Listen to this articleI know, petals. I know what you’re thinking: “What happened to the title of Ruby’s last column?” It was supposed to be “MILK and Commentary,” but for some bizarro reason, it got formatted as “MILK and Commen,” which looked truly strange. It was probably my own fault because, as per usual, I was days behind deadline getting my bi-weekly rant in to our editor. In my conspiratorial mind she is punishing me by clipping off a letter from my title for every day I am overdue. Because you know damn well she’s evil and vindictive like that. (MUWAHAHAHAH! – JoSelle)
Anyway, it could have been worse. Had I been three days later I could have ended up with “MILK and Com,” and then the all of the e-mails would come flying in with sparkling bon mots like: “Dude, you’re in America it’s spelt with a U, LOL,” or some other drivel.
Darlings, you would not believe the feedback and e-mails we receive on some of our columns (or for real entertainment, look at the Salt Lake Tribune’s public comment boards. Scary!). Some of these anonymous rants are little more than cries for a mental health intervention.
Seriously, if Utah really is the per capita Prozac capital of the nation, then somebody obviously must be hoarding meds. Whoever you are, please start sharing with your neighbors, because the mental health of this state is cracking. And none of us are safe now that these unstable whack jobs have discovered Twitter. Yes, I’m talking about you, Jason Chaffetz!
Have any of you noticed how the Republicans are trying to act all hip and current by using new media (badly, I might add)? I guess the Obama campaign’s brilliant use of the internet for fundraising, awareness and networking has forced them to rethink how they communicate with the great unwashed masses. You know, those inconvenient little people that conservatives only pretend to care about every election cycle? It’s been fascinating watching them scramble to adopt new technology and court the younger generation, but I keep thinking to myself, what’s the point of having a new medium of communication if the Republican message is so old and out of touch? Seriously kittens, if your tired political platform was originally written on carbon paper copies, then blasting it out via text messaging is not going to help.
Apparently, Marshall McLuhan was right when he said, “the medium is the message.” I find it interesting how a progressive grass roots activist like Jacob Whipple can effortlessly use new technology to rally like minded folks, but it took all of the money and vast machinations of the Fox networks and talk radio to patch together the farcical anti-Obama Tea Bagging Parties last month. Although now that I think about it … I wonder what would happen if Jacob sent out a Tea Bagging Party message to his e-mail list. Yikes, that could get messy! But I digress …
I don’t know, pumpkins. For all of the youngsters out there, this on the go, instant messaging thing is a way of life. Personally, this whole socially networked, instant communication, Twittering about your cat’s loose bowel movements, and sharing Facebook pictures of Jesus burnt onto toast is starting to grind me down. I feel compelled to set up an account on these things, but beyond the peer pressure I just don’t care. I mean, it’s nice being able to contact the relatives scattered across the country and the globe, and yes periodically it’s nice to catch up with people I haven’t seen for years. But every three minutes via Twitter? Aaaargh! Just shoot me now!
Ciao, babies!
