Disqus - Latest Comments for alexpatrol

Re: I Did Not Sign On For the #Outrage

alexpatrol — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 11:30:44 -0000

Oh, absolutely--but I wasn't speaking to the history of the Internet--I was taking on the user experience on Twitter here, and I thought you were telling me there was no previous calmer time on Twitter--and I would maintain, for the user, there was. But yes, the Internet has been a home for massive conflict pretty much for as long as it has existed. The difference with the way Twitter has organized Internet conflict is that the hashtag becomes a powerful tool for political and social organizing.

Re: I Did Not Sign On For the #Outrage

alexpatrol — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 10:37:41 -0000

Thanks, Ed. I appreciate you taking the time to comment. I also have toiled online since the early days of Salon--where, in my mind, modern commenter fight culture was born. You are the only person I know or have heard from who does not think there is more conflict on Twitter than in days previous, but I respect this dissent. I'll look for more data to back me up, but given that the hashtag wasn't in use on Twitter until 2009, and trending topics wasn't a thing until 2010, there actually was a period historically that I didn't imagine or invent, when people didn't use hashtags on Twitter, and a period when people wouldn't bomb a topic or a hashtag to get it to trend because you couldn't get it to trend--trending wasn't a thing.

Re: Sultan's Feast (a graphic story)

alexpatrol — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 09:27:20 -0000

It's beautiful --is there more to come?

Re: Obama Questions Value of Art-History Degrees

alexpatrol — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 12:41:47 -0000

Why write about it in this tone? "Slight"? It was much more than a slight. It's not a matter of hurt feelings. It's an attack.

Re: Father of fired public relations director: ‘I’m so ashamed of her. She’s a f*cking idiot’

alexpatrol — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 03:29:27 -0000

Yeah. How upset were you about that Martin Bashir firing though? Anyway...

Re: Noam Chomsky: U.S. used to have people killed for practicing what Pope Francis preaches

alexpatrol — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 02:11:26 -0000

Thank God for Noam Chomsky.

Re: Elizabeth Warren destroys Bloomberg hosts on Social Security ‘entitlements crisis’

alexpatrol — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 02:03:46 -0000

Oh, that little laugh of hers. I love it.

Re: How Pope Francis Misunderstands the World

alexpatrol — Thu, 12 Dec 2013 10:52:22 -0000

What an appalling distortion of the data.

Re: Ted Cruz Can Stop Saying He's Speaking for America Now

alexpatrol — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 10:47:45 -0000

We're going to roll each one of these anti-government suckers out. They don't like government? Don't work for it.

Re: Canadian university blasted over video of student leaders’ ‘No consent’ chant

alexpatrol — Sat, 07 Sep 2013 13:33:46 -0000

"Just to play the Devil's Advocate" is usually the preface to some heinous bullshit. Just skip the impulse altogether the next time you feel moved to say it. It's also called pointless trolling.

Re: Fox News host ‘tired’ of atheists’ demands for freedom from religion: ‘They don’t have to live here’

alexpatrol — Sat, 07 Sep 2013 13:24:40 -0000

And yet these are the same people who are so worried about Sharia Law.

She's so dumb, it's amazing she can put on her shoes.

Re: Iowa Medical Board Blocks Remote Access to Abortion Pills

alexpatrol — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 14:06:53 -0000

Why is this called an abortion pill?

Re: Pat Robertson Claims Gays Deliberately Spread AIDS Using Sharp Jewelry (VIDEO)

alexpatrol — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 16:18:28 -0000

Dangerous lies. It's not enough to say he's stupid. At least one someone's going to get his head bashed in by one of Robertson's angry followers who believed him on this, and it's not cool.

Re: Racist, Anti-Semitic, Anti-Gay Graffiti at Oberlin: A Cruel Political Stunt

alexpatrol — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 15:09:17 -0000

Kick the kids out and send them to jail. So sick of this pampering.

Re: FULL TEXT: Bradley Manning’s Letter To President Obama Requesting Pardon

alexpatrol — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 12:17:47 -0000

If you really have been following the proceedings, you know nothing she revealed cost anyone's lives. And you know who else broke the law? The US. Repeatedly. The previous administration. The ones who have the most deaths to answer for--Bush, Cheney--go free.

Re: FULL TEXT: Bradley Manning’s Letter To President Obama Requesting Pardon

alexpatrol — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 12:15:49 -0000

Don't fall for making any of this about personalities. This is about American malfeasance first. She's a hero.

Re: FULL TEXT: Bradley Manning’s Letter To President Obama Requesting Pardon

alexpatrol — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 12:14:54 -0000

Amazing.

Re: Poll: Louisiana GOPers Unsure If Katrina Response Was Obama's Fault

alexpatrol — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 13:41:09 -0000

How do they even have the smarts to put on their shoes?

Re: White Is the New White

alexpatrol — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 12:17:31 -0000

This entire column is just a ridiculous fiction. The writer invented this around a real show she hasn't watched the entirety of, a memoir she hasn't read, and the advocacy record of the real Piper, of which she knows nothing, and yet it asks to be taken seriously as a critique. There are most likely real things at stake here but we have no way of knowing from this because this is the cultural equivalent of a Yelp review.

Re: Climate Panel Finds Near Certainty That Human Activity Caused Warming

alexpatrol — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 08:56:36 -0000

These scientists are killing us all by leaving a linguistic opportunity for climate change deniers to run rampant.

Re: Indiana police threaten to Taser black firefighter in the face for waving at them

alexpatrol — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 13:07:46 -0000

There is no way race wasn't involved.

Re: Infographic: China's 591 million internet users

alexpatrol — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 02:09:00 -0000

WHAT IS HAPPENING? Who put these racist infographics up?

Re: Conservative hostility to science predates climate science

alexpatrol — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 11:21:24 -0000

Most scientists I know are trying to figure out how to not to run around saying "We're all going to die", because they don't want to freak people out, but also because we're about to hit an extinction event hard.

Re: Larry Kudlow wonders if Pope Francis understands freedom

alexpatrol — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 18:03:24 -0000

Perhaps he'll support doing away with government subsidies for corporations, and tax breaks for corporations.

Re: Are Seniors Souring on the Republican Party?

alexpatrol — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 09:05:33 -0000

It's about time but wow did it take a lot to get this to happen.