Paris Mayhem

What was the line in The Paper?........."Tomorrow we can be right.......tonight, we need to be first....."

 

That was Glenn Close's line.

Michael Keaton wanted to be right and first as he knew that if they named the wrong people as murder suspects, and they didn't do it, then their lives would be ruined.

 

Not true. [\crossthread]

 

Deep down, many of these slacktivists aren't sad this happened. They are thrilled they get to use it as a platform from which to broadcast the depths of their empathy, to let you know they are good, multi-cultural, internationally aware people,, with bonus points if you have ever posed in front of the Eifel Tower.

 

I don't see anything wrong with expressions of sympathy. And the number of Americans who have French friends or acquaintances is not small.

 

I suspect it was merely being healthily skeptical and asking the right question in the hours after a terrorist attack. If not them, who?

Your level of disdain for - and expertise in - the media has long been documented.

 

Is it possible that security at the stadium was far greater than usual because the French president was there? It makes sense to think the terrorists wanted to get inside the stadium, but I doubt we'll ever know for sure.

And, don't we have enough brilliant people in the world to make passports foolproof? I can't use my cell phone without confirming my fingerprint, but we're unable to figure out passports? Hard to believe.

 

It's easy, insincere, maudlin, self-congratulatory, and permits people to disengage quickly today because they've now done their part. Go State.

 

People process things in different ways. Is the profile pic thing an empty gesture? It's the emptiest. But it's also harmless.

 

There was no social media in 2001, but there were plenty of expressions of sympathy from people in other countries after 9/11. I don't remember thinking those were empty gestures at the time.

 

Maybe they're overcompensating for not showing any insincere, maudlin, self-congratulatory tributes to the victims of the Russian plane that was bombed.

 

They're not empty. Maybe they are a sign of hipsterism. If so, I think the nation's great, steely cynics can abide for a day or two.