Tag: @Tony_Hunt

Clay Shirky: How Twitter Can Make History

This went out in May…

…by George – I think he’s got it! I am getting to see a ton of traffic now on twitter…it’s actually almost as good and surfing the news websites themselves 😉




Okay, this is where I get jealous!!!

Sarah Palin (you know…the pit bull that associates herself with hockey-moms..<- TYPO!…*snicker*) will be getting a meeting with Henry Kissinger, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this week.

I don’t honestly know where to begin.

Let me start with this…I am utterly positive I would be more damn productive in meetings with these leaders.

Kissinger first, because he is THE guy. He’s like a living Confucius. Known to have one of the most eloquent and heavy hitting vocabularies, combined with rubbing shoulders with almost very world leader in the last half century. If you needed to to mentally prepare for arguments, debates, and conversations with the above list of leaders, Kissinger will always be on your top five most wanted advisers. The meeting with Kissing is a BOLD and very strong move. Kissinger is a liberal Republican, and could possibly be the foundation for all liberal republicans (sounds weird saying that). Anyhow, this guy is more likely to save the world than most presidents, and is documented historically as a peacemaker.

The leaders appearing following her meeting with Kissinger are at the center of a significant amount of political and humanitarian turbulence in the world. I am honestly not sure that woman is mentally prepared for meeting a group of men, of whom almost every one come from societies in the midst of socio-political upheaval…no small part of which is centered around feminist and religious (r)evolution. Add to this the fact that she is a US governor with zero experience in foreign relations. I am almost positive she’s going to have them autograph something.

I may start griping more…but for now…for your reading enjoyment:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26840642/

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/09/sarah_palin_united_nations_jos.html




Crossing the line, blogs, journals, and our private lives.

That thin line…

We see it ALL the time. The bottom feeders of the media industry that profit from the blatant invasion of privacy that seems to come hand-in-hands with making a name for yourself in the entertainment industry. Why do they profit? Because the laws that allow us our freedoms allow others to push the envelope on our rights to privacy. Here in Tonytown, there are a number of people that take great pains to avoid unnecessary online presences. It’s not paranoia…it’s plain common sense when careers and family relationships are more susceptible to influence by online news, rumors, conjecture, and sometimes straight falsehoods. These situations dictate people trust their friends and loved ones to stay responsible, keep a level head, and most importantly respect each others lives and lifestyles by keeping it out of the public arena.

So now we’re all wondering “Where the hell is Tony headed?!” Don’t worry…I am getting there…so…I have a pretty large amount of friends. Bragging?..not at all, I simply don’t make a habit of stressing situations where my friendships would be jeopardized. Ever hear the phrase: “Don’t crap where you eat?” Well it’s very sound advice. So when expressing myself, I do it in a manner that leaves my friends and loved ones outside the public scope…I get it that people actually make money from this smut, I am also very confident that karma is going to kick in somewhere, hopefully in the groin of the people generating said smut. In the current scenario I am actually referring to, a blog intending to…well…I am not sure…but our capacity to make mistakes is tempered only by our willingness to make amends for them.

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch of a redeemed social condition; to know that one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

I in no way share or form consider posting details of friends lives a success…or even its modus operandi. In all my writing…I carry – or at least demonstrate proclivities toward – a harsh and often horribly aggressive tone…it’s almost always a no-quarter environment with me. I go in, find details about something that tweaks my brain, and figure out whether or not it’s worthy of spending time writing about. Epictetus said “First learn the meaning of what you say, then say it.” Recently, a couple people in Tonytown have been albeit victimized by individuals and/or organizations that are protected from legal repercussions only by waving the definition of slander and libel as a sword, at the same time holding fast a shield under the guise of the term “Newsworthy”. If I don’t like you, it doesn’t mean I am going to smear you all over the net. To convolute matters by trying to justify the online sucker-punch I just saw…is only to inflame the situation. This time I didn’t have to research. The long-voiced and often irritating angst of one friend towards another has yet again planted it’s proverbial arse online, in some distorted effort to vent frustration. Dirty laundry needs to get cleaned, not strung up on a stage for the world to see.

Maybe now we see a direction in my rant eh?

When a statement is made, the meaning and measure of that statement is remembered in the response and reaction it provokes. So when a person spills their guts online, and airs out what would be considered quite a bit of dirty laundry, I must in fact wonder at the intended response versus what’s happened over the last few days. In this case, said friend is ranting…just like I do. But fingers are more than pointed, they are pointing in a direction that draws in not just friends, but our families. Answers to questions that weren’t expected to be voiced are emblazoned in a rant, forcing an already stressed friend further into a downward spiral….forcing another friend to wonder how many other people had seen the rant…wondering what the impact could be on careers, familial relationships…making us all wonder…and worry.

I would ask not that someone burn their journal, only not use it in the same manner as those bottom-feeders mentioned at the beginning of this rant. Not as a weapon of negativity, causing only strife and stress. What you consider newsworthy is not in fact, needed in the public forum. What you feel the need to write, should be written…but not necessarily read aloud to a crowd of critics. Because in doing so, you’ve only found more critics…and as such supports the practice of pondering the meaning of a statement before rendering it to those that have something to lose in hearing it.

-Tony

I find it amazing that people so gifted can lose their way so decisively.