News influences in a Social age

Ever since joining the facebook/twitter bandwagon I've been fascinated by the colored commentary on the 'news'.

10 years ago, I would have never imagined I'd be getting a lot of my news updates the way I am today. Not just the fact that it is coming from the 'internet' (which I actually did anticipate 10 years ago), but that the news is originating from sources that are within my 'social circle' that are delivered to me nearly instantaneously.

Not to mention the fact that 'Social Circle' actually needs a broader definition now. People I know in 'Real Life', people I played WoW with once, family members who I see a few times a year (or less), people I haven't seen since I was 5, or random c-list celebrities I follow on twitter because I find their updates funny. All of these people are broadly defined as 'friends' on social media outlets.

Bizzaro.

As an example of this Social media 'news coverage', I found out about Michael Jackson's death via an IM from a co-worker, which was confirmed in the next 30 seconds by a twitter update from a cable-TV 'minor' celebrity that I happen to follow. Following the news, I heard color commentary from a lot of the people I follow on Twitter, which were mixed with tributes, jokes, and rants about how much media coverage it was getting.

I then went to cnn.com and caught up with the 'official' story, where they were reporting that an ambulance had made it to the Jackson residence and that he had been taken to a hospital. About 30 minutes later they finally confirmed it...MJ was worm food.

Throughout the next week, more commentary followed including news on the memorial service, rants about the cost of funeral arrangements, a few tributes, and more than a few sarcastic jokes (this is the internet after all).

Of course, I also heard about Jeff Goldblum's death on twitter (and later the argument that in fact, he was not dead), so I'm not going out on a limb as to the 'accuracy' of the reports heard through this virtual 'grave-vine' of up-to-date information, but accuracy aside, it is still an interesting phenomena.

The company I work for just published a report about how to market via social networking sites, arguing that brand definition is, in many ways, out of the hands of "Corporate America" and their top-down marketing strategies and into the hands of commenters on these social networking sites.

It is an interesting proposition, and probably very true. After all, a product recommendation, restaurant review, or thoughts on the level of service received from a septic pumping establishment from a friend on Facebook is definitely worth more to me than a commercial I saw on Television or any radio or print ad in the world.

Interestingly, I think the same applies to news coverage. All journalism, be it from CNN, Fox News, ABC, or your local sports anchor all comes with a certain bias. No one network or individual is completely impartial. Not that it is a bad thing. Racism for example, is painted as evil by almost all media in the US. I certainly do not consider that a BAD thing, even though it is technically not 'impartial' to paint it that way.

That being said, the people I follow online all have biased opinions about the news, which they are more than happy to share (or less likely to hide...depending on how you look at it), and I take those opinions pretty seriously. In effect, it is much the same way I take a brand endorsement. I may not always agree with the opinion, but if the people I'm following are putting it out there, I'm going to read it.

I wonder how this 'social' news coverage will start to cloud my opinions on issues. My views on many issues tend to swing liberal for the most part. Generally during a presidential election, I watch the debates, and decide who to vote for based on the issues at hand. More often than not, that swings to a more liberal standing, but I have been known to go the other way on some issues as well.

To be honest though, I'm not really seeking out much in the way of political commentary. It tends to get boring (to me). The Rush Limbaugh's, Al Franken's, and Bill O'Reilly's of the world just aren't going to be something I'm ever in to.

But...a lot of my family and friends are fairly conservative, and will be posting, tweeting, and updating with the news seen from their perspective. Will that cloud my view to the point where in a couple years I'm marching in a 2nd amendment gun rights parade and supporting the rights of Americans to a home-based nuclear arsenal? (For sport-nuking purposes only of course)

Somehow I doubt it, but it is the thought that hit me today. I can't think of any issue thus far where my opinion has been swayed due to opinions read in social media, but I have really only participated for a few months in the trend, so it is still early.

Coping

Well, it has been a week now since I last logged into World of Warcraft.

The shakes kicked in the other day. I'd walk around upstairs and sit at my computer and stare at the WoW icon. I could just renew my account and play for....just a couple hours.

NO!!

Must...resist....temptation.

I do like WoW, and I most definitely will be going back to it, but not in the month of July, and probably not August either. The kids are out of school for the summer and I have...well, stuff to do with them. I used to raid after they had gone to bed, which was fine, but I can't do that anymore...they stay up too late.

Maybe I'll go back for Icecrown Citadel. Assuming I can get back on the raiding team that I just quit. /sigh. I liked that raiding team.

In the meantime, I'm catching up on other things that I had been putting off for a while now. I'm going back to the novel I have been writing for....years now. I caught up on Battlestar Galactica. I'm fairly hooked on that show now. Just waiting for Season 4.5 to be released and I'll be done with that.

I'm playing more Rock Band. Just about finished with everything in the game, and I'm almost ready to step up to Medium on Drums. Maybe. I wish I had better Rhythm. Or, you know, talent. Shana is ready to step up to Hard on drums. Did I mention I hate her? HAAAAAATE!!

I should probably pick up Guitar Hero World Tour. Just checked out the song list and me likes. Doubt Shana will go for buying yet another game though. Might have to Gamefly it.

Mostly I'm just...having a good time. The hardest part of quitting WoW is when I get bored around the house. I used to jump on WoW when I got really bored and just tool around and hope for a heroic. Now...I dunno. I just got a new book so maybe I'll just read that.

LOTRO is having a free weekend this week for returning people. Maybe I'll jump on that for a little bit. I remember having fun with that game, though it wasn't nearly as addicting as WoW. Of course, it might just make me miss WoW. /sigh

Quitting the game really isn't as bad as I'm making out, I'm exaggerating a lot. But I am going to miss the people. I still keep in touch with a few via forums, email, and IM, but not very many. Very sad.

In the end, the gameplay of WoW was great, but the people are what kept me playing for so long.

Showdown at the crack house

This is a honest-to-god, true story. Well, true-ish. Some names and facts have been changed because my memory sucks.

WARNING: This story involves drugs. In fact kids, this is why we say no to drugs.

Back when I first got out of the Army, life was rough. I was struggling to find work, and the jobs were pretty few and far between. I had really no idea what I wanted to do, so as a result, I just started responding to any newspaper ad or wanted listing in the ACAP Database (Army Career and Alumni Program) that sounded interesting.

I bounced around a little bit at first. My first job out of the Army was selling cell phones to businesses. Of course, I should say that I really only tried to sell cell phones to businesses, since I didn't actually, technically, sell any. None. Not one. I liked the job description that was advertised because it was something I could do 'out of my house' (hidden meaning: There was no actual office building for this 'fly by night' operation), and it had 'unlimited income potential' (hidden meaning: You don't get paid unless you sell something). Honestly, all the businesses that I talked to all thought it was a scam. And I had a hard time convincing them otherwise because...I kinda knew it probably was a scam.

This is the first, and so far only, job that I ever quit simply by never showing up to work again. Well, that and disconnecting my phone.

Later, I answered an ad in the paper that said something like this:
Managers wanted!
Large international business expanding to the Pacific Northwest. We need Managers for our stores that we are opening in the area. No experience required!

Now, if I knew then what I know now, I'd have been suspicious of this Ad. It has all the tell-tale signs of a scam. After all, if you were a 'large international business' expanding to a new area and were putting in new stores, would you really hire a 20 year old kid with 'No experience' to manage your new store? Of course not.

But...I was young. And dumb.

Anyway, I called the number and asked how to apply and was immediately granted an interview!

Yes...just like that. I had an interview scheduled, and they hadn't seen a resume, an application, or knew anything more about me than the name I gave them over the phone. I may have been young and dumb, but even I was suspicious at that point.

But I was living off top ramen and whatever I could mooch off my girlfriend, so I was desperate. I went to the interview.

Immediately following that less than 10 minute interview, I was hired into their 'management training program'. When I was hired, I didn't have to give a Social Security number or any other information. This also set off some warning bells in my head, but maybe they would just do the paperwork later...

I wouldn't get paid of course, in their 'management training program' (I was told this is 'Standard'), but there was UNLIMITED EARNING POTENTIAL if I passed their program.

So I took the job. And for about 3 weeks, I tried to sell...perfume. That was, of course, their 'management training'. I would go the the office for about an hour for motivational speeches, and then walk for miles trying to sell perfume to people on the street.

I got to keep a 'portion' of the profits from the perfume I sold, but that was barely enough to cover the gas to commute to work and the cigarettes I was smoking at the time. Meanwhile I had to sell plasma and mooch off of my girlfriend in order to afford to actually, you know, eat.

The people that I met who were doing this job were not particularly...bright. One of the 'trainers' I found out, was a crack addict with no car.

I didn't know that of course (the crack addict part anyway), up until the time where I was giving him a ride home from work and he asked me if we could stop at a friend's house real quick to pick something up. It was right on the way, so I said 'sure, no problem'.

Well, we went inside, and it was a crowded place...the living room was maybe 50 square feet, and it was packed with 8-10 people. And as I looked around, I could tell they were all smoking. And I don't mean cigarettes. I don't even mean weed.

I knew immediately that I didn't need to be here. In fact, if I went down the list of places I would like be at that moment, I could probably list several million before I got down to 'crack house'.

My 'trainer', found his friend, who happened to be an extremely skinny black woman (who quite possibly could have actually been a black man...it was really hard to tell, if you know what I mean) and made a 'transaction', but before the deal could be made, I was encouraged to sit down and have a smoke off of his 'friend's' pipe. As politely as I could, I declined, and attempted to walk casually to the front door. (At this point I was attempting to decide in my head if I was walk or run to my car once I got outside. Run was definitely pulling ahead)

This is where the 'friend' pulled out his pistol and made it clear that his (or her) hospitality was not optional. You see, apparently, he/she believed that my 'trainer' had brought a cop (me) with them. Of course, I was not a cop. But apparently, to them, I looked like a cop. And of course, since cops can't smoke crack, their litmus test for whether I was a cop, was whether I would smoke crack.

Let me tell you friends, up until that day I had a rule about smoking crack. That rule went something along the lines of 'There is no way in hell I will ever smoke crack". I did find out on that day that there is actually an addendum to that rule that I had never considered. After that day, I have a new, amended, rule. That is "I will never smoke crack unless there is literally a gun pointed at my head."

Yes, ladies and gentleman, I did put the pipe to my lips that day. I did not, of course, inhale (no, really..I didn't.). But....I put the pipe to my lips and went through the motions which seemed to satisfy the observers present. At least he/she put the gun away. Afterward, I was allowed to leave the building (and I did so as fast as I could), and of course, told that 'trainer' that he would have to find another way home. I believe I may have used some colorful metaphors describing exactly how often he would ever get me to take him anywhere ever again.

I quit the perfume job the next day. A few weeks later, I got a job doing tech support for Windows 95, and have not had occasion to frequent any crack houses since.

Some of you may be asking yourself, 'did he soil his shorts'. I'm happy to report that I did not, but I don't think it was out of bravery as much as I didn't want to offend he/she with the smell. I was actually too scared to soil myself.

The adrenaline was still pumping for hours afterward. It was, to this day, the most frightened I have ever been in my life.