The story isn't about bigotry. It's about global citizenship. I took "better" to mean "performing with a higher degree of mastery of the course materials".
I think Rich makes abundantly clear his attitude toward the subject. The first clue is in the title with the use of the jaunty TV-trope phrase "Jumped The Shark". The evocation of a television audience turning away from an extravagant display which it no longer finds entertaining is deliberate. In his leading sentence, Rich characterizes Snowden's actions as a Hollywood chase scene. The first paragraph closes thus: "The public was not much interested in the leaks in the first place. It was already moving on to Paula Deen." The entirety of the article which follows should be read bearing in mind this metaphorical framing of news as sordid entertainment. Rich is not merely padding his word count.
The objection that not everyone appears on reality TV is facile, limp, and evasive. Rich is examining the prevailing attitudes of our society. It is absurd to claim as a counter to Rich that Americans value their privacy when the polling clearly indicates otherwise. Rich predicts that gadget-hungry consumers will invite still more and still deeper invasions of their privacy. This is main theme of the piece: public apathy to government's snooping contrasted with an ever-expanding lust for exposure of any sort. Rich is like an astonished observer of a preposterous, grotesque spectacle; he shrugs in disbelief, but this is hardly the same as admonishing we should just take our lumps.
David, my interpretation of Rich's piece squares with yours. I think Mike has failed to discern Rich's sardonic tone, and most of the commentators here have made the same error. At the bottom of page three, for example, he makes the same observation that echoes Brian McFadden's cartoon of two weeks ago (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/19/1216784/-One-nation-under-surveillance): "Little short of a leak stating that the NSA is tracking gun ownership is likely to kindle public outrage."
To argue that because some people choose to reveal some things, we should all just shut up about actual privacy violations by the government is ridiculous.
Actually, it's not true that nobody ever agrees with him but the other trolls. It happens once in a while, like a lunar eclipse or a planetary alignment.
Traffic != reading. About a hundred times a day my browser lands somewhere I didn't intend, and I immediately click away without reading anything. It seems to me that discussion should be factored into the equation as it shows that readers are engaged.
I think what you're getting at is the suggestion that this guy's unnecessarily aggressive attitude is a posture adopted to conceal his own insecurity. Next time can you do it without the massively offensive homophobic slurs?
On the post: US Innovation: Built On Copying And Permissionless Innovation
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Post-innovation
On the post: US Innovation: Built On Copying And Permissionless Innovation
Re: Re: Re: Re: Post-innovation
On the post: Congresswoman Claims 'Fair Use' And 'Transparency' Are Just 'Buzz Terms'
Re: Re: Re: Re: An incredible, ridiculous, and almost entirely fact-free article.
On the post: Congresswoman Claims 'Fair Use' And 'Transparency' Are Just 'Buzz Terms'
Re: Re:
On the post: Your Tax Dollars At Work: How Commerce Dept. Spent $2.7 Million Cleaning Out Two Malware-Infected Computers
Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Because Some People Share A Lot Of Info On Facebook, We Should Admit We've Given Up All Privacy Rights?
Re: Re: Re: Re: The Illusion of Privacy
On the post: Because Some People Share A Lot Of Info On Facebook, We Should Admit We've Given Up All Privacy Rights?
Re: Re: Re: Tone of the Article?
The objection that not everyone appears on reality TV is facile, limp, and evasive. Rich is examining the prevailing attitudes of our society. It is absurd to claim as a counter to Rich that Americans value their privacy when the polling clearly indicates otherwise. Rich predicts that gadget-hungry consumers will invite still more and still deeper invasions of their privacy. This is main theme of the piece: public apathy to government's snooping contrasted with an ever-expanding lust for exposure of any sort. Rich is like an astonished observer of a preposterous, grotesque spectacle; he shrugs in disbelief, but this is hardly the same as admonishing we should just take our lumps.
On the post: The NSA Turns Everyone Into A 'Threat To National Security' By Instantly Classifying All Data It Scoops Up
Re: Is one amendment more important than the others?
On the post: Because Some People Share A Lot Of Info On Facebook, We Should Admit We've Given Up All Privacy Rights?
Re: Tone of the Article?
Rich is not making this argument at all.
On the post: NSA Recruiters Get Smacked Down By University Of Wisconsin Students
Re: Re: Spooks are liars. Here's Schmidt of Google LYING:
Actually, it's not true that nobody ever agrees with him but the other trolls. It happens once in a while, like a lunar eclipse or a planetary alignment.
On the post: The Most Popular Posts Of 2013 So Far
Re: Re: Re: Subject
On the post: The Most Popular Posts Of 2013 So Far
How are you measuring popularity?
On the post: Texas Trooper Shoves 74-Year-Old Then Arrests Her For Felony Assault When She Hits Him With Her Purse
Re: Re:
On the post: Texas Trooper Shoves 74-Year-Old Then Arrests Her For Felony Assault When She Hits Him With Her Purse
Re:
On the post: Texas Trooper Shoves 74-Year-Old Then Arrests Her For Felony Assault When She Hits Him With Her Purse
Re: Re:
On the post: FISA Court Judges Aren't Happy That The Public Is Upset Secret Court Issuing Secret Rulings Allowing NSA To Spy On Them
Re:
On the post: Game Creator Finds That Knockoffs Can't Match His Awesome Game
Re: By "cache", I guess you mean "cachet".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridiculous_Fishing
On the post: Did Ed Snowden Actually Write His Latest 'Statement'?
Re: This is going to sound like a cheap shot
On the post: Internet Takes Smears Against Glenn Greenwald And Make It An Awesome Meme
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/all-in-/51362794#52336039
On the post: Ecuador Pulls Ed Snowden's Travel Papers Because Julian Assange Thinks He's In Charge
Next >>