away with it.

Seriously, we’ve all been just using this the standard smiley face for so long that it doesn’t even mean anything anymore. I don’t even see it as a smile.

So I’ve decided to create my own, unique emoticons. Feel free to use as you will.

SAD BULLDOG

:<

Look, it sort of looks like a sad bulldog!

THE SAM ELLIOTT

 :{

Use when you’re feelin’ manly.

COKE-FACE

 :^*)

Use to excuse annoying and/or rude behavior. “Sorry ’bout that, I’m coked out of my mind.”

JUST CLOWNING

 :@)

Use after you’ve suckered someone into believing something. The “@” is a clown nose, see.

BAD DAY aka THE JAKE GITTES FROM “CHINATOWN”

 :#(

Pretty self-explanatory.

THE “I HAVE HAD MY NOSE SURGICALLY REMOVED AND REPLACED WITH A PIG’S NOSE”

 :3)

Use when you have had your nose surgically removed and replaced with a pig’s nose.