November 2008 Archives

In an attempt to break away from the non-stop Obama transition and financial news grabbing all the column inches, I started in the middle of the news section of the NY Times this morning and there were two articles on the bad Janus of the internet.

In the southern Florida exurb Pembroke Pines, Abraham Biggs, a troubled 19-year-old who had apparently found some solace and friendship through an online community at BodyBuilding.com committed suicide. After posting a note listing the combination of pills he was planning on swallowing, he was urged by other forum posters to take the antidepressants so they could watch live on Justin.tv. Echoing sentiments I've expressed here previously, "[t]he case, which has prompted an outpouring of sympathy and second-guessing online, demonstrates the double-edged nature of online communities that millions of people flock to every day." A couple of pages later, there was a report on the prosecution's closing arguments in the Megan Meier cyberbulling case in Missouri.

Momentarily, I wavered on the newsworthy-ness of this type of story. It's reminiscent of the ongoing debate in San Francisco regarding the reporting of suicides from the Golden Gate Bridge. Does the publicity engender copycats? Probably some minority of people will now take it upon themselves to use the internet as a bullying mechanism or self-glorification of the most final type. But I lean to the necessity of publicizing these incidents to pull the good face of the internet back into the discussion.

Brands are encouraged to let the conversation flow in online communities so both their detractors and their fans can hop on their respective soap boxes. When bad Janus faces forward, those of us who believe in good Janus need to respond. Perhaps it's the social contract for online communities. If we let the sad tale of Mr. Biggs be this day's corollary to Kitty Genovese; let's agree not to let it happen again. R.I.P.

It's now really obvious that I don't have a career as a political pundit, and thank Krishna for that. My reticence in Senator Clinton's nomination to State was summed up pretty well in one sentence by David Sanger in his news analysis piece in yesterday's New York Times.

"Of all the choices Mr. Obama has made so far, it is the selection of Mrs. Clinton that appears the biggest gamble, in part because she has never had to engage in the give-and-take of high-stakes diplomacy, and in part because no one really knows how she will mesh with the Obama White House." (emphasis mine)

No one's asking me, but I'm not really too thrilled with the talk around HRC being offered the Secretary of State Cabinet post by Pres.-elect Barack. (Can I call you Barack? It's how you signed all your SMS messages to me.) She's damn smart and a supreme policy wonk, probably more so than you on both counts. But I wouldn't say her Senate record is decorated with international diplomacy winners. May I remind you she voted in support of the war in Iraq?

Domestic policy has always been her stronger suit and interest from her earliest post-grad days. A quick scroll through her online bio confirns: Children's Defense Fund staff attorney, Legal Aid board member, children's and women's advocate. And in the Senate, she has strongly supported domestic issues from raising the minimum wage to the expansion of health care coverage. Tenure on the Armed Services Committee aside, I just don't come away with a sense of internationalism that the last three Secretaries of State have had.

I do feel she can contribute more outside of the Senate, given its rules on seniority and her low standing on that score but State is the wrong spot for her. Now where would a deep thinker, progressive-leaning legal mind be better suited. Paging Justice Stevens, Ready for retirement? Justice Clinton, anyone?

So it's a week after the election and I think on some level I am still surprised at how convincingly Obama won, both in terms of popular support and the Electoral College. Maybe I'm still coming to terms with the idea that for the first time in six national elections I cast my ballot for a presidential candidate who won.

But as the President-elect and countless other have already acknowledged, now the real work begins. Are we ready to take the medicine now that we've had the lump of sugar? As the semi-infamous spot below asks, what if we cared as much on Nov. 5th as we care on Nov. 4th? So, now what? What are you going to do to keep up the energy, momentum, the caring?