Not content to let the Alabama state legislature and the Mississippi Personhood movement solely vie for the title of Defender of Southern Ignorance,  the Tennessee Tea Party gave Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank a lovely send off. Of course, by lovely send off, I mean homophobic rant. At its core, though, this response was likely meant to generate attention for a group of people that desperately crave it.

This has led me to think about how we express outrage when offensive things are expressed in the public forum. It really is a conundrum. Our natural instinct is to assail those that spew vitriol against the things we hold dear. This can include everything from our favorite football team to a beloved politician. The thing we seem to forget in all of this, however, is the sticks and stones rule of the social media driven world we live in. To paraphrase, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but the more mentions on Twitter and Facebook, the worse it gets.”

So, where do we go from here? That is not an easy question to answer. Silence can often be interpreted as acquiescence. Such silence acquiesced to racism and bigotry, and allowed it to dominate this southern culture I hold dear for many, many years. Still, the Twitter and Facebook driven political discourse that currently dominates the national conversation can quickly spiral out of control. We can end up giving more value than we intended to the groups that we are denouncing.

So, what do we do? I’m not sure how to answer that question. I’ve spoken out many times against those that I find to be an affront to all that is lovely and fair. Nonetheless, I understand that I may be contributing to their cause. My only hope is that I also reach people of conscience. My only suggestion is that if you find yourself in a similar situation, you might measure your words for the best effect.

Amazon MP3 sent out a tweet on Monday offering Aziz Ansari’s new comedy album a day early, and for only $3.99. Since I’ve liked him in shows like Scrubs and Parks & Recreation, I decided I would give it a try. I’m very glad I did.

He covers several topics from domestic goods to his younger cousins to Kanye West. I particularly loved his story about how he messes with his 14 year old cousin on Facebook. This will end up on heavy rotation, along with my John Pinette and Lewis Black albums. I highly recommend it.

In the last post, I showed an email from a scammer that had hijacked a friends Yahoo! account. Apparently, they also were able to get her Facebook account as well. Here is the Facebook messaging conversation we had.

Scammer (posing as my friend): It’s me jonathan, please let me know if you can be of help

Me: Where were you this weekend?

Scammer (posing as my friend): i was in Knoxville. i need a loan jonathan.

Scammer (posing as my friend): send me an email ok have to leave facebook now

Me: I know this isn’t Kari. Piss off. I am on the phone with her right now. We are notifying Facebook.

Scammer (posing as my friend): what it’s me

I should have asked the moron what part of Nigeria they were from. Notice the poor grammar on the part of the scammer. That is a hallmark of scammers, as English is usually their second (or third…or fourth) language. Be on the look out for crap like this. Don’t rush to help a friend until you confirm it’s actually your friend.