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May 13, 2013
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
April 22, 2013
US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer
April 19, 2013
Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama's visit to Israel had no impact on public opinion or government policy
Morgan Housel: Gold collapse: The start of something big?
Pete Spotts: Livable super-Earths? Two candidates among Kepler's latest finds
April 17, 2013
Shira Rubin: Too much of a good thing? 'Palestinians' realize downside of foreign aid boom
Morgan Housel: BAD NEWS: EVERYONE IS RIGHT!
April 15, 2013
Kristen Chick: Egyptian Christians respond with harsh words to attack -- rocks, Molotov cocktails, and gunfire -- against main cathedral
Marcy Darnovsky and Karuna Jaggar: High Court to decide if you should own your DNA
Howard LaFranchi: US bracing for more Russian blowback after taking action against 18 more human rights violators
April 12, 2013
Mark Clayton: New cybersecurity bill: Privacy threat or crucial band-aid?
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jackie Robinson's Friend, Hank Greenberg; CNN's Jake Tapper; Texas County in the News is named for 19thC. Jewish soldier and Congressman
The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: FRUITY QUINOA STUFFED PEPPERS: A flavorful, colorful and edible vessel of delicately fluffy, mildly nutty filling combined with chewy apricots, tangy cherries, and crunchy pistachios
April 10, 2013
Peter Grier: North Korean missiles: Could US shoot them down?
Morgan Housel: Warning: Don't waste your capital being fooled by profit prophets
Donald Hensrud, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Take vitamin supplements with caution --- even approved, they may actually do damage
Eryn Brown: 74 DNA discoveries move cure closer for three cancers
April 8, 2013
Jonathan Tobin: What Part of No Preconditions Do American Jews Not Get?
Fred Weir: Is Putin finally trading his own party for a new power base?
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Jewish World Review
I was insulting people way before the Internet
By
Jim Mullen
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Wouldn't this be a great world if we named our children the way we name ourselves in Internet chat rooms? First grade would be full of kids named Mountainclimber, EggyParms, JerBear, Misscreant, radiogirl, D.AngeloSnutz, Bigguy, Cowboybill, Ladysman, ToastraDamus, SchwarmaDuke, NicCageFan4life and SmoochEPants, instead of Madisons, Ashleys, Jacobs and Ethans. I don't think I've ever chatted with anyone named Joe, Betty, Tom or Sue in a chat room. TyphoidMerry and Cathysclown maybe, but not just plain old Mary or Cathy.
Danceswithwolves, I'd like to introduce you to Westcoastsurfer. He's married to makespancakesonsaturday. Their real names are Pete and Beverly, but those would make horrible screen names. It's important that your screen name say what your hobby is, or what you do for a living, or what your politics are. It's unlikely that your given name does any of that.
Some screen names are all attitude. There's nothing like reading a heated argument on health-care reform in a forum consisting of such luminaries as biteme and sosyourmama. They're both so credible that you don't know whom to believe. Let me just say that "You lie!" would be the mildest thing bigbadjohn would say in a heated Internet exchange.
The ability to hide behind screen names while throwing mud has given the most mild-mannered people the ability to spit vitriol without fear of physical retaliation. And once you feel comfortable doing it anonymously, it's not a big jump to doing it in public. But it's risky. Just think how many times over the last few years a famous person has been caught sending an embarrassing e-mail or an inappropriate tweet. Luckily, we hold celebrities to a much higher standard than we hold ourselves. I have a friend, Roger (that's not his real name, his real name is Dan), who has a potty mouth and a potty finger. He flips obscene gestures almost continually at other drivers when he's in his car. But if a congressperson or movie star gets caught on tape swearing, he is livid.
"Think of the children!"
"You don't have any children."
"%^&* you, you know what I'm talking about. It's a bad &^&$&* example!"
Is this name-calling really new? Not at all, people have been insulting each other long before e-mail and the Internet. What's changed is numbers. You couldn't phone a billion people at once and call them names. It used to be that only certain people, highly trained professionals, could get away with calling people unpleasant names in public. Those people were called newspaper columnists. My colleagues and I have spent years honing our craft, learning the little tricks of getting under people's skin, knowing just which buttons to push to get an over-the-top reaction. Only a select few had the ability to take a tiny gaffe and turn it into a career-wrecking calamity and not feel bad about it. That's what really frightens me now that everyone can insult everyone else. They've cut out the middleman. Me.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment by clicking here.
Jim Mullen is the author of "It Takes a Village Idiot: Complicating the Simple Life" and "Baby's First Tattoo."
Previously:
GPS drill sergeant: Left, right, left!
Butterfly in the sky, you make winds go twice as high
Music to my ears it's not
You don't light up my life
Fair or not: Country living is far from Little House
A parable for the ages
Top 100 Cable news stories of the century
Green dumb
A developing story
Thinking outside the lunch box
What's good for the goose is good for the scanner
Newspapers will survive, but network TV?
A really big show of generation gaps
When pigs flu
The reports of our decline have been greatly exaggerated
Mergers and admonitions
Invest in gold: little, yellow, different
Stuck in Folsom Penthouse
Collecting karma
Setting loose the creative juice
It's all in the numbers
You're damaging your brain with practical skills
The real rat pack
The unspeakable luxury of the Park-O-Matic
Gross-ery shopping
© 2009, NEA
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