Hello!
The comments on this profile are unclaimed and thus are unverified.
Do they belong to you? Claim these comments.
Cynthia Brumfield
Is this you? Claim Profile »
1 year ago
in Newsweek does UGC drive-by on Mathew's comments
It's funny...I read this article last night (or rather scanned it) and my fleeting reaction was "huh?" I figured that because I wasn't really concentrating that I just didn't absorb it. Now that you've deconstructed the piece, I realize that I was merely experiencing a gut reaction to crap.
1 reply
1 year ago
in The Obama video: media at hyper-speed on Mathew's comments
Mathew,
After I posted that comment, I realized that the "entirely phony" statement was bad phrasing on my part. I suspect that some people do find it a little cheesy. But, there is no doubt that it has been effective and there's no doubt that some of the criticism is politically motivated.
After I posted that comment, I realized that the "entirely phony" statement was bad phrasing on my part. I suspect that some people do find it a little cheesy. But, there is no doubt that it has been effective and there's no doubt that some of the criticism is politically motivated.
1 reply
mathewi
I think you are probably right, Cynthia.
1 year ago
in The Obama video: media at hyper-speed on Mathew's comments
Mathew,
The "backlash" to the video you cite is entirely phony and ginned up for political reasons. I would suspect that every political consultant wishes he or she had thought of it. Remember, we're in the master spin zone now.
That video has done more to mobilize young people (does anybody have stats on the number of times it has been posted on Facebook pages?) than anything else I've seen so far in this election.
High school seniors here in Maryland are able to vote in the primary on Tuesday here in Maryland if they turn 18 by November 3, 2008 and that video has become a senior thing -- Yes We Can is now their mantra.
The "backlash" to the video you cite is entirely phony and ginned up for political reasons. I would suspect that every political consultant wishes he or she had thought of it. Remember, we're in the master spin zone now.
That video has done more to mobilize young people (does anybody have stats on the number of times it has been posted on Facebook pages?) than anything else I've seen so far in this election.
High school seniors here in Maryland are able to vote in the primary on Tuesday here in Maryland if they turn 18 by November 3, 2008 and that video has become a senior thing -- Yes We Can is now their mantra.
1 reply
mathewi
I'm not sure it is entirely phony, Cynthia -- some of it came from
people I know personally, in many cases Obama supporters. But there's
no question there is a political spin element as well. The main thing
that interested me was simply the speed, not so much the reaction
itself.
people I know personally, in many cases Obama supporters. But there's
no question there is a political spin element as well. The main thing
that interested me was simply the speed, not so much the reaction
itself.
1 year ago
in It’s a good thing you can’t burn blogs on Mathew's comments
Mathew,
Lessing is a captive to her own talent, which is to delve deep and ruminate and develop ideas in an amazingly complex way that only books can support. Had she been born in the Internet era, her unique talent would have gone wasted because, let's face it, we're all suffering from some form of newly introduced mass ADD because of the Internet.
Complex ideas are more difficult to encounter because of the short attention span that the Internet has fostered and I think that Lessing is mostly reflecting on this notion rather than physical books are better than, say, Kindles.
But you're right too. Mindlessness existed long before the Internet and humans are amazingly flexible and voracious creatures when it comes to consuming information and communicating ideas, or communicating anything at all. No need to look longingly to the good old days when people read books or fret that we're becoming stupider.
Lessing is a captive to her own talent, which is to delve deep and ruminate and develop ideas in an amazingly complex way that only books can support. Had she been born in the Internet era, her unique talent would have gone wasted because, let's face it, we're all suffering from some form of newly introduced mass ADD because of the Internet.
Complex ideas are more difficult to encounter because of the short attention span that the Internet has fostered and I think that Lessing is mostly reflecting on this notion rather than physical books are better than, say, Kindles.
But you're right too. Mindlessness existed long before the Internet and humans are amazingly flexible and voracious creatures when it comes to consuming information and communicating ideas, or communicating anything at all. No need to look longingly to the good old days when people read books or fret that we're becoming stupider.
1 reply
mathewi
A fair point, Cynthia -- and there's no question that the Internet and
BlackBerrys and blogs and so on encourage the short attention span.
But that doesn't mean there isn't some high-quality (even deep)
thought going on, and other things that might lead to knowledge and
understanding -- in some cases even more than can be gained from a
book, I would argue.
BlackBerrys and blogs and so on encourage the short attention span.
But that doesn't mean there isn't some high-quality (even deep)
thought going on, and other things that might lead to knowledge and
understanding -- in some cases even more than can be gained from a
book, I would argue.
couldn't stop thinking about how stupid it was. Blogging it was the
only solution :-)