Napoli Google Bomb reactions
Mar. 8th, 2006 04:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beautifulduckweedI've been insulated from the reactions of people-at-large to my attempts to Google bomb Bill Napoli, largely because I've been tracking what's been going on at Smart Bitches. And OF COURSE the reactions there are going to be favorable. First of all, the people who visit the site are more likely to share my sense of humor (which indeed veers towards the assholish end of the spectrum) and find this sort of thing funny. Second of all, only people who have picked up the ball and run with it are posting comments, which in turn filters out a lot of negative reactions. And third of all...eh. There's no third that I can think of.
Reading the reactions at the Damn Portlanders community has been eye-opening. Just about everyone there thinks it's pointless, sophomoric and destructive. There are better avenues of reacting to the abortion ban and Napoli's dickheadedness, they argue. Volunteer! Write editorials! Etc.
I will be the first to say that doing something concrete is vastly more helpful than helping me Google bomb the shit out of this shit. And HELL YES volunteer, and give money, and write long letters to the editor. But here are the reasons why I wanted to do what I did:
1. I wanted the issue to have visibility. Sarah and I reach a lot of readers every day. Not nearly along the lines of, say, Atrios or Daily Kos, or even Amalah or Dooce, but we have a pretty decent-sized readership. A readership that's not necessarily interested or engaged in the political, so it's kind of nice that I'm able to very, very occasionally do this sort of thing. (The last time we had a politics bitchfight at SBTB was over Katrina. Oh my, that was fun times.)
2. I needed a schtick, a hook, a way to make the comments really, really memorable and not let Napoli fucking get away with this, if I possibly can. I can't vote, I don't live in South Dakota, I only have so much money I can give to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, my grasp of constitutional law is not so much tenuous as non-existent (though it's getting a bit better every day the more I read and discuss issues with Jay), so I'm trying to do what Dan Savage did: memorialize an asshole by associating the asshole's name with something unpleasant. And keep in mind, Savage had to solicit a new definition for Santorum. Napoli's definition is based entirely on his own words.
3. I feel a pretty strong punitive urge towards Napoli. I don't believe in capital or corporal punishment, but I am not averse to using the power of shame and humiliation. This is pretty minor in the scheme of things, but it's something.
But! Everyone who views this as nothing better than a sophomoric prank--well, they have a point, too. What can I say? I delight in being puerile. I'm a dork--a largely unrepentant one. I can only hope I'm a dork who has outraged some people into thinking about taking action and inspired others to actually take action, like donating money to worthy causes, or reading up on case laws pertaining to reproductive freedom, or [insert Worthy Action of Your Choice].
But even if nothing comes of this, I'm petty enough to admit that having Bill Napoli be connected to the term "hella rape" is still pretty fucking sweet, and I'll take what I can get.
Reading the reactions at the Damn Portlanders community has been eye-opening. Just about everyone there thinks it's pointless, sophomoric and destructive. There are better avenues of reacting to the abortion ban and Napoli's dickheadedness, they argue. Volunteer! Write editorials! Etc.
I will be the first to say that doing something concrete is vastly more helpful than helping me Google bomb the shit out of this shit. And HELL YES volunteer, and give money, and write long letters to the editor. But here are the reasons why I wanted to do what I did:
1. I wanted the issue to have visibility. Sarah and I reach a lot of readers every day. Not nearly along the lines of, say, Atrios or Daily Kos, or even Amalah or Dooce, but we have a pretty decent-sized readership. A readership that's not necessarily interested or engaged in the political, so it's kind of nice that I'm able to very, very occasionally do this sort of thing. (The last time we had a politics bitchfight at SBTB was over Katrina. Oh my, that was fun times.)
2. I needed a schtick, a hook, a way to make the comments really, really memorable and not let Napoli fucking get away with this, if I possibly can. I can't vote, I don't live in South Dakota, I only have so much money I can give to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, my grasp of constitutional law is not so much tenuous as non-existent (though it's getting a bit better every day the more I read and discuss issues with Jay), so I'm trying to do what Dan Savage did: memorialize an asshole by associating the asshole's name with something unpleasant. And keep in mind, Savage had to solicit a new definition for Santorum. Napoli's definition is based entirely on his own words.
3. I feel a pretty strong punitive urge towards Napoli. I don't believe in capital or corporal punishment, but I am not averse to using the power of shame and humiliation. This is pretty minor in the scheme of things, but it's something.
But! Everyone who views this as nothing better than a sophomoric prank--well, they have a point, too. What can I say? I delight in being puerile. I'm a dork--a largely unrepentant one. I can only hope I'm a dork who has outraged some people into thinking about taking action and inspired others to actually take action, like donating money to worthy causes, or reading up on case laws pertaining to reproductive freedom, or [insert Worthy Action of Your Choice].
But even if nothing comes of this, I'm petty enough to admit that having Bill Napoli be connected to the term "hella rape" is still pretty fucking sweet, and I'll take what I can get.
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 01:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 01:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 01:42 am (UTC)Wikipedia now has an official entry for napoli. Alas, it doesn't include hella rape.
I'm thinking that any second now, it's going to be flagged and removed, so if you don't see it on time, here's a screenshot.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 01:51 am (UTC)OK, in all seriousness now--are you at all upset? I'm an asshole, but I'm also an asshole with an overactive guilty conscience (which selectively shuts off for other assholes, like Napoli), and I'd like to apologize if I made you at all uncomfortable or upset.
And to tell you the truth, I had no idea it was going to spread like it did.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 02:22 am (UTC)Also, it became apparent when I first made that post that not everyone had brought their reading comprehension skills to the table, since some commenters appeared to think that Mr. Napoli himself was the author of the paragraph containing "hella raped," which distressed me since a) it robbed me of the dubious credit for what was clearly a new classic of internet slang, and b) apparently some people think that South Dakotans say "hella."
I mean, seriously. South Dakota.