Hashtag

[3rdnlng]

Spot on!

 

 

 

Wow. Lots of nothing in this post. Thanks for continuing to waste our bandwidth. If you want to pick a fight with me either do it or go away. For a guy who's so homophobic you sure do have a crush on me. I'm cute too. Strapping some say. You'd love me.

 

Now, kindly start your own thread or start contributing to this one.

 

I went back to the first page and yes you did post several links to articles about the situation. I don't normally click on links without at least a snippet that tells me something about the subject. Hell, you're a writer and should know how to draw someone in. Now what's this "strapping" thing about? Is that code for a strap-on?

 

Considering the White House did EXACTLY nothing for three weeks, I'm not so sure they explored any avenues.

 

In fact, by their own admissions, they didn't. It was just another terrorist attack (ref. statements by State on 5/5, when they said there was no aid provided outside the established anti-terrorism assistance we've been providing against Boko Haram)...unlike the concurrent Abuja bombings, which they at least condemned (albeit did not twit).

 

 

 

I already don't like you.

 

 

Someone tell this retard what that means...

 

You're going to call him an intelligent and erudite poster?

[TakeYouToTasker]

Again, that's just not how it happened. The pressure applied by the leaders was because the issue became impossible to ignore. You can't remove the cause and focus only on the effect.

 

This isn't to say all hashtag activism is worthy -- it isn't -- but to dismiss this one because others are less than sincere is to miss the bigger picture.

Gregg, that's exactly how it happened.

 

Or did the First Lady of the United States of America not tweet a picture of herself?

 

Hashtag activism serves no purpose other than self promotion when it's the people with the power to actually act doing it.

 

The White House thinks the best way to get the White House to act is by tweeting?

 

That's not exactly reassuring.

Edited May 14, 2014 by TakeYouToTasker

[GG]

I don't have to "buy" it. The fact that Chinese, US and French military forces are now involved in the search is all the evidence you need to prove the protests had an impact. Did they find the girls? No. But that wasn't the goal. The goal was to raise awareness and shame the Nigerian government into doing something about it.

 

You can choose to believe that the # campaign was the stroke of luck that turned Jonathan around, or you can choose to believe that he got a phone call telling him to kiss $20 billion goodbye if he resists international "assistance." Do you think that money is parked in Nigeria or in a western bank?

 

When in doubt, follow the money, not a media campaign.

[IDBillzFan]

Explain to me your point. I'll listen. Because your second point is not what I'm saying at all.

 

My point is that Generation Selfie has jumped on this cause because like everything else preferred by this spoon-fed gimme-gimme over-entitled culture, it's high profile with low effort. Few of the people parading with signs give a crap about what's going on in Nigeria because if they did they'd have been holding their moronic signs years ago for all the young boys and girls kidnapped and murdered there.

 

And with everyone suddenly not caring about a missing Malaysian airplane, they have something new to hang onto until some other obscure squirrel starts running around on their smartphones begging them to tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree.

 

You look at this event and see how a hashtag moved a president to action, and I look at the event and see a bunch of self-absorbed fools jumping on the latest We Are The World story while blatantly ignoring the tens of thousands of problems that need real time, effort, and energy, but go unnoticed because it's just too darn hard to get involved.

 

So there's my point, Charlie Brown. So many problems and so many people in need of help, and the best we can lift ourselves to do is hold a sign and post a selfie.

 

We shouldn't be celebrating this. We should be phucking embarrassed beyond belief.

[Deranged Rhino]

I went back to the first page and yes you did post several links to articles about the situation. I don't normally click on links without at least a snippet that tells me something about the subject. Hell, you're a writer and should know how to draw someone in. Now what's this "strapping" thing about? Is that code for a strap-on?

 

We're six pages into the thread now... so I think I did a pretty good job of drawing people in, but point taken.

 

Gregg, that's exactly how it happened.

 

Or did the First Lady of the United States of America not tweet a picture of herself?

 

Hashtag activism serves no purpose other than self promotion when it's the people with the power to actually act doing it.

 

The White House thinks the best way to get the White House to act is by tweeting?

 

That's not exactly reassuring.

 

The First Lady isn't an elected official and has no official power of any kind OTHER than her image. Lending it to a cause she believes in isn't self promotion -- unless it's insincere. Which, in this case it may be considering the track record of the current White House. But I don't have enough evidence to make that proclamation personally.

 

And it's not my real point with this thread -- even though it is a valid topic to discuss.

 

You can choose to believe that the # campaign was the stroke of luck that turned Jonathan around, or you can choose to believe that he got a phone call telling him to kiss $20 billion goodbye if he resists international "assistance." Do you think that money is parked in Nigeria or in a western bank?

 

When in doubt, follow the money, not a media campaign.

 

I'm not pretending that the campaign was the only weapon used to try to remedy the situation. All I'm saying is that it was the spark. There was no movement, from any government including Nigeria's, on this issue for over two weeks after the abductions. No one was doing anything about it, no calls were being made, no threats were being leveled against them... then the issue became the center of fairly large, world wide, social media campaign that made it impossible to ignore any longer.

 

Would the leaders of France, USA, China and the others have acted without the # campaign? Maybe. But for over 2 weeks they did nothing. Now they're doing something.

[3rdnlng]

We're six pages into the thread now... so I think I did a pretty good job of drawing people in, but point taken.

 

 

 

The First Lady isn't an elected official and has no official power of any kind OTHER than her image. Lending it to a cause she believes in isn't self promotion -- unless it's insincere. Which, in this case it may be considering the track record of the current White House. But I don't have enough evidence to make that proclamation personally.

 

And it's not my real point with this thread -- even though it is a valid topic to discuss.

 

 

 

I'm not pretending that the campaign was the only weapon used to try to remedy the situation. All I'm saying is that it was the spark. There was no movement, from any government including Nigeria's, on this issue for over two weeks after the abductions. No one was doing anything about it, no calls were being made, no threats were being leveled against them... then the issue became the center of fairly large, world wide, social media campaign that made it impossible to ignore any longer.

 

Would the leaders of France, USA, China and the others have acted without the # campaign? Maybe. But for over 2 weeks they did nothing. Now they're doing something.

 

Hell, if it wasn't for your posts it would've been still on the first page up to a couple of hours ago.

[Deranged Rhino]

My point is that Generation Selfie has jumped on this cause because like everything else preferred by this spoon-fed gimme-gimme over-entitled culture, it's high profile with low effort.

No disagreement so far.

 

Few of the people parading with signs give a crap about what's going on in Nigeria because if they did they'd have been holding their moronic signs years ago for all the young boys and girls kidnapped and murdered there.

 

I tend to agree with your generalization, but it's still a generalization about the participants' motives. I said it myself earlier that I do not think everyone holding a sign knows the nuances of the situation or cares -- but what difference does that make in the bigger picture? If, the bigger objective of getting Nigeria to act on this matter was accomplished -- even if it only played a secondary role in doing so -- then why spend so much effort and energy trashing the cause when your true beef is with the (probably large percentage) people protesting who don't know their ass from a hole in the wall? There are plenty of those folks on either side of any issue.

 

Your second point in this section is where you lose me though. Social Media is new, its power still being understood. There wasn't the same kind of capability for every Tom, Dick and Harry to have their voice heard around the world ten years ago that there is today. The entire power of social media is the ability to spread information quickly -- which is what this specific incident required. And now millions of people who have never thought about Nigeria before know at least a little something about what's going on there.

 

Isn't that a positive?

 

And with everyone suddenly not caring about a missing Malaysian airplane, they have something new to hang onto until some other obscure squirrel starts running around on their smartphones begging them to tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree.

 

 

I'm no fan of the media in general, so I'm not in disagreement with you on this point.

 

You look at this event and see how a hashtag moved a president to action,

 

 

Just pointing this out in an effort to point out where I'm coming from and to understand where you are -- I do not look at this event as a watershed moment. I've had a lot of fun in this thread with the pictures I've posted. I'm not beating the drum that this is the biggest event in human history or anything of the sort.

 

The only thing I'm trying to point out is that social media is powerful and can be used for good. It certainly can be, and has been, used irresponsibily before and will again in the future. But that doesnt' mean we should throw this movement under the bus because of the past shortcomings of social media. I don't think there's a single poster on here who thinks 200 missing children is something to trivialize ...

 

and I look at the event and see a bunch of self-absorbed fools jumping on the latest We Are The World story while blatantly ignoring the tens of thousands of problems that need real time, effort, and energy, but go unnoticed because it's just too darn hard to get involved.

 

... And the above sentiment, while I agree with you in the general sense, does just that. You can make that point without condemning these particular activists or this particular movement. Focusing on this element, like Coulter did with her initial tweet, is missing the bigger picture.

 

So there's my point, Charlie Brown. So many problems and so many people in need of help, and the best we can lift ourselves to do is hold a sign and post a selfie.

 

 

This is where we really disagree -- though not as much as you think. I'm with you there are plenty of more pressing problems facing our citizens -- but you're making the mistake of saying this is the "best" we can do. I don't think any of those protesters would say that. They'd say the best we could do is get the girls back.

 

This is a tool they're using to broadcast their message. That's not doing nothing or self promoting, even if you disagree with their methods.

 

 

We shouldn't be celebrating this. We should be phucking embarrassed beyond belief.

 

Agree to disagree. I don't think it's anything to celebrate and I certainly don't think it's something to be embarrassed about. These are people trying, in their own way, to help 200+ missing girls. That may be misguided but it's not embarrassing.

Edited May 14, 2014 by GreggyT

[B-Man]

 

 

All hail "armchair activism" !

 

 

 

.

[boyst]

Am I really out of the times that I only recognized a few of those "celebs?" And am I that wrong that I don't really care what is going on with those girls? I really don't, because I have no need to concern myself. But if I had to fought a bare knuckle match against some terrorists, well, sure why not...if it freed them. But, it won't and this hash tag **** won't either.

 

If you want them saved pony your little asses up and do something. Get some mercenaries, they're working on Expendables 3!

 

It just sickens me that this bumped Cliven Bundy which bumped something about the IRS which bumped something about a bridge which bumped something about a Youtubes which bumped WMD or something...

 

#idiots

[GG]

I'm not pretending that the campaign was the only weapon used to try to remedy the situation. All I'm saying is that it was the spark. There was no movement, from any government including Nigeria's, on this issue for over two weeks after the abductions. No one was doing anything about it, no calls were being made, no threats were being leveled against them... then the issue became the center of fairly large, world wide, social media campaign that made it impossible to ignore any longer.

 

Would the leaders of France, USA, China and the others have acted without the # campaign? Maybe. But for over 2 weeks they did nothing. Now they're doing something.

 

So is the hashtag campaign targeted at Nigeria or is it targeted at the western governments? Seems like a moving target. And if it is targeted at the western governments, what does that say about a foreign policy that only moves at the behest of well-placed celebrity tweets?

[ICanSleepWhenI'mDead]

. . . it's not like Boko Haram is new. I mean, this very administration fought amongst itself about whether or not to even include them on the terror watch list. . . .

 

They've been murdering, oppressing, kidnapping, and blowing sh1t up for years. Now all of the sudden it's the cause de rigueur for celebs on twitter.

My older brother Darryl did not know this, so because of social media, he no longer listens to "A Whiter Shade of Pale" #SoTheAdministrationAccomplishedThat Edited May 15, 2014 by ICanSleepWhenI'mDead

[DC Tom]

Any updates on #JusticeForTreyvon?

[Gary M]

Any updates on #JusticeForTreyvon?

 

That's an old distraction, as stated above we have new distractions.

[Rob's House]

What's the story behind this? Who are "our" girls?

[3rdnlng]

What's the story behind this? Who are "our" girls?

 

Well, the story behind this goes back for centuries. "Our Girls" are the number of slave woman imprisoned in the Muslim way of life. Count them in the hundreds of millions. The old slavery in North America was nothing compared to the slavery going on now in Islamic states.

[drinkTHEkoolaid]

What's the story behind this? Who are "our" girls?

 

Just about 300 Christian school girls kidnapped in Nigerian by a muslim terrorist organization boko Hasan that our Secretary of state tried to keep off of the known terrorist list. Thats all. But #yolo! Wait thats not it...#blamebush? Or #imhashtaggingbecauseeveryoneelseiseventhoughihavenoidea

 

Twitter is so stupid

 

The funniest post in this thread was the guy taking a selfie saying hashtags wont bring your girls back highly trained operators will.

 

But seriously I hope the girls are rescued and not harmed in any way. This is a terrible situation.

[IDBillzFan]

What's the story behind this? Who are "our" girls?

 

They're all our girls. We are one race. One species. United.

 

Unless you're a murdered Ambassador with a few more dead Marines, then you're just an over-hyped scandal.

[D521646]

DC Tom -

I already don't like you.

 

 

Well gosh..

 

 

 

Tim-

[D521646]

I want you to have an original thought. THAT

[Azalin]

My older brother Darryl did not know this, so because of social media, he no longer listens to "A Whiter Shade of Pale"