Welcome to #SMH Fridays! Obviously, that’s Internet speak for “shaking my head” Fridays, but you already knew that.
Here at Red Alert Politics we spend entirely too much time on the internet and some of the things that we see out there are just absolutely astonishing/mind-blowing/horrifying/disgusting/trendy/weird/insert any adjective here. As such, we have decided to start #SMH Fridays as a way to share those stories with you.
In this weekly series, our staff members will share their favorite “That’s So Internet” story in this post, along with their unfiltered commentary. Here’s last week’s edition for the gist of what it’s all about. Enjoy!
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Hillary Clinton’s campaign staffers have evidently resorted to telling flat-out lies.
Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook during an appearance on CBS’ Face the Nation Sunday swiftly denied the fact that polls indicate that American voters do not trust Hillary.
“No poll shows that voters don’t trust Hillary Clinton,” Mook alleged, rudely dismissing CBS anchor John Dickerson as he tried to stay true to the facts.
The problem is, of course, that polls show precisely that. For instance, a CNN/ORC poll released earlier this month indicated that 57 percent of American voters do not label Clinton trustworthy and a mere 42 percent believe the phrase “honest and trustworthy” applies to her.
Either Mook is knowingly ignoring this and many other credible polls, or he simply is living in La La (Clinton) Land. Which is worse, I can’t quite say.
Perhaps he should have taken his boss’ lead and refused to answer questions — or talk to the press at all, for that matter — entirely.
This week, Bloomberg reported that the French government is now warning its citizens that, should they visit the United States, they’ll have to keep away from the dirty jokes lest they get prosecuted by those hypersensitive Americans.
“It’s recommended to adopt a reserved attitude toward those of the opposite sex,” the French foreign ministry website cautions. “Comments, behavior, and jokes, which might be harmless in Latin countries, can lead to criminal cases.” They also warn that even minors may be saddled with sexual harassment charges.
If that’s not a tragic indictment of the state of free speech in America, I don’t know what is. (Particularly on the heels of this Supreme Court ruling.)
I know no better way to mourn this state of affairs than an angry Ron Swanson gif.
This week I was horrified to discover just how much inane cat content there was out there on the internet.
According to ReelSEO.com, there are more than two million cat videos on YouTube with a total of more than 25 billion views collectively. That breaks down to an average of 12,000 views per cat video.
I’m sorry, what?
Maybe it’s because I am a dog lover (Meet Lizzie, my Westie!), but I just don’t really get the cat video obsession.
I know it’s a huge part of internet culture and maybe I’m just a bad millennial for saying so, but they don’t really appeal to me.
Now it turns out that aversion may actually be turning me into a more negative person, according to Mashable.
“People in my study reported experiencing more positive emotions and having higher energy levels after watching cat videos than before. They also reported lower levels of negative emotions after viewing online cat-related content,” Jessica Gall Myrick, Assistant Professor of Media at Indiana University Bloomington, wrote for the site.
Guess I’ll just have to be content looking more and more like this guy:
This week, most Americans were surprised to learn that after years of talking about it, Donald Trump is actually running for president.
Trump is now the 12th candidate to throw his hat in the ring for the GOP; it’s starting to seem like everyone thinks they have a shot at winning the Republican nomination.
In his announcement speech, Trump attempted to differentiate himself from politicians, bragging that he is so rich he doesn’t need donors or lobbyists with special interests.
If you don’t want to watch Trump’s whole speech, here are some of the most SMH-worthy lines:
“I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.”
“I beat China all the time.”
“Nobody would be tougher on ISIS than Donald Trump.”
“The American dream is dead. But if I am elected president, I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before.”
“I’m really rich.”
https://youtu.be/q_q61B-DyPk?t=6m
Kim Kardashian wrote a letter to her future-self for Glamour Magazine where she discussed her hopes and dreams.
Some of her goals were fine and even constructive. She hoped that she wouldn’t be overly critical about how she looks, wanted to be grateful for her life, to call her mom every day and hoped her family is happy and healthy.
Great, but that was where any sense of altruism ended.
She wanted to still be the queen of contouring and hoped that science invents a green juice to keep her tan forever.
“Are you still filming Keeping Up with the Kardashians? Are you still decorating our dream home? Are selfies still a thing? Are the terms ‘bae’ and ‘on fleek’ so 2015? If not, am I still on fleek?” she asked.
All questions that have plagued great minds for centuries.
At no point does she talk about growing, about changing for the better, or about giving back to society.
I know I shouldn’t expect much from Kardashian, but isn’t she a representative of a lot of people in our generation?
If I wrote a Kardashian style letter to my future-self, I would hope I would become the king of all dadbods and usher in the grandpabod as I age.
