Quote of the Year

“Don’t tase me, bro.”

That was this story back when, remember?

Hey: I don’t make this stuff up.

According to AP, it’s up to Fred R. Shapiro, editor of the newly published Yale Book of Quotes. According to them, top spot was between taser-guy and the Miss Teen USA contestant who couldn’t find her way through a wet paper bag. Says AP:

The words of both young people were immortalized in videos posted on YouTube, the popular video-sharing Web site, and could ultimately join quotes from President John F. Kennedy and the Bible in the next edition of Fred R. Shapiro's book.

Yeah, yeah, yeah: the Internet and widespread electronic interconnectivity has changed the way we process things. It’s altered the weight of the things we hold dear. Things will never be the same. Blah, blah, blah.
“These new media are spreading these things,” said Shapiro, 53, associate librarian and lecturer in legal research at the Yale Law School. “I’m not listing the most admirable quotes, the most eloquent quotes. It’s the most memorable quotes.”
It’s true: in a non-connected world, we wouldn’t have known about the police’s brutality and overall ineffectuality in a dealing with a single student. We perhaps wouldn’t have known that fully one-fifth of Americans can’t find their country on a map.

Hmmm... I’m sounding a bit more cynical than I intended. This was supposed to be a bit of holiday cheer, a spot of fun, and it’s turning into a new media rant. I think I’ll stop now. Return you to your regularly scheduled holiday fun. Shiny paper. Pretty presents. Yummy food. There ya go.

Comments

Clea Simon said…
Cynical is good, especially as we round in on the darkest day of the year. But maybe the light will come back (hey, I'm a cozy writer. That makes me an optimist.)

Have a good one.
John McFetridge said…
Yeah, um, I'm just wondering, when you say, "a spot of gun," did you mean, "gin?"

And why is it the two most common things I seem to hear are, "I want to change the world," and "I don't like change." At least there'll never be a shortage of conflict for us to write about.

Okay, back to the yummy food.
Clea: I *love* solstice! Both of them are, like, my favorite holidays of the year. (Almost.) They're so deliciously pagan. What's not to like?

And John, I'm a dope. I meant "spot of fun," and I've actually fixed it now. (Object lesson for what happens when you're your own editor.)

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