Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2584

About My Job: The Customer Service Rep

by Conor Friedersdorf

A reader writes:

Call center reps are among the lowest paid workers in the service sector, and have one of the hardest jobs. We spend most of our days solving problems and fielding complaints, soothing angry customers and explaining incomprehensible company policies. We are tethered to desks by telephone headsets, staring at computers for 8-10 hours at a stretch, in airless and windowless cubicles. Not only must we have encyclopedic  knowledge of our services and...

The NeuroPhone

by Patrick Appel

Researchers at Dartmouth College have created a phone that picks up on EEG signals.  Nick Carr reacts:

I've always thought that the big problem with existing realtime socialnetworking systems, such as Facebook and Twitter, is that they requireactive and deliberate participation on the part of individual humannodes (or "beings") - ie, typing out messages on keypads or other inputdevices - which not only introduces systemic delays incompatible withtrue realtime communication but...

Hathos Alert

by Chris Bodenner

Old hip-hop tutorials are awfully fascinating:

 

THIS IS HIP-HOP! from Airwave Ranger on Vimeo.

Hip-Hop - United States - Arts - Shopping - Chris Bodenner

The Daily Wrap

Today on the Dish, we eyed Iowa for Palin; even the Vanity Fair writer who liked her couldn't believe how much she lied; and on top of all that, she ruined Alaska's quirkiness for the rest of the state. Chris drew on the Glenn Beck-Howard Beale connection; and the Tea Party defense and dissent of the day is here.

Yossi Klein Halevi asked Imam Rauf to modify the mosque, not move it. Israeli-Palestinian talks, amazingly, continued; and nation-building in Iraq, unsuprisingly, didn't work that...

Twitter Shines Again, Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

A reader writes:

Twitter was an invaluable resource during yesterday's hostage crisis at 1 Discovery Place.  We in the building, and our co-workers all around (it began during the lunch hour) as well as our co-workers worldwide were communicating by text, tweet, and e-mail.  And after the evacuation, I relied on Twitter as much as our local news media did, in order to watch the conclusion of the event.

But not all tweeted facts are real facts.  The photo you reprinted is not...

The Key To Equality

by Chris Bodenner

A reader writes:

Repeal of DADT is the keystone in the arch towards homosexual equality in America. The country is fragmented and polarized: politically, economically, socially, and culturally.  The pillar we have left for "One America" are the service men and women in the US armed forces.  This is not new.  This is not a surprise. 

We, Americans, are overwhelmingly unified in support of our service men and women.  Again and again, they are held up as an example for the rest...

Nation Building Doesn't Work

by Patrick Appel

After Obama's Iraq speech, David Brooks wrote a column titled, "Nation Building Works." Joel Wing begs to differ:

There are several problems with Brooks' argument. First, the Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction considers the rebuilding of Iraq a failure. The Bush administration did not adequately plan, nor coordinate its post-war program. The lack of security undermined the entire effort causing huge cost overruns, the abandonment of some projects, and led to a huge...

About My Job: The Businessman

by Conor Friedersdorf

A reader writes:

I work for one of the world's largest multinationals, in a position that makes my job description basically "business" - I work on issues touching finance, marketing, logistics, etc. I am also someone who spent most of their working life outside of the business world. So I would like to give some examples of things about business that I have found surprising.

1. Business is much more about being organized and managing people than it is about...

"Like Watching A Lion Rape A Sheep, But In A Bad Way"

by Chris Bodenner

A Dish reader compares Jan Brewer's debate meltdown to this scene from "The Thick Of It":

Jan Brewer - Web Design and Development - Color - Hosting - Free

Lying To The Choir

by Patrick Appel

Yglesias's understanding of American Taliban mirrors mine and Conor's:

This stuff doesn't win votes anyone because, after all, it's a form of preaching to the choir. Which is fine—the choir needs some sermons. But there's no real upside in lying to the choir. Political movements need to adapt to the actual situation, and that means having an accurate understanding of your foes. You need to see them as they actually are so that you know the right way to respond. Either...