Everyone who’s been paying attention and has mere than a passing affection for freedom of speech knows that Internet culture is getting out of hand. Especially at times, it seems, in the little corner of the net inhabited by Science Fiction fans. (Perennial case being YA Twitter, of which I’ve Read more…
So, less than a month before the election, a group called “Pantsuit Nation” appeared on Facebook. It was a Mecca for Hillary supporters, who were invited to join the “private” group en masse until, by the time the Washington Post was printing glowing reviews of the pro-Clinton site, it had nearly Read more…
Despite pleas to the Electoral College, Trump got almost all the electors pledged to him. While 2016 was a record year for faithless electors (most on Hillary’s side, interestingly enough) it was an order of magnitude short of what would have been needed to move the needle. So we have Read more…
In a political discourse, if someone isn’t trying to debate, they’re attempting to exercise power. That is where a large fraction of American political life has gone off the rails. It’s there in comment threads all the time; where one person attempts to have a rational discussion, and the other screams Read more…
There are some people out there in desperate need of a reality check. Right now, progressives are certain that, somehow, the country that elected Obama twice has suddenly become a cesspit of sexism, racism and misogyny. The angst is so over-the-top that my progressive Facebook friends are sounding like all Read more…
This election is remarkable in that whoever wins will be absolutely loathed by a plurality of the populace, and distrusted by a majority. It is quite possible that on inauguration day our president elect will have underwater approval ratings. If there is any state out there that splits by less Read more…
“Cultural Appropriation” has reared it’s sombrero-sporting head in the literary community once again in another series of critiques and critiques of critiques and critiques of critiquing and those doing the critiquing, over something that should, in the end, be a fairly straightforward caution for authors to just get it right, Read more…
You know what I mean. From the presidential election down to what stupid little award our geeky niche genre decides to award itself, we cannot seem to have anything like a polite disagreement anymore. Everyone gets up in arms about everything from who’s using what bathroom, to who’s cast in Read more…
A couple of things to file under, “what the future might look like.” First, what is the most significant thing the Internet has done to political communication, or communication in general? You know the answer, though it wasn’t the answer you just thought of. Consider the MediaGlyph, and how it Read more…
10) Rickrolls! 9) Party Unity! 8) Tolerance! 7) Higher Education! 6) Huge Protests! 5) Self-Immolation! 4) Highway Closures! 3) Urine fights! 2) Boobs! 1) Gary Johnson!