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Great Moments in Public Diplomacy, No. 813
Alec Ross will introduce himself to you as an “innovator.” A close confidant of Hillary Clinton and a veteran of the 2008 Hope and Change Obama charade, instead of finding a job he got himself appointed as the State Department’s “guru” (their word, not mine) of social media. Alec just loves social media; he so “gets it” so darn much that he can’t stop himself from advising the State Department about having more social media. It is what he does.
For today’s lesson in public diplomacy at the State Department, we feature one of Alec’s own Tweets, crafted by the hand of the master himself:
If Alec would ever answer my emails, Tweets or Facebook messages (I guess he is just so busy, right?), here’s what I’d like to ask:
What is the freaking point of this Tweet? Are you working on the Ben Franklin campaign now?
Where can I get a “Fact o’ the Day” desk calendar like you have so I can make Tweets like this?
Why did thirty people “retweet” this, sending a pointless message to others. Are they all on your staff? Why do you have such a big staff?
Or do you have 30 dummy accounts you control?
When Time Magazine named @AlecRoss one of the best Twitter feeds of 2012, did they have their head up their ass or is there some other Alec Ross Twitter feed they looked at? Does it cost a lot of money to buy your way on to those kind of lists and can you use Paypal?
Would it be possible to convince you to say stand on the roof in a thunder storm this weekend with wet feet and try and repeat Franklin’s historic experiment? You know, for science and all.
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Meloveconsullongtime said...
1If, as seems inferable, the purpose of that tweet was to remind the world of American scientific and technological prowess, would it be churlish to mention that 167 years after Franklin died the Russian Communists sent the first satellite into space?
06/19/12 2:05 PM | Comment Link
Meloveconsullongtime said...
2And then there was Gagarin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ8bDiuqEC4
06/19/12 2:07 PM | Comment Link
Meloveconsullongtime said...
3Butthead McGurk:
“Hey Beavis, I made a discovery with my rod, huh-huh, huh…”
Not to be sophomoric though. I leave that to those uniquely qualified.
BTW, another Fun Fakt: The words “sophomore” and “sophomoric” are derived from combining the ancient Greek words for “wise” (sophos) and “fool” (moros, cf moron.) In other words an educated fool.
06/19/12 2:58 PM | Comment Link
leomund said...
4Some great material in the Alec Ross (innovator) Wikipedia
“He was praised for managing a team that cooperated.”
With that kind of high praise (sounds self-written), I can see why he is where he is.
Ross quote: “If Paul Revere had been a modern day citizen, he wouldn’t have ridden down Main Street. He would have tweeted.”
Insightful. Actually, he probably would not have given a crap about the British b/c he’d have been a Facebook addict playing Farmville all day.
“In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Ross visited with former militia members in demobilization camps to learn about ways to get current militia members to quit fighting”
And I am waiting to see those “ways” employed…
“Ross’“overt support of subversive technology” outraged authoritarian leaders,and he has confronted governments, including Russia, about Internet Freedom.”
I can just imagine the dictators of the world fuming over his “support”.
06/19/12 4:29 PM | Comment Link
Frederick Fellow said...
5“Hillaryous.” Ross was probably promoting the Franklin Fellows Program (http://careers.state.gov/ff), named in honor of the founding father of the US Foreign Service. And because Dr. Franklin promoted frugality and thrift, the Franklin Fellows Program is one of those yearlong free labor programs where the State Department does not pay one penny for one’s services. A penny saved is a penny earned. They can’t pay because all of their freakin’ money has been spent on useless projects like the world’s largest embassy in Iraq. Smart power! Rah, rah, rah!
06/19/12 4:40 PM | Comment Link
Mark Main said...
6I guess I’m one of the lucky ones whose tweets DID get read by Alec J Ross (the 21st century Rasputin, the 21st century Elmer Gantry, the 21st century…well, you get the picture) and it got him to quickly BLOCK both my twitter accounts. Mr. China-Is-Scared-Of-Me, Mr. Bad-Time-To-Be-A-Control-Freak blocked little ole me.
And all I do is tweet-ask him how much his luxury vacations to “yammer” at small groups of people cost the US Taxpayers. Go figure! Guess he’s temperamental.
I am very, very, very relieved to see others rejecting this disgraceful hypocrite. It gives me hope for the State Department. Thank you!
06/19/12 8:13 PM | Comment Link
jo6pac said...
7Amazing my tax dollars at work, Oh right I don’t pay taxes because I’m to poor. I guess this his reward for being a good little puppet.
06/19/12 9:50 PM | Comment Link
lafcadio said...
8Mr. Ross, my tweet to you, with more than enough characters left over:
u r an oxygen thief
06/20/12 12:55 AM | Comment Link
Mary said...
9Thanks for the laugh.
06/20/12 1:10 AM | Comment Link
Lisa said...
10Just wonderful, Peter, and thank you so much for sharing. We can all endeavor to raise the level of dialog thru the considered example of Mr. Ross.
I do love the reader’s observation that Paul Revere 2012 “(would) have been a Facebook addict playing Farmville all day.”
You have some readers almost as witty as you 😉
06/20/12 5:04 AM | Comment Link
XrayMike79 said...
11“Its not like there’s been a reduction in patriotism here,” [Alec] Ross jokes. Rather, love of country has been grounded in new realities: “I think we are practicing a more humble foreign policy…because the nature and number of threats are ever increasing.” In a world with an overwhelming number of crises, “you can’t just project unilaterally.” – source
Drone land inhabitants and, in fact, entire countries of the Middle East might have a bone of contention with our “more humble foreign policy” and our other than “unilateral” projection of empire.
06/20/12 7:21 AM | Comment Link
Mark said...
12Yes, Peter, the Innovator’s a busy man. Speaking of which, Hillary’s Anointed One posted this message to his adoring throng on Facebook earlier today: “In beautiful London. Stacked day. Off to breakfast with colleagues from the Foreign Office and then to a roundtable among diplomats facilitated by 10 Downing Street.” (Speaking of adoring, don’t miss the comments. Showin’ Alec the love!)
If you have something to say to the boy wonder of State’s lame and laughable social media outreach efforts, drop him a line at RossAJ@state.gov. After all, Alec works for you, doesn’t he? May his inbox runneth over!
06/20/12 3:06 PM | Comment Link
Cook E. Pusher from the Foggiest Bottom joins Alec Ross on Twitterverse | Diplopundit said...
13[…] Great Moments in Public Diplomacy, No. 813 (wemeantwell.com) […]
06/22/12 7:10 AM | Comment Link