Frankly, the only thing I found shocking or disappointing about this viral tweet is that it provoked so much genuine outrage.
After all, here is how I presaged this years ago in “Twitter Rant: Take 2,” November 27, 2012.
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What is surprising, however, is that erstwhile pillars of Western civilization are taking to Twitter like hood rats to crack.
Most notable among them are former GE Chairman Jack Welch and News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch. For there can be no doubt that, but for their Twitter addiction, the world would never have known that Welch is a right-wing nutjob who thinks Obama’s ‘Chicago guys’ cooked macro-economic numbers to boost his re-election; or that Murdoch is a closeted, oxymoronic Zionist who thinks the self-hating ‘Jewish-owned press’ is anti-Israel in its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
So just imagine what this portends for public debate – having politicians, CEOs, and professors compete with celebrities, athletes, and trolls to see who can attract the most twits with their mindless tweets on everything from public policy to daily gossip.to see who can attract the most twits with their mindless tweets on everything from public policy to daily gossip. And let’s face it, getting self-interested attention seems to be the prevailing reason for tweeting. And every tweeting twit in the twitterverse seems to think that the only way to get it is to be as obnoxious, incendiary, and/or bellicose as possible.
This is why I firmly believe that Twitter has about as much redeeming value as Twinkies.
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Sure enough, like Pavlovian dogs, social and mainstream media gave Murdoch the viral reaction he craved when he tweeted:
Ben and Candy Carson terrific. What about a real black President who can properly address the racial divide? And much else.
8:59 PM October 7, 2015
And, like a Cheshire Cat, Murdoch cynically apologized for any offense he might have caused.
Apologies! No offence meant. Personally find both men charming.
8:14 AM October 8, 2015
Of course, Carson should have taken offense at Murdoch complimenting him as a foil for his racist slight against Obama. But I fear Carson has become captive to the Republican ruse of excusing all manner of insults as liberation from political correctness. Only this explains the phenomenon of Trump’s candidacy.
Not to mention Carson feeling obligated to shuck and jive to continue receiving the media coverage Murdoch’s FOX News Channel provides his candidacy.
But, alas, I’ve become like John the Baptist preaching salvation that comes by reacting to such racist dog-whistle with indifference instead of outrage.
Again, it speaks volumes about the narcissism and dumbing down of public discourse these days that even the owner of the Wall Street Journal is tweeting like a teenage schoolgirl … just for attention. The only saving grace in this case is that the selection process for a new speaker in the Republican-controlled Congress erupted into utter chaos yesterday, sucking up much of the media coverage Murdoch would have received.
I alluded above to the mainstream media trolling social media for ignorant snark to peddle as news. Only this explains the Huffington Post publishing today, on its front page no less, the lunatic rantings of Sarah Palin’s spawn, Bristol, against states providing young women with free options for birth control.
Never mind that Bristol might have grown into less of a religious/political hypocrite than her mother if she had availed herself of one of those options, instead of breeding two kids out of wedlock … with two different men.
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