I'm On Their Lists!
Pro wrestler Chris Jericho in his most recent WWE engagements had this annoying gimmick where characters who did something he did not approve of were added to his List. I'm not sure what the repercussion was for being on his List (humiliation?), but nobody wanted to be on it. (It became a critical part of the storyline with his alliance with fellow Canadian grappler Kevin Owens and Owens' eventual swerve turn against Jericho.)
I was a relatively late joiner to Twitter, a few months over 4 years with only sporadic tweets over the first several weeks. (It seems hard to believe that I've published 12.5K tweets since then.) But I've never really looked at other features of Twitter like lists. I don't recall exactly the first time I saw the first time I got a notification that I got added to some list. It may have been either Trump's own account or some follower's account in reference to a tweet mentioning his wealth and I was added to some "I am rich" list. Actually, out of the hundreds, if not thousands of tweets I've written on Trump, few deal with his wealth; in fact, I have been a persistent critic of the Politics of Envy. If I were to criticize his wealth, it might be in his attempt to identify with the daily struggles of lower/middle-income people like my folks. My folks, raising 7 kids on a low-paid USAF NCO's salary, were in no position to help finance my college. (I had one maternal uncle and one paternal aunt with college degrees (a priest and a nun/sister). Five of their kids graduated from college, and three hold advanced degrees--and the other two hold professional certifications (RN and CPA). Trump had a wealthy Dad who funded his transfer Ivy League education and backed his early business deals. I know what it's like having less than $100 to my name, not knowing how to cover my next rent check in my twenties. Or working for employers who would eventually go into bankruptcy, being laid off, and, unlike Trump, go out of business.
Yes, Trump may have lost his airline and yacht twenty-odd years back, but he doesn't have to worry how to make his next mortgage statement, he's going to finance his youngest son's college education, how to pay the doctor bills or his next meal. Is this jealousy? No. It's just an observation of reality. Would I like the economic certainty that vast wealth enables? Of course. But as far as his knowing what it's like to be an unemployed WV coal miner, a Baby Boomer racing to retirement without a pension and with retirement assets decimated by multiple severe stock corrections over the past 20 years? I have a brother-in-law, a fellow IT professional who once planned to retire at 50 and had to file for bankruptcy. Trump's claim that he identifies with lower middle-class people, many who voted for them based on this over-hyped image of his business "success", is fraudulent. So to an extent I do have an implicit motive to prick this hype bubble, but it's not motivated by my wanting his wealth. I know his economic illiterate policies against immigration and trade hurt, not help American consumers.
I've made other lists, including another Trumpkin putting me on his Trump Derangement Syndrome list. It's laughable. I've actually tweeted against leftists who do have Trump Derangement Syndrome. Being a Trump critic is different than being part of "the resistance". There are numerous times I tweeted in support of Trump, e.g., his judicial nominees, his deregulation agenda, his termination of Comey, against the Russian election conspiracy nonsense, etc. I have not been supportive of the dysfunctional feminist diatribes, his impeachment critics, and the attempts to identify him with white nationalists or Hitler. It's one thing to categorize me as a Trump critic or skeptic, but I'm not one of those who obsess over Trump in personal terms.
Now, and I haven't started even published a list of my own yet, my understanding is that a Twitter list is functionally like a type of virtual following. Let me give an example. I'm a huge fan on Donald Boudreaux, a free-market economist (Cafe Hayek). My daily digest from Cafe Hayek is perfect. I briefly followed him on Twitter, and my Twitter feed exploded. A little too much Don. I only follow a handful of others who tweet occasionally, far less than I do. But apparently, say if I created a pro-liberty economist list (something I've been thinking of doing), I could scan their recent tweets on a demand basis.
I don't know how many lists I'm currently on. I do know a tactic to get myself off lists. I'm annoyed if I think the theme is insulting or unfair (I think the other day a left-fascist added me to his white supremacist list, which makes no sense whatsoever applied to a guy who loves his black and brown grandnieces and grandnephews and has himself dated black and brown women, whose references include Jews, blacks, and Hindus). The leftists are simply tagging any conservative they come across as a racist. All they do is lose credibility like the boy that cries wolf one too many times. There are real racists and Nazis out there. I've occasionally gotten reply tweets from them; I basically tell them to go away, occasionally using more colorful language.
Generally, though, as a writer, I'll take readers however they come; some of my most prolific retweeters have been Trumpkins (I have absolutely no tolerance for Clinton, Obama or leftists of any kind, and that includes personal attempts on Trump). I would probably like being on more complimentary lists like "men I would like to date" or "my favorite libertarian-conservatives".
Oh My Gosh, Is It Already the Christmas Season?
I'm not kidding: a couple of weeks ago, one of my nieces (the first daughter of sibling #2) posted pictures on Facebook of her 2-year-old son closely examined some Christmas exhibits at their local Costco (I'm not a member). I remember in years past being shocked at seeing holiday merchandise already on sale at Sam's Club closer to Halloween. (It may have been stocked earlier, but I only shop occasionally there.) When I pushed her on the topic, she responded, "You know, Christmas is such a magical time of year; I want him to enjoy it." My niece is a devout Catholic, and I don't need to remind her that Jesus is the reason for the season. Marketers will find any reason to hype any holiday on the calendar day, including Hamburger Day. I don't remember if I ever really believed in Santa Claus; it really wasn't on metaphysical questions over the physical impossibility of globally delivering gifts for children. To me the myth really didn't come across as more believable than other fairy tale I had heard. Oh, I went with the flow, because, let's face it, I liked getting presents, plus it was fun for my younger siblings.Hallmark Channel started its Countdown to Christmas this afternoon (schedules have varied over past years. sometimes over weekends up to mid-November or so to nearly around the clock (except for maybe 10 AM - 2 PM with certain original daily programming). Now personally I'm prefer a more diversified selection of classics (like Miracle on 34th Century, A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life) and their own stronger originals from past seasons (like Angels & Ornaments); these tend to be highly recycled romantic/comedies, including the same leading actors, occasionally with fantasy elements (for example, a niece whose workaholic aunt has failed to keep her promises asks Santa for magical help in making her aunt be honest with others).
I have occasionally reviewed (critically) Hallmark movies in the blog, and I'm not going to repeat them here. Hallmark tends to have an obsession with royalty (fairly puzzling given we rebelled against a monarchy), you usually have some politically incorrect protagonist who is, say, a heartless profit-taking businessman or corporation out to crush local businesses or non-GMO farms, often exploiting some innocent consumers. Quite often you'll have obviously loveless relationships that stand in the way of romance between the protagonists. In the end, the locavores, the anti-corporate forces, etc. predictably carry the day. Not exactly the storylines you would expect a libertarian like me to favor.
Sooner or later, I'll start writing what I think are more compelling stories without the predictable progressive theme contexts. Not in a free blog of course.
