@Israel retweet this or else! Photo courtesy of cbsnews.com
“A group called the Free Gaza Movement was attempting to break a blockade Israel imposed in 2007 after militant group Hamas was elected to power in the Palestinian area. The group claimed on its Twitter page that Israeli commandos jumped from helicopters onto a ship’s deck and ‘immediately’ fired, but the Israeli military said the soldiers ‘were attacked with severe physical violence, including live fire, bold weapons, knives and clubs.'” – from The Daily Beast Morning Scoop
Ummm, what?? Does anyone else find this statement profoundly disturbing?? While I understand the use of Twitter as a promotional tool, I pulled a Miley Cyrus and got off the bandwagon a while ago. I even set up this blog so that it automatically posts each entry to Twitter, and I don’t need to bothered with it’s inanity. So the fact that someone has the time to tweet while being “immediately fired” upon is absolutely absurd to me.
It may just be a sign of the times, but it may also be a sign that we’ve all just gone batshit crazy, and I for one don’t need to have Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato’s break-up rants popping up right next to the Free Gaza Movement’s proclamation that Israel is killing people aboard some ship. Get it together world. We’re doing this to ourselves!
Update, 1:42 p.m. EST: There’s an anti-Israel protest going on outside my office building. While I completely support protests and the impact they can have on society, I’m wondering why this group chose the street in between the Park Plaza Hotel and the Four Seasons. If anyone can explain that to me, I’d love to be enlightened. Au Bon Pain doesn’t have any Israeli ties does it?
Update, June 2, 9:03 a.m. EST: Turns out the Israeli consul general’s office shares the block with Au Bon Pain. Good. To. Know.
NoMad Blogger 
Nah, dude, I have to quibble. During the giant protests of the election in Iran last June Twitter was huge. Damn near everybody has a cell these days, even in countries a lot poorer than Iran, and it’s a lot easier to post to twitter than sit down and write a blog post in the middle of a firefight. Earthquakes, riots, revolution, twitter’s useful for covering all that stuff. I mean, 99% of it’s still blather, but it’s a bit like the interent itself: Mostly porn and cat pictures, but also with astrophyics lectures and cool photography and the OED and stuff.
Maybe there protesting outside your building because they read your blog. 🙂