Another Breitbart Twitterspat, alas…//UPDATE: further thoughts re Twitter
May 5, 2011
I happened by Twitter this afternoon and saw this:
jjmnolte
Shocka’: @joemcginniss aka creep who moved in next to Palin family, can only respond 2my column with lazy insults.
This was in response to my earlier post today Breitbart Blogger Says MSM Smearing Sarah, in which Mr. Nolte said Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg were in the vanguard of a leftist conspiracy to undermine Sarah Palin’s bid for the presidency next year.
The way Palinists like Beck and Van Susteren have flocked around the words “creep” and “stalker” to describe my next-door neighborliness of last summer has interested me: it’s like–as Sarah does–they have to inject implications of deviant sexuality into any circumstance that displeases their queen.
So I replied to Mr. Nolte:
at least I didn’t stoop to name-calling.
Then he said:
What would you call you … who creeplily moved in next door to “study” a family? I’m open to suggestions
Then I said:
A journalist. I was writing a book about her. I did nothing to invade her or her family’s privacy. As THE ROGUE will show.
Then he said:
Well, you keep weaponizing children against political foes & forcing yer subjects to build fences, journalist.
Then I said:
I’m sorry, John, I didn’t understand that. I “keep weaponizing children?” You think I run a school for suicide bombers?
Then he said:
Wow. Playing dumb. Excellent retort!
Then I said:
Not “playing dumb” but even if I were, playing dumb is better than being dumb. Geronimo! Over & out.
Now, how useless was that? A waste of his time and mine. My publisher is urging me to twit, but I don’t see the point. Nobody changes anybody’s mind. What can anyone say in 140 characters that will add heft to the public discourse?
Seems to me Twitter is just a gimmick for show-offs. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
Over and out.
UPDATE:
I just checked Twitter again and saw that there are literally thousands of real-time comments about the utterly pointless Fox News GOP presidential debate in South Carolina tonight.
The whole thing is an exercise in futility because a) this is May 2011, not 2012 and b) of the likely “serious” GOP candidates only Pawlenty showed up.
So this is nothing but hot air filling cable air time. And I’d say the same if it were Democrats. This is a non-event deserving non-coverage.
But on Twitter? Thousands of people who must not have much to interest them in life are twittering back and forth about every syllable uttered.
It made me think of MacBeth in Act V, Scene V of MacBeth:
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
That’s how I see twitterers (myself included, when I succumb to the lure of the cheap thrill): strutters and fretters, full of sound (even if not always fury), signifying nothing.
Twitter is white noise. As in Don DeLillo’s classic 1985 novel, White Noise.
You can’t see it, smell it, feel it, taste it, or even actually hear it: but it’s all around you, consuming and absorbing you, without you even noticing that it’s rendering you dead to life, even while you think you’re still alive.
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39 Responses to “Another Breitbart Twitterspat, alas…//UPDATE: further thoughts re Twitter”
I think that both Twitter and Facebook are for middle school children. It’s always a good idea to think before putting anything in writing.
The Palinists has their meme prepared and memorized. Logic and fact matter not to them – they are on a mission.
My father always said you should be proud of your enemies, and with that in mind I try to make enemies for the right reasons.
It might be interesting to “provoke-tweet” as a form of researching the reactionary right, then compile the responses. Probably be pretty damn funny.
Twitspittle?
And as always she surrounds herself with people who seem to have emotionally and mentally arrested in junior high.
I’m surprised he didn’t say, what was considered a real zinger when I was in junior high “Oh you think you’re hot snot in a champagne but you are nothin’ but cold boogers in a Dixie cup.” Hardy har har.
(Keep it classy Sarah. Your associates are such a perfect reflection of your gravitas.)
They’re scared of your book you know, Mr. McGinnis. They’re trying to goad you to create an opportunity for bad PR. If she follows her usual pattern, it’s about time for her to accuse you of wanting to date Trig now or something isn’t it?
Joe – Ya gotta learn the lingo. Your publisher is urging you to tweet “tweets”, which is quite respectable. On the other hand, Mr. Nolte and the Twittler (aka $arah Palin), the supreme Twit of all Twits, tweet twat.
I have never seen anything but ass-kissing the Palins from Barbara Walters.
What a moron!! I’m so sick of the below the belt namecalling these people do. Is it because they are so dumb that they can’t have a discussion. You ” weaponize” her children?? How blind is this man that he can’t see that his queen Sarah is the one who politicized/weaponized her own children?
He’s so insecure that your criticism put him in immature bully attack mode.
Does he know the owner of that house looked you up and offered you the house at a great price? Does he know or care that you actually stopped some reporters from getting photos. You didnt bother them the entire summer.
Sarah sexualized it for no reason. Does he know or care that she always does this? Heaven forbid he should try to be objective when writing a story. Talk about lazy!! The guy obviously did no research of his own.
I admire the way you handled him. But he doesn’t seem insightful or bright enough to see his trigger attack response was because you wounded his poor wittle ego. Wah!!!!!!!
I don’t do twitter. But Joe you know when it comes to Palin the Quitter and her groupies you just can’t reason with stupid.
I think we should leave twitter to the quitter. Wouldn’t it be nice if she just tweeted away & no one responded. If her tweets stood alone she’d look like a crazy lady. I don’t tweet & I don’t think candidates running for the presidency should depend on this form of communication to get their points across.
True story about twitter…
The sweetie and I were arguing. Consider it a love spat, in a long chain of many.
Well sweetie got me this Iphone and twitter was all the rage. I proudly announced I have a twitter account.
In the mist of our love spat, I informed sweetie that I was tweeting my thoughts on our recent argument. To the world, for all to see.
My sweetie and gosh he is a sweetie, didn’t understand twitter. And, well ,neither did I. (For example, I didn’t know you needed followers.) Well, my sweetie, he just thought I was just letting the world know my “arguing points” and “leaving him out of the loop”.
To make a long story short, neither of us still know what twitter is about. And we really don’t care.
Now my sister, she tweets. That is about all I know.
Good luck with that tweeting thingy…
I agree, I lost the teeny bit of respect I had left for Baba Wawa when she “interviewed” Mrs. Todd Palin and acted like she was talking to someone worthwhile. Same with Oprah. They both had the chance to ask some real questions of the quitter and did not. I was bitterly disappointed in Oprah to the point that I have not watched her since.
I hate..make that HATE;;;that people don’t make any attempt to spell correctly and use all those damned shortcut words in tweets. They make even supposedly intelligent people look dumb…so people who are already stupid (not mentioning any names;;coughing in hand, Sarah…) really bad. So many of her tweets are almost unreadable to me.
What is with this Nolt guy anyway? Who is he being paid by or is he just one of those horny men who can’t get past trying to look up her dress when she sits on stages with short skirts?
When you moved in next to her..I cheered for you..and laughed at that ridiculous attempt at a fence. Stupid Sarah…as usual..she could have taken the chance to butter you up and try to make you her friend. Instead she launched her flying monkeys. Do us proud in September, Joe (may I call you Joe?)
Since we know that Briebart will be reading these responses (like Sarah, he is drawn to any attention, negative or positive), he should know that he’s a disgrace, a bully with the cliched self-esteem issues (so trite, Andrew), a fraud, and, frankly, pathetic. How did it feel to get “boo-ed,” Andrew? Well, you might as well get used to it.
I began tweeting in October – maybe it was mid-September. ANYWAY… have had a number of run-ins with the bots. They are armed to the teeth with hate, derision and foul / abusive language… but clean OUT of common-sense.
I am able to say that I got two people to “see the light” with Palin. I try, at all times, to be civil. It makes no sense to get into pissing matches with these people. Lately, I find that I am tweeting less. In the end, you play to the people that are like-minded: your followers. And really, your comment says it all: “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should…”
But, it sure looked nice to see those two new followers tweeting their Palin questioning comments!
That Twitter exchange was not pointless, Joe! I found it damn entertaining. Way more interesting that anything on television. Keep up the good work.
Nolte seems to be as much a drama queen as the Quitter Queen, he even throws children in the mix just like she does also, too
You are correct Joe, most of the “social media” tools are indeed best used by those college age or under. Instead we have adults who “tweet” and have Facebook pages; adolescent means of communication adopted by an older generation, in my opinion. Suffice it to say, your publisher probably does want you to use these tools, but you could on the other hand just tell him “thanks, but no thanks”. I’m certain that Joe the citizen would probably not employ this means of communication, on the other hand, if they guys that pay you want you to do it, then you do it. You always come through these “tweet wars” looking like the bigger person, though. So regardless of using a tool that you find limiting and adolescent, you use it to your advantage.
After some reflection, it occurred to me that this spat is yet another attempt by the incestuous conservatives to draw attention to their mistress.
Nolte writes for Breibart, who lost another writer last week to $arah as her newest ‘policy’ adviser. As attention has been waning and more of the wing nuts have been drawn to Trump, Nolte and Mansour have been looking for any method to bring eyes back.
This includes asking the media why they aren’t covering her speeches when they deride the same media for covering her speeches.
If $arah could only have final edit on all reports and interviews…
I totally agree about Twitter. (That’s not a dig at those readers here who have it and just use it for quick social engagement or a way of keeping tabs on people who interest you. I like toys too.) I’m talking about the Twitter as a way of creating the illusion of being relevant, having a voice, being somebody or frankly being at all.
That’s why, of course, that such gadgets appeal to a Palin (and those pointless people who support her.) It gives the illusion of being somebody or having something to say. It’s also a quick way of leveling barbs without having to deal with people in any meaningful way.
She and hers don’t exist unless they bribe or bully somebody into acknowledging them. It helps to have a geegaw that makes a constant static and noise that they can’t be ignored.
Coming out into sunlight must be kind of scary for them. I wonder if they twitch?
That’s exactly why Palin uses both; she has the mind of a 14 year-old girl in the body of a 47 year old.
I have never used either twitter of facebook. I value my privacy.
Joe, can you just post something there each day that will get people interested in reading the book? Teasers? And forget about playing games with the witless? Can you ban certain witless idiots from following you and posting their trash?
I once ran an email group on Yahoo, but that’s as far as I chose to go.
I was told recently that the average twitterer is 35 years old. In fact, my 25 and under students say it’s lame-o. It IS a great way to keep tabs on folks (like me) who don’t like phones or the complications of Facebook. I appreciate the eloquence my offspring manage in just 140 characters. (Yes, real words in real sentences- it requires a good vocabulary and some imagination.)
Jon Stewart Checks In with Sarah Palin and Donald Trump
On the night Republican presidential contenders duked it out in South Carolina, Jon Stewart opened The Daily Show with a segment about Sarah Palin and Donald Trump, two potential GOP candidates who didn’t take part in the debate. So what are “the Tom Arnold and Roseanne Barr of the Republican field” up to
http://gawker.com/#!5799195/jon-stewart-checks-in-with-sarah-palin-and-donald-trump
Like Judge Marilyn always says, “Say it, forget it. Write it, regret it.”
I think that you are making a difference in the exposure of the Palin fraud. Her supporters are getting concerned and trying to draw attention away from the hoax. Whether about twitter fights or FB fights… It is not about the children. It is not about TRIG.. It is about the LIE– THE HUGE LIE. I don’t think that she was ever pregnant. Not one spick of evidence to say she was, except her word, ha, ha,.. and so much that says that she wasn’t. Keep up the great work!! I do feel that more people are beginning to see what a fraud Palin is concerning this hoax. The professor’s paper has brought this issue to a new level of investigation. With both you and Laura jumping in to the fray that brings along your fans and supporters, and the more minds looking for even more holes in this crazy story the better. I shudder to think how she has been able to continue on with this farce. I think it is very important for the public to know just how and why she created this ” pregnancy.” If she can continue to get away with this, then what else is out there that might also be a potential hoax, either by her or by others like minded. People need to continue to ask questions and use reasoning skills to see the fake from the real.
Your giving her way to much credit. Lower the age maybe to a 5 yr old.
Although I haven’t watched Opera is about 15 years I was still disappointed when she had Palin on. It was before Palin had hit the airwaves big time & Opera & Walters helped to legitimize her after she had made an ass of herself during the election. Why did they do it…..money i& ratings is my guess. Big mistake in my humble opinion. They gave her an opportunity to whine while they sat there & asked all the wrong questions. Regarding the fence thing….I was so surprised that such a childish stunt didn’t get more of the negative coverage it deserved. It was just ridiculous & so poorly built.
I’ve been in cyberspace for two decades – before browsers were invented – we were using LISTSERVs. In fact, I learned FORTRAN in high school, putting the programs on decks of punched cards. And before that, I walked to school barefoot – it was uphill both ways. But anyway, to an oldster like me, the rapid flow of off-the-cuff remarks that one gets from tweeting seems to me to be less than useful. If there’s information out there that I can get only from Twitter, it’ll pass me by – but I still have enough distractions in my life to avoid confronting my own mortality, and that of everyone I love, and the yawning gap between aspirations and actual behavior. May the Creative Forces of the Universe have mercy on our souls, if any.
Joe, the real question is, is there any useful exchange one can have with the likes of Breibart? The man checked his brain at the door and got dogma instead. He has little ideas and no imagination. “Weaponizing children?” What the hell is that supposed to mean? I don’t think it’s supposed to mean anything. It’s just two words he threw together that he thinks makes you sound “mean” and “evil”. It’s the sort of crap one would expect to find in a college essay written by someone desperate to sound intelligent.
I doubt one could have a useful exchange with the dude in person, much less on Twitter.
Joe – I like The Twitter. It’s my drive-by news. Thoughtful folks from all cultures, demographics, world regions – provide links to stories I might miss otherwise.
And on a lighter side, it was you who tweeted about the HBO Veritas show about the Loud Family. Would have missed it had it not been for your tweet…and I loved the movie.
Looking forward to your tweets about futbol – those are fun.
I’m with you, Joe; Twitter is a toy. I love the power of the Internet to “shrink the world,” but honestly, how much information can get passed in 140 characters? That and the ridiculous use of the letter “u” to replace the word “you” (wow, two whole characters less!!??!) and other abbreviations make me want no part in “tweeting.” Also, too, you forgot rule #1: Don’t Feed the Trolls. When is ole Andy gonna unleash some his patented ravings on you? Or does he hide behind his minion, Nolte? BTW, don’t answer the door if you see a skinny young man, dressed as a pimp.
If I used Twitter, and I don’t, I would use it to amuse myself.
I can’t see it as a serious dialogue.
Sarah Palin is twitter personified. I was watching someone at the library twittering, at least from the format at a distance that is what it looked like he was doing. The reason I looked at him at all was all the noises he was making. He is a noisy man at best. He was guffawing, slapping himself on the back, pushing back his chair, shouting. I used to think he was peculiar, but now I think he is definatly off his head. He makes noises when he sits down, sighs, throws down his belongs with a loud clunk. Very odd. I would guess a southern supporter of Palins.
Twitter friends? I don’t think people really can count on twitter for friendship.
Barbara Walters practically slobbers over Palin. Not as bad as Hannity or Van Susterin, but obvious. Oprah, a big 0 as far as her interview with the Queen, ditto Bristol.
ADHD America can’t focus long enough for real news Thus you get Twitter. But as this country grows dumber, even twitter is too wordy. I’m gonna start a new form of twitter called “Frankenstein”. Instead of 140 characters you can only use two words, “Fire bad” and “you betcha”
LisaB, I agree that Twitter is the lesser issue here.
Even if you were to give Breitbart and his crew the number of pages in an encyclopedia* in which to express themselves, they would still come up several fries short of a Happy Meal. *In fact, someone did give them an encyclopedia: Phyllis Schlafly’s son, another self-loathing gay. Conservapedia: it’s quite a hoot!
Whether it’s 140 characters or 140,000 words, you just can’t argue with people who are outright insane.
John Cole of Balloon Juice described it this way:
I really don’t understand how bipartisanship is ever going to work when one of the parties is insane. Imagine trying to negotiate an agreement on dinner plans with your date, and you suggest Italian and she states her preference would be a meal of tire rims and anthrax.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=16770
Breitbart is insane: as far as I can tell he suffers from the same sort of personality disorder as Mrs. Palin.
He’s stated quite openly: “I just like doing things that are wrong.”
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/breitbart-confesses-i-just-doing-things-are
How can anyone have an honest exchange with anyone who “just LIKES doing wrong”?? What is to be gained from parrying wits with a psychopath??
It only entertains and encourages them.
We need to engage with the ‘normal’ people who are being brainwashed by the lies of Breitbart, Palin, et al.
If you’re correct about brightfart reading this blog, I’d like to ask him if he’s still holding his pee pee after the wee wee wacking Laura Flanders gave him last Friday on Bill Maher’s show. Was your little friend, o’keefe, able to make you feel any better andy?
Next time Breitbart wants to twitterspat about children as weapons, may I suggest a new slant?
http://www.palingates.blogspot.com/
Send him this.
And ask him to look at the 30 week photo and then at the 34 week photo and ask how he would explain that? He’s a big boy. I’m assuming he knows where babies come from. How exactly did she so quickly load that particular “weapon”?
Dearest Mr. J,
I often wonder how different this book may have been had the next door “neighbors” extended that good ol’ Christian hospitality instead of the fang-bearing, blood dripping, plaintive wailing of their kind of welcome.
Then again…..maybe not.
(That book is my birthday gift to me!)
Palin Chin Monkeys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jak9YxX2d6Y
Bill Maher “Sarah Palin Brain farting…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaMVMDFXBaA