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There are a lot of good, intelligent things being said as part of these anniversary observances, including a lot of things that were quite apparent ten years ago but which, hearteningly, seem to be spoken a bit more freely now. Indeed, most of the things I would say have probably been checked off.

One thing, though, one small thought/request now that it’s been 10 full years—

Can we dispense with the mandatory flag lapel-pins, now?

Seriously, I don’t know how making it obligatory for all of these people to walk around with a little ticky-tack tin replica of it actually honors the American flag, or the ideals which it should symbolize either. But I recall that, 10 years ago, everyone wanted flags or flag images everywhere, and perhaps this was emotionally comforting; so be it. In most ways, we have subsequently gotten over this and restored a normal degree of flag-ubiquity, since. Can we do so with lapels, now? It just looks cheap, and silly, and forced.

If terrorists do still “hate our freedom,” that’s all the more reason to protect and celebrate it. Jacket-lapel freedom shouldn’t be left out.

It must be nice for Time that its “Person of the Year” is well-established as a tradition; unlike say Newsweek it can still feel relevant once every year, at least for a few days.

Of course it probably helps if they produce a good choice, but I suppose that some years it’s difficult to come up with one. Naming Mark Zuckerschmuck as 2010′s “Man of the Year” feels kind of arbitrary and half-hearted, but off the top of my head I’m not sure who would be a significantly more appropriate choice.

Loosely-related, meanwhile, the latest Facebook-related media fizz prompted me to consider that the boy billionaire’s company is, in a sense, the McDonald’s of online personal expression. (more…)

It’s time for another quotes post. First, quote of the month, at least:

“I was born in 1992. You have been negotiating all my life. You cannot tell us that you need more time.” – Christina Ora of the Solomon Islands to delegates at U.N. talks in Cancún

That is, you can’t unless bullshitting is second nature to you. So then never mind. Aaaaaaand on to the rest:

“An ex-felon I interviewed yesterday described how the prison in Forth Worth where he served time was so crowded that even when he was in solitary confinement, he had two cell mates.” – Lexington, The Economist

“We have this 9/11 hangover going on for eight [make that nine, and counting] years… We’re wasting immense amounts of time and manpower searching through people’s bags for little knives and pointy objects, and taking harmless liquids away from people. That doesn’t make us safer.” – Patrick Smith, commercial pilot

“I discovered today that there is a LaTeX package for typesetting math in Comic Sans… I am going to go curl up in the corner now and sob.” – J. Uckelman

“Take away the Patriots from Bill Belichick and what is he? A gym teacher with better jewelry, no disrespect to gym teachers intended.” – Ron Borges, Boston Herald

“I think it’s an atrocity that they should name [the ISU Honors Program] building after [Martin Jischke]. He made himself very unpopular. His leadership policy was to browbeat, intimidate and threaten. He had to have everything his way. He essentially was a Machiavellian villain dictator.” – John Robyt, biochemistry and biophysics chair of the ISU faculty senate

“‘Author claims steering error sank the Titanic,’ [claims one] headline, as if any other kind of error might have led a huge ship to run into a massive, floating chunk of ice. When two big, slow-moving things run into each other, and at least one of them has a steering wheel helmed by a living person, the living person is to blame.” – R.A., The Economist

“This tv debate is just a fucking shambles.” – Author Warren Ellis, making an observation which could really apply to pretty much anything called a ‘tv debate,’ ever, really

“You gotta take care of your people, and then they will take care of you. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work… the karma police seem to be affected by budget cuts lately.” – D. Lindecke