libertopia: December 2006

Used any blog-tastic clichés lately?

GAWKER has a list of “tired clichés popping up in the same media outlets”, which includes blogs. Here's a sampling:

What's next? [outlandish scenario]?
Take something you don't like, then imagine a nutty alternate universe where that thing is exaggerated beyond all reason. One must follow from the other, correct? Your rhetorical work here is done.

FTW, O RLY, lol, FTL, OMG, FWIW, btw, PWND, ROTFL, etc.
These are borderline acceptable if you're instant messaging, speed-typing while online gaming, or expressing approval of a pornographic image posted to your favorite kink forum. Beyond that, stop it. Even if your audience uses these expressions in daily life, such practice should not be encouraged. Self-consciously peppering normal discourse with geekspeak acronyms (especially when used in conjunction with non-geek subjects) no longer rescues your words by way of anti-coolness. See also: "teh" anything.

hat tip: Julian Sanchez

File under: obvious

Randall McElroy demonstrates the absurdity of the Nanny State:

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, kids today see too much advertising in general, and specifically too many advertisements for things that promote fun, such as e.d. drugs and alcohol. Consider this absurd statement:

"We’d like to see more birth control ads,” Strasburger said, “and less ads for erectile dysfunction drugs because it makes sex seem like a recreational activity."

First, I’d like to know when sex stopped being a recreational activity. One of the distinguishing characteristics of higher mammals is that they have sex for recreation.

Second, the use of birth control indicates that sex is for recreation, which makes this statement complete nonsense.

...but I'm from Georgia!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The South
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Thinking of ‘08

Despite the dearth of positive political buzz, I’ve long been skeptical of John McCain’s fitness for high office. One reason is that he’s a proud, big-government Republican; another is articulated here. I’m not alone:

Goldwater, a man who seemed to emanate from Arizona's dust, was the paragon of limited government, believing to his core that the feds shouldn't tell you how to run a business or whom you can sleep with. McCain, on the other hand, is a third-generation D.C. insider who carpetbagged his way into office, believing to his core that "national pride will not survive the people's contempt for government." On Nov. 7, those conflicting worldviews collided when Arizonans voted on whether to outlaw gay marriage. McCain campaigned in favor of the ban, in the name of "preserving the sanctity" of heterosexual unions. His exhortations went down to surprising defeat. Not, one suspects, for the last time.

Read the whole article.

Hat tip: Catallarchy