Category: Hot Air

This May Be Nothing, Or It Might Be Worth an Instalanche

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OK, there were a million things I wanted to blog about today, but didn’t get around to yet, and now I’m once again sidetracked by a cryptic Twitter message from Sissy Willis:

@rsmccain Basic idea, the importance of being noticed (Darwinian status seeking)=huge=ur theme of my blog http://bit.ly/i2hNQv

Given the 140-character limit, perhaps there’s some missing context that would help me understand what Sissy’s trying to say. Yet I was intrigued that the link led to a Google search on the phrase “the importance of being noticed,” the top result of which was a post describing the “rush of dopamine” Sissy got from her first Instalanche.

Obviously, this is something very important blog-wise. And then there was an August 2009 post by Dr. Helen Smith that included this comment by Sissy:

Fascinating and timely topic.
Schopenhauer’s informational and reputational “cascades” of sheeplike belief formation among our fellow human beings come to mind: “There are very few who can think, but every man wants to have an opinion.” I blogged about it here:

http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2007/10/there-are-very-.html

Another important angle: “The importance of being noticed” — to dissent is to be relegated to the fringes of polite society:

http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2006/04/in_order_for_sc.html

Now I became totally obsessed, like Sherlock Holmes after he’s found his first clue: A meme not only related to the coveted Instalanche, but also connected to the InstaWife? The game is afoot, Dr. Watson!

Further sleuthing turned up this 2005 post by Sissy:

[E]ach one of us seeks, through our accomplishments, to earn a place of honor among our peers. The real issue is, whom do we select as our peers. Once again we recall Peter F. Rowbotham’s citation of the unorthodox bonding rituals of Hell’s Angels and British soccer fans as examples of a “system of honor that is an alternative to mainstream moral orders.”

Hmmm. I don’t know Rowbotham from Schopenauer, but perhaps what Sissy is trying to say is that bloggers are like Hell’s Angels, and Instapundit is Sonny Barger?

Or something like that. The blogosphere is what Hayek would call a spontaneous order, a system planned by no one and with no conscious design, responsive to thousands of inputs. And like the Hell’s Angels — or a college fraternity, for that matter — the blogosphere is also based on the principle of mutual selection: You volunteer for the group, and the group decides whether to accept you.

If I have correctly followed this Hansel-and-Gretel bread-crumb trail of inferences, then, what Sissy is saying is this: To the blogger, an Instalanche is a signal of acceptance by one’s peers, a signal that you are one of the gang, so that “Darwinian status-seeking” — doing whatever is necessary to get the ‘Lanche — affects the informational and reputational “cascades” of the blogosphere.

Alternate hypothesis: Too much caffeine and too little sleep have addled my brain into a Charlie Sheen-like acute manic state, so that I’m reading waaaay too much into this cryptic message from Sissy. In which case, the message may actually be as simple as . . .

“Hey, you should link me more often, stupid!”

Go read Sissy Willis’s blog immediately. Even if I’m as crazy as Charlie Sheen, there must be some deep significance to that Tweet, and I’m not taking any chances of screwing up my blog karma.

#winning!

Oh, and here’s yet another job nobody bothered to offer me:

NEW JOB
HotAir.com – Writer
Description: HotAir.com is seeking a third writer to join the current duo of Ed Morrissey and Allahpundit. HotAir is the largest conservative blog, has a readership of over two million readers a month and is cited daily by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Bill Bennett and pundits across the airwaves and online. Blogging at HotAir is the perfect opportunity for a writer with a quick wit and a nose for news. Competitive salary commensurate with experience plus full benefits. Please send inquiries to [email protected] or fax to 703-247-1257, Attention: Jonathan Garthwaite, General Manager.
Added 03/08/11.

Honestly, sometimes I feel like the ugliest girl on the cheerleading squad. I’ve spent the past three years doing cartwheels and somersaults online and still, nobody even wants to look up my skirt . . .

Will Fox Dump Glenn Beck?

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That’s what David Carr of the New York Times suggests: Beck’s contract is up in December and maybe he and the Fox folks don’t see eye-to-eye.

Howard Portnoy at Hot Air Green Room is dubious about this theory, citing Scott Baker at the Beck-sponsored Blaze blog.

I don’t watch Beck’s show enough to offer any definitive judgment, but it is my general impression that Beck’s show was much better in 2009 than it has been in recent months. Beck did valuable work in showing the connections between various radical elements of the organized Left and the Obama administration. 

There were a lot of people who sort of woke up after the 2008 election asking themselves, “How did we get here?” And what Beck did, with his chalkboard talks and so forth, was to provide these newly-engaged people with a very watchable seminar on the history and structure of the American Left, keyed on current events.

That was very good, but in recent months, whenever I tune into Beck on Fox, I get the idea that he’s preaching more than teaching. The show is now less about fact and more about feeling. He seems less interested in politics and history, more interested in forging an emotional connection with his viewers. But that is merely my perception, and it may be that regular Beck-watchers will say I’m mistaken.

Suggestion: Somebody at the network needs to have a sit-down meeting with Beck and explain that this is the Fox News Channel — not the Fox Patriotism Channel or Fox Faith Channel. Focus the show a bit sharper on here’s-what’s-happening-now and filling in the here’s-what-you-don’t-know background behind the headlines.

Also, a rooftop concert in London with Billy Preston on keyboards might be helpful: Get Beck!

The MSM’s Peculiar Silence on Zeitgeist (Guess Which Network the Progressive Award-Winning New Age 9/11 ‘Truther’ Film Suggests Is ‘Manipulating’ News)

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“The last thing the men behind the curtain want is a conscious, informed public . . .”
— Zeitgeist (2007)

“If conservativism is defined as standing athwart history yelling ‘Stop!’ Zeitgeist is looking the other way yelling ‘Go!’ Have you seen any major media reports on Zeitgeist? Why is that?”
— John Saxton, “Three Exculpatory Facts the MSM Continues to Overlook in the Arizona Shootings,” Hot Air

Which is the drum I’ve been beating since last Thursday: It is truly astonishing that, after ABC News broke the story of Jared Loughner’s Zeitgeist obsession on Jan. 12, there was no substantial follow-up reporting by any major national news organization.

The Washington Post did a 2,700-word profile of Loughner on Thursday and the New York Times did a 5,000-word profile of the accused gunman Sunday, and neither story so much as mentioned Zeitgeist. We got some more reporting in a Sunday story by the Arizona Republic, but the rest of the major media seem determined to ignore this clue to Loughner’s lunacy. Meanwhile, conservative bloggers have begun digging into this two-hour conspiracy cult film and calling attention to crucial elements of Zeitgeist that point away from the absurd claim that director Peter Joseph was pushing a “right-wing” paranoia. 

In addition to its 9/11 “Truther” orientation, Zeitgeist won a progressive film award and the movie’s key sources are associated with the New Age movement. And now Maggie’s Notebook points to another telltale clue of the movie’s political orientation:

After listening to every word, along the way it came to Fox News. Eight frames showing Fox anchors and Fox news-talkers – in the context of television “lying” to the people and “manipulating” the news. . . .
Added to everything else we know, is there still anyone out there willing to stand up and say Zeitgeist is a product of the “right-wing?”

In analyzing Zeitgeist, it is important to look at the way the film uses imagery to convey meaning, a point to which I alluded Monday in my American Spectator column:

“They do not want you to think too much. … You had better wake up and understand that there are people guiding your life, and you don’t even know it,” says one of the film’s “experts,” anti-Masonic conspiracy theorist Jordan Maxwell, near the end of Zeitgeist . . . A few minutes later, while images including Jesus Christ, Bill O’Reilly and Saddam Hussein flash across the screen, the narrator says: “The last thing the men behind the curtain want is a conscious, informed public, capable of critical thinking, which is why a continually fraudulent zeitgeist is output via religion, the mass media and the educational system.”

Wake up and smell the Bush Derangement Syndrome, people.

President Obama Abandons White House After Bill Clinton Says ‘Please Go’

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Wow. Who knew it would be so easy to get rid of him? Click the image to watch this incredible video:

Classic headline at Hot Air:

Great news: Bill Clinton
apparently now president again

The story from the Washington Post:

Obama introduced Clinton, said that the two had “just had a terrific meeting” and that it might be useful for Clinton to “share some of his thoughts.”
“I’m going to let him speak very briefly and then, I’ve actually got to go over and do some just one more Christmas party,” Obama said.
Clinton feigned deference for a moment.
“I feel awkward being here, and now you’re going to leave me all by myself?” Clinton said, barely suppressing a smile.
Obama, his arms crossed, stood watching Clinton for a few minutes. Then, as promised, he left.
“I’ve been keeping the first lady waiting for about half an hour, so I’m going to take off,” Obama said.
“I don’t want to make her mad,” Clinton said, smiling. “Please go.”
“You’re in good hands,” Obama joked.

Bill Clinton never had a problem with “keeping the first lady waiting for about half an hour.” IYKWIMAITYD.

Michael Goldfarb’s Tweet about this incident:

‘Kathleen Parker Is an Idiot — a Remarkably, Stunningly, Jaw-Droppingly Incompetent and Mean Woman’

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Oh, wait — Aaron Sorkin wasn’t talking about CNN’s new co-hostess with Client Number Nine!

Let’s be clear about who Aaron Sorkin is and what he does: He is most famous for having created a prime-time soap opera during the 1990s whose only evident purpose was to glamorize liberal Democrats and demonize conservative Republicans. This is a man who, at age 40, was arrested for felony drug possession while trying to board a plane from Burbank to Las Vegas.

That Aaron Sorkin would say bad things about Sarah Palin is not news. What would be news is if I got  linked by Allahpundit.

Hey, wait a minute . . .

Come On, Meg, Where’s Your Sense Of Humor?

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by Smitty

Put the godforsaken letter up on eBay, with the proceeds going to some suitable charity. Then look at Brown campaign and say “Is that all ya got? ‘Cause I can go all day.”
And speaking of the humor, why isn’t anyone delivering Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, for that old-time Governor Jerry Brown feeling?

Oh, why not?

Jane Fonda on the screen today
Convinced the liberals, it’s okay
So let’s get dressed and dance away the night


Stacy will be apoplectic over this post, no doubt.