May 20, 2014
"NRA Thinks #BringBackOurGirls Hashtag Isn't 2nd Amendment-y Enough."
Talking Points Memo doubles down on cutesiness. Those who object to the hashtag think it's a conspicuously lame and unserious response to something that deserves strength and seriousness. The response to the objection is to taunt with goofball silliness. Because here in America, we have this long-running standoff about guns, all readers know which side they are on, and it's a relief to retreat to the comfort of the usual political blather.
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28 comments:
Holding up the sign with the hashtag with the frowny face further making the point was the single most embarassing and lame thing I have ever seen from a public person. I cannot think of another cringe-making display of soft headedness. Worse than pajama boy, worse than the poor girl on the first page of the web site that wouldn't work.
We need Bring Back Our Girls t-shirts, hats, short shorts (for women only) and halter tops.
What better place to sell them than the 9/11 Museum.
Because Terrorism.
The whole incident took a tragic and outrageous incident--the kidnapping itself--and elevated it to pure farce. What on earth was the point of those stupid photos with frowns and signs? If it's to shame the terror group, well that's stupid because no one with a functioning brain could think that would shame them into softening their stance. If it's to demand that we launch a military operation, then the First Lady's participation in the photo campaign is even more absurd because one would imagine she could just ask her husband directly. Does the First Couple now communicate with each other entirely through social media? Get them a marriage counselor, stat!
If all these self important celebrities really care so much, why not pool some of your money into funding a mercenary operation to get the rescue done? The U.S. government is deep in debt and cant' really afford to get into any more overseas adventures, and anyway our president has to deal with things like international law and Nigerian sovereignty and such. But a mercenary army has no such rules.
So Sean Penn et al, put up or shut up. Your photo plus a dollar won't get you bus fare.
I wish the conservatives would stop saying Michelle's hashtag for the girls is weak. So far her hashtag is the most effective response in favor of the girls from this administration. The fact that the Obama regime even cares about the girls fate at all is encouraging.
Perhaps she can change the sentiment in the Obama regime so that in the future they will stop protecting Boko Haram against effective military action from the Nigerian government. However, since this regime often pretends to do the right thing while they advance Islamists, Mr. Obama's hashtag might be nothing more than regime propaganda to hide the fact that the Obama administration is still protecting Boko Harem.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/63066
The way to deal with Muslim terrorists is to hunt them down and kill them. Not "bring them to justice." Bring justice to them, permanently. Foreign policy by hashtag is the province of eunuchs. This is quite revealing of what has taken place over the last 5-1/2 years. "If Grandma had had balls, she'd have been Grandpa," and if Obama had had balls... Well, he wouldn't be Obama.
Twits all.
And in other news, a village in this area fought off the BH terrorists with a collections of firearms -illegal to possess in the country- and killed or captured many. Imagine the surprise of the terrorists, as usually they can waltz in to a village and kill/rape/pillage to their hearts content secure in the knowledge no one can mount an effective defense.
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/160700-borno-villagers-foil-boko-haram-attack-kill-insurgents.html
I remember back in the 1980s when people were encouraged to drive with their headlights on in the daytime to show support for one cause or another. Then came the ribbons of various colors for various causes. Today, it's hashtags. All of these are meaningless attempts to show concern about something while doing nothing, risking nothing, and accomplishing nothing. They're actions taken seriously only by fools.
Boko Haram should have their own hash tag in reply, along the lines of:
#OrElse
#OrWhat
#MakeMe
#YouAndWhatArmy
#WTFShouldI
All perfectly cromulent.
#IwasForBokoB4IwasAgainstHim
There's always these guys:
Traditional hunters armed with homemade guns, poisoned spears and amulets have gathered in their hundreds, eager to use their skills and what they believe to be supernatural powers to help find nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by Islamic extremists.
I hate hashtags in general, but I think it's easy to overlook the fact that they can work as a marketing tool. Like this:
hashtag -> creates publicity -> puts pressure on US gov. to do something -> puts pressure on Nigerian gov. to do something.
And something is being done:
In contrast to the age-old stalking and tracking skills offered by the hunters, U.S. aircraft and camera-carrying drones are searching for the girls. Military teams from America, Britain, France, Spain and Israel with expertise in surveillance, intelligence gathering, counterterrorism and hostage negotiation are also present.
And:
Nigeria's military insists that it is diligently searching for the girls...
Unsuccessfully, so far. Maybe they'll let the guys with amulets -- and rifles -- do their thing.
Has no one bothered to interview the parents of those kidnapped girls on their opinion of Jill Abramson? If they could find those girls, what would be their opinion of what happened to Jill Abramson?
Or what about that woman in Alaska who was attacked by the Momma Bear while jogging? What's her opinion of Jill Abramson's firing? Does the Momma Bear have an opinion?
Maybe someone can get an interview with the pregnant Sudanese woman who's been sentenced to death and ask her about Jill Abramson. She's going through some tough times right now and surely can relate, right?
Nothing is more important than Jill Abramson's firing from the New York Times. Nothing.
First world problems are bad enough.
Now we have a "first world solution."
Bookends.
According to a discussion I saw on Facebook, the hashtag protest is "raising awareness" of the girls' kidnapping. As if something changes now that we are all aware.
This is like the Kony 2012 campaign that children thought would actually have an effect.
Just a little perspective: the area Boko Haram operates in is larger than Iowa and Nebraska together. It's very rough country. Dry savannah. Finding a group of people who don't want to be found in an area that large is going to be difficult.
Having said that, the whole hashtag thing is moronic and unserious. That a group of Islamist savages pining for the the 11th Century would give a good goddamn about Michelle O with the sads is the most delusional thing I've seen since the notion that the Arab Spring would bring democracy to Egypt.
Beyond training Nigerian counterinsurgency forces and supplying them with sufficient arms, the US should have nothing to do with this.
"What on earth was the point of those stupid photos with frowns and signs?"
Self-esteem. The Left needs gobs of it to offset all the douchey things they do in their daily lives.
"Sure, I made a pass at the babysitter but I BELIEVE! in BringBackOurGirls so I must not be a total douche"
As if something changes now that we are all aware.
Elsewhere in the world people are terrorized and children are kidnapped and nothing happens. In this case, something is happening. The U.S. military and security establishments are doing something. The Nigerian government is pretending to be doing something.
Media-driven pressure on governments is wildly arbitrary, but in democracies it is effective.
Mission Accomplished.
@Ann,
I think most people forget how many veterans of the military are members of the NRA.
Though I doubt that veterans (or veterans-in-the-NRA) are a monolithic block, those who care about events like the Boko Haram kidnappings would really like to see something done, military-style.
It's not all Second Amendment politics. It's where humanitarian ethos is meshed with military capabilities and a desire to help.
@ChiefMojo,
lots of terrain for Boko Haram to hide in. But they use trucks, and trucks need fuel.
Perhaps "military advisers" from the US could help the Nigerian military find and destroy Boko Haram's supply chain.
It's kind of hard for Boko Haram to terrorize villages over a wide area if they can't put fuel in their trucks.
However, I wonder how united the Nigerian government and military is. And how much help Boko Haram gets from neighboring nations.
It's a potential international-relations mess, which would be one reason I wouldn't want Obama wading in. But a good negotiator with executive experience, and some international-relations skill might be able to get something done on the down-low. While giving speeches in the Rose Garden about the sad tragedy, and America's desire to help. And while ensuring opposition Congressmen that American soldiers wouldn't be sent to die...
FDIC is going after guns. Dems are becoming such prudes. They don't like porn anymore either. The prudish dems are using the banks to put the things they don't like out of business.
The U.S. military and security establishments are doing something.
Yeah, they're doing as little as possible because people are wondering "Why weren't these bastards designated a terrorist group before? What? They've been murdering people in job lots for years now, and NOW we're 'doing something'?"
And that 'little as possible' is supposed to make us believe the administration actually CARES and is ACTING ON THIS!
I think the members of the NRA, if allowed, could come up with a more effective response to the kidnapping of the girls than Josh Marshall can.
One of the hash taggers is the FIRST LADY. She is, you know, kinda close with the President. Why does she need to raise awareness?
#ToeTagsNotHashtags
So far her hashtag is the most effective response in favor of the girls from this administration.
That is a very, very depressing qualification.
SJ said: "But a good negotiator with executive experience, and some international-relations skill might be able to get something done on the down-low."
Sounds like a job for Slick Willie, the down-low man.
What's up with the "Our" girls?
Doesn't the problem stem from one group -- or another -- claiming ownership over them?
Rare Boko Haram abduction video:
#you-stole-our-girls-you-horse-theives
machine said...
Mission Accomplished
Here we go again.
The "Mission Accomplished" banner was (and is) standard operating verbiage of US Navy units when returning from deployments.
The USS Abraham Lincoln's mission was accomplished, and was successful by every metric utilized by the military to measure success.
The Public Relations division requested this banner to herald their return.
So, just as with the hilariously false assertion that Bush was "AWOL" during his time in the Air National Guard, or that he received extraordinary consideration to leapfrog others to get into the unit (he didn't, there was a waiting list for enlisted billets, but not pilots) this one just keeps getting relaunched time and again.
Who can forget the lefties laughably false assertions that McCain "crashed" 5 jets (counting the time he was shot down in combat as well as when he was just sitting on deck on the USS Forrestal when another aircraft missile cooked off and struck his jet)?
Back to topic at hand, here we have a real "war on women" but in this case, the real war is being conducted by islamists. So, you know, the left doesn't know what to do.
On one hand, kidnapping girls and raping them and selling them into sex slavery is bad.
On the other hand, the girls are Christians and the kidnappers are islamists.
This puts the lefties in a quandary.
Best to deflect with a "Booooooosh" comment.
SJ: "I think most people forget how many veterans of the military are members of the NRA."
Oh, I think the left is well aware of that.
In their minds however, that simply constitutes "strike two".
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