The Deluge of Sarcasm

A risk you run with in the digital age is that if you do something stupid, it will almost certainly be recorded in a quasi-permanent way, in contrast to the ephemeral nature of a spoken conversation. You don’t even have the “I was misquoted” excuse when you’ve removed the human being from the equation.

Great example: Pete Hoekstra (R, Min) tweeting about the horrible mistreatment he and his colleagues have suffered.

Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House.

Not surprisingly, that set off the internet’s sarcasmotron. Lots of tweets, and a blog post devoted to it. If you don’t want to sift sort too much, here are some highlights

benhuh: @petehoekstra I had to sit in the last row of our corporate jet this morning. This is what Rosa Parks must have felt.

curtsmith: @petehoekstra, fell off my surfboard in Malibu today, now I know what D-day felt like.

donnahon: @petehoekstra Got some sand in my shoe. Now I know what it’s like to be on my third deployment in Iraq.

I Dare You to Steal this Story

Ralph Nader with a slim jim.

The Ultimate Lock Picker Hacks Pentagon, Beats Corporate Security for Fun and Profit

Thinking like a criminal is Tobias’ idea of fun. It makes him laugh. It has also made him money and earned him a reputation as something of the Rain Man of lock-breaking. Even if you’ve never heard of Tobias, you may know his work: He’s the guy who figured out how to steal your bike, unlock your front door, crack your gun lock, blow up your airplane, and hijack your mail. Marc Weber Tobias has a name for the headache he inflicts on his targets: the Marc Weber Tobias problem.

Lock-breaking is equal parts art and science. So is the ability to royally piss people off. Tobias is a veritable da Vinci at both endeavors. His Web site’s streaming video of prepubescent kids gleefully opening gun locks has won him no points with mothers or locksmiths, and his ideas about how to smuggle liquid explosive reagents onto commercial airlines spookily presaged the Transportation Security Administration’s prohibitions against carry-on liquids. Over the past 20 years, Tobias has been threatened by casinos, banned from hotel chains, and bullied by legions of corporate lawyers. And enjoyed every minute of it.

I don’t know which is worse: the ones who overplay the threat to make us afraid, or (as in the story) the ones who overplay the quality of security to make us feel safe.