Wrapping Up 2012

2012 was a rollercoaster year. I don't think I've ever felt more in a year than I have in 2012.

It's sort of frustrating that facebook doesn't sort all the New Year's Eve posts like it does Christmas or Mitt Romney posts (though maybe I'm just looking before it sorts itself, which is very possible). However, in my one-year-old tradition, I'm looking to my feeds to understand how everyone's 2012 went for them.

I might add that social networking is amazing because it is so much information so quickly and with very little filter. It provides a window into the lives of many, many people across the globe. Facebook/Twitter/Instagram provide one with many diverse opinions and some really weird posts, which is great. Here are a few of the posts from my feeds about the end of 2012:

Would Lincoln Be Elected Today?

This Wednesday night I had the privilege of listening to an amazing speaker. My friends and I ran over to Duke Family Performance Hall and flew up the stairs to get a middle seat on the second level of the theatre, sitting at 6:58pm. We stared ahead or looked down at the crowd below as we waited for the event to begin. At 7:10, Dr. Kathleen Hall Jamieson was introduced to the crowd. Dr. Jamieson has written a total of 16 books, has been featured on Bill Moyers' show, Washington Post, CBS, and others. An article was written about her this week in the Charlotte Observer, honoring her for her work. She is Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at University of Pennsylvania. She runs a site, FactCheck.org, and a sister/daughter site, FlackCheck.org. Both are very useful tools for thinning out the deceptions and lies inherent in political ad campaigns.

The crux of her political mission is to get the false ads and lies out of political campaigns. One way she does this is through FlackCheck, where there is an option to email your local stations, demanding they only air ads that are factually accurate. Stations can turn down independent ads (those by Super PACs are to be accented here) if the manager of the station is even a little bit worried about the factuality of the ad. Jamieson believes that the advertiser has the responsibility to keep ads factual and the manager has the responsibility to turn away ads if she doubts the credibility of the ad's facts.