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Finlay & Smart Talk (+ open thread)

By Anita Finlay ("Ani") on October 23, 2012 at 6:30 PM in Current Affairs

Social media. Has it coarsened the culture? Emboldened the cranks? Or made conversation more vital and immediate? Join John Smart and me tonight for a lively discussion on today’s news and last night’s debate. Then we’ll move to our main topic, social media: 7 PM PDT/10pm EDT. Click the photo to listen, call or download later:

What else is on your mind?

*********************
Anita Finlay is the author of Dirty Words on Clean Skin, Sexism and Sabotage, a Hillary Supporter’s Rude Awakening, now available on Amazon in print and kindle editions. For eight weeks, #1 om Women in Politics books.

Like Anita Finlay, Author on Facebook

Following @AnitaFinlay on Twitter.

  • Steve T

    We have what is probably Mitt Romney’s best ad so far… “Apology Tour”:

    http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com/2012/10/best-romney-ad-yet-apology-tour.html

    • barb.fd

      Great ad; it brought tears to my eyes, when I thought about how much our current president hates this country- Dear God, Please hear our prayers, to give us a man, a real man who loves his country!

  • JohnnyTwoDog

    That is a good topic, and my short answer is yes social media has corsened the culture and emboldended the cranks. But I am too cranky to listen to the show.

    • JohnnyTwoDog

      In kindergarden we were all taught how to behave socially. Most of us learned from that. But for those over 25 or 30, there was no kindergarden lesson for social media etiquette. They run amok without responsible adult supervision.

      I am hopeful that the youngest generation, having microprocessors since birth, will be much more behaved than the old cranks, and provide the example the old folks are not capable of.

      • JohnnyTwoDog

        I mean come on, Ani & Smart, can you at least TRY to look friendly and inviting? Is it that hard to crack a smile? Is your life really that devoid of any pleasantness that you need to suffer everyone with those dour pusses?

        • JohnnyTwoDog

          Those chevrons creased in your faces scream your rank of Major Crank!
          Does anyone really need to also listen to you talk about cranks?

          • http://www.facebook.com/smartiepantz John Smart

            Interesting that the above dovetails with our topic. “chevrons creased in your faces ” – nice.

            • JohnnyTwoDog

              You are right, my bad.
              The socially correct term is
              Sergeant MAJOR Crank.

              • JohnnyTwoDog

                Try smiling. Look at how friendly Larry looks. Who cares if he is occaisionally cranky, his expression says fun guy.
                If Larry had a sour expression like yours would anyone come here?

                • JohnnyTwoDog

                  Your expression is a giant billboard that says “Do not listen to me!”

                  • JohnnyTwoDog

                    Ani is a very attractive woman. But she needs to smile. Otherwise, well you will gripe I am dovetailing again.
                    Crankiness starts with your expressions and body language. The words out of your mouth won’t matter.

  • HELENK2
    • HELENK2

      best comment

      natgrenadine • 4 hours ago

      What I got for my $47,495:

      1x dilapidated bridge for my commute

      5x libraries (closed after work hours)

      11x local parks (closed after work hours)

      1x subsidy on my neighbor’s imported electric car

      3x nearby National Monuments (closed on holidays)

      1x package of daily junk mail

      1x vandalized parking garage ($7 for the first hour)

      3x traffic cops outside the parking garage

      2x local methadone clinics

      6x local failing middle schools

      2x tuitions to private schools

      38x abortions per week at the local planned parenthood

      23min minimum 911 response time

      1x President who considers my hands dirty because I work for
      a living and resent government waste

    • binky354

      A picture worth a thousand words:

  • getfitnow

    Where are the resignations? It, of course, won’t happen, but if ever a POTUS needed to be impeached for lying to the American public, it’s this one.
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-usa-benghazi-emails-idUSBRE89N02C20121024

  • getfitnow

    R&R yesterday in Colorado! This is so awesome. It gives me chills of excitement ad hope
    http://photos.denverpost.com/2012/10/23/video-romney-ryan-rally-draws-huge-crowd-at-red-rocks/

  • getfitnow

    When I looked at Mitt on his plane–note the seat head covers. Remember That One having the AUDACITY to have of the knock off of the POTUS seal? What an ego maniac.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2222014/Romney-travel-Wisconsin-desperate-Obama-tries-cling-turf-won-2008.html

  • getfitnow

    http://www.timesofisrael.com/romney-visited-
    yad-vashem-in-2007-and-sderot-in-2011/
    *******************************
    I heard That One rattle off the cities he had visited, and I thought: ‘Any serious tourist could say the same thing.’ Does he
    not realize we know that??!!

    What a maroon.

  • HObama HObamanana

    From a CNN op-ed by Jane Edmonds

    When Mitt Romney was governor, he worked with a legislature that was 87% Democratic to get things done. And to me, that really meant something: I consider myself a liberal Democrat. For him, it wasn’t about who you were, it was about the quality of your ideas. That’s how he improved the economy and balanced the budget, but that’s not all he accomplished. Gov. Romney also initiated the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship to cover the cost of college at public institutions of higher education in the state for deserving high school students based on academic merit.

    During his time as governor, Massachusetts maintained its schools’ ranking as first in the nation.

    Opportunity. Empowerment. That’s what Mitt Romney has stood for while in politics and in business, and that’s what matters to women. In government, he created opportunities for young people to attend college. In business, he took a chance on people to allow their dreams to flourish into realities.

    I’ve been able to rise in life because of people who see the world this way. Looking back, I’m grateful to those who believe that education is a civil right and that the dreams of all should be encouraged and cultivated. And that’s precisely why I’m supporting Mitt Romney.

  • DianaLC

    I came late to this. It was an interesting discussion.
    I am of probably the last generation of people who still use only email to communicate electronically with friends. In fact, I can remember that my nephew and I were the first two in our large family who emailed each other, as we were the only two who worked where a program was available. I do remember the black/white MS DOS type screen also. Over time I developed a large contact list of email addresses of high school friends, of past work relationships, family, etc. Sometimes a friend will email me and ask if I have an email address for someone we both know. That’s enough for me. I can control that easily.
    Heck, I don’t use a cell phone except for a pre-paid one that I take if I have to drive a long distance so I have it available for emergencies. I can’t text–I hate that especially after teaching for years in high schools and having to deal with cell phones in the classroom. I never learned about Facebook or Twitter and have no interest in them—for most of the reasons you mention.
    For awhile I really liked instant messaging, especially when my son was so far away in the Navy.
    But, I also grew up with a sense of boundaries that was perhaps “tighter” than kids grow up with today. I am always nervous when someone divulges personal information to total strangers online. Having no idea how it is done, I worry that a stranger can somehow find me by using online information. If I had young children today, I would be a nervous wreck if they were posting photos, etc. online.
    In regard to blogs. I am here, of course, on a blog. This particular blog helped me keep my sanity during the last presidential primary and election. I was then working at a place where I just didn’t fit in. I was competent in my job. In fact, as often happens it got to the point that I felt I was doing more work than others in my department because some couldn’t figure out how to do it, or mostly because they were too busy socializing to do it. But, mostly, I couldn’t stand their smug attitudes whenever I might say something about the sexism in the campaign. They refused to feel it existed or that it mattered. This blog allowed me to feel that I was not wrong about what I was seeing during the campaign. And Ani’s posts were some of the best for that.
    But, yes, as an ex-English teacher, I really hate the idea that all it takes to make a profound statement is a few characters of text. Soon no one will know what all those great minds from the past said or thought because they wrote books and plays and essays and poems, etc. Many young people don’t develop the attention span for reading those things. It makes me sad.

  • HObama HObamanana

    With the final admission of the secret emails sent to the White House in real time it is clear that the cover-up of what really happened in Benghazi started immediately and was politically motivated. However, the manufactured excuse that it was all a result of some video that insulted Islam was partially true. But it wasn’t the you-tube video that offended them. It was the video broadcast all around the world of the Democratic National Convention where one speaker after another thumped their chests and triumphantly reminded everyone that Obama has killed Bin Laden and Al Qaeda was on the run. What else explains the signs we saw in so many countries stating: “Obama, Obama, Now we are all Osama?”

    Less than a week after the close of the Democrat We Killed Osama Convention our Ambassador and three other patriotic Americans were murdered by an Al-Qaeda affiliated group. This didn’t fit neatly with the image Obama and his loyal band of lying traitors wished to bamboozle us with. So a horribly produced and acted video is blamed for murders, our own Embassy in Cairo apologizing for the same. As if any film, however offensive, justified the violent seige of our Embassy and subsequent murders of our citizens.

    Many people have compared this episode with the national political disgrace known as Watergate. I couldn’t disagree more. This disgrace is much worse. Watergate didn’t cost anyone their life. What happened in Benghazi cost 4 Americans their precious lives. And the truth of what caused their deaths was hidden from the public for strictly political reasons, because they interfered with the political plans of the Democrat party and it’s head, President Obama.

    I say we impeach the whole party!