news stories
I couple of stories I came across this week....The Playground Gets Even Tougher
By PAMELA PAUL
New York Times, October 8, 2010
Mean-girl behavior, typically referred to by professionals as relational or social aggression and by terrified parents as bullying, has existed for as long as there have been ponytails to pull and notes to pass (today's insults are texted instead). But while the calculated round of cliquishness and exclusion used to set in over fifth-grade sleepover parties, warfare increasingly permeates the early elementary school years.
And this....
Op-Ed Columnist
Facebook Politicians Are Not Your Friends
By FRANK RICH
New York Times, October 9, 2010
The Internet in general and social networking in particular have done little, if anything, to hobble those pursuing power with such traditional means as big lies and big money. Perhaps what's most remarkable this year is the number of candidates who have tried to create fictitious avatars like the Facebook impostors in "Catfish." These candidates and others often fashion their campaigns to avoid real reporters (and sometimes real voters). Some benefit from YouTube commercials paid for by impossible-to-trace anonymous donors. In this wild political ether where nobody knows who anybody is, the Internet provides cover, not transparency.
[This entry was originally posted as http://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/359400.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
By PAMELA PAUL
New York Times, October 8, 2010
Mean-girl behavior, typically referred to by professionals as relational or social aggression and by terrified parents as bullying, has existed for as long as there have been ponytails to pull and notes to pass (today's insults are texted instead). But while the calculated round of cliquishness and exclusion used to set in over fifth-grade sleepover parties, warfare increasingly permeates the early elementary school years.
And this....
Op-Ed Columnist
Facebook Politicians Are Not Your Friends
By FRANK RICH
New York Times, October 9, 2010
The Internet in general and social networking in particular have done little, if anything, to hobble those pursuing power with such traditional means as big lies and big money. Perhaps what's most remarkable this year is the number of candidates who have tried to create fictitious avatars like the Facebook impostors in "Catfish." These candidates and others often fashion their campaigns to avoid real reporters (and sometimes real voters). Some benefit from YouTube commercials paid for by impossible-to-trace anonymous donors. In this wild political ether where nobody knows who anybody is, the Internet provides cover, not transparency.
[This entry was originally posted as http://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/359400.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]