27% of communication by members of Congress is taunting, professor concludes

[alp227]

Source: The Washington Post

It may be helpful, at a time like this — when Congress is threatening to shut down the U.S. government in a dispute over a tiny fraction of the federal budget — to think of legislators like a lost forest tribe.

They have their own puzzling beliefs (in mid-afternoon, senators often announce they have shifted to “morning business”). They have their own language (on Capitol Hill, “chimps” are funding cuts and not primates). And they live in isolation, working in a sealed mini-realm with its own food, its own police, its own subway service.

Now, a Harvard University professor has analyzed this tribe’s behavior, using computers to look for trends in members’ writings. And he’s learned something that might help explain why Congress is having such trouble working out a deal this week.

He learned, to his amazement, that modern members of Congress spend about 27 percent of the time just taunting each other.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/27percent_of_communication_by_members_of_congress_is_taunting_professor_concludes/2011/04/06/AF1no2qC_story.html

[dhill926]

1. politics of the playground.....

and we keep getting bullied.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Lord of the Flies chronically older.

[KurtNYC]

3. and the list goes on -- another 7% of their time was spent primping

- 9% of their time requesting Facebook friends water their Farmville crops
- 15% playing X-box 360, and
- 2% of their time Googling their own name

[alp227]

5. some members of congress may be letting their teenaged kids use their office computers? n/t

[Lost-in-FL]

4. Congressional incompetence under the microscope!

About damn time!

[jtuck004]

6. For which we pay a salary of $170,000 a year. eom

(It's spelled c.h.u.m.p.s.)

[Voice for Peace]

8. +1

[Historic NY]

10. +2 if they shutdown the paychecks should stop too,

[No Elephants]

14. Pus many, many perks and the privilege of running the country whenever they get around to it.

[uppityperson]

7. Sounds like DU.

oops, sorry

[Enthusiast]

17. And just think, we do it for free. nt

[caseymoz]

9. K&R nt

[kickysnana]

11. K&R

[rpannier]

12. It's not totally new

They used to go after one another in back in the early to mid 1800's
Then VP Martin van Buren carried two loaded pistols into the Senate every session he attended

[No Elephants]

15. Adams v. Jefferson. Maybe it's time for a change?

[bemildred]

13. Sixth grade playground society, all the way, that's US politics. nt

[tblue37]

16. Maybe "chimps" should refer to members of congress, since

they insist on acting like a bunch of chimps, slapping their chests, hopping around, and chittering mad taunts at each other.

[mimitabby]

18. it has been discovered that members of congress

are not really human.. They are a new species of marsupial

[Pacifist Patriot]

19. Which simply confirms my theory.

Subjected to the interactions of small boys all day long, I have been of the opinion congresscritters arrested their mental development somewhere around the age of eight.

[FiveGoodMen]

20. "congresscritters arrested their mental development somewhere around the age of eight"

and US citizens voted them into our country's most powerful positions!

[Pacifist Patriot]

21. What can I say?

Actually, it may be something like what happens when the average adult slides behind the wheel of an automobile. I'm fairly convinced our IQ points plummet the second we turn the key in the ignition, if not before. Something about the swearing in ceremony on the hill results in an automatic regression?

[FiveGoodMen]

22. I think it's more likely that the voters are mental eight-year-olds, too.

[JohnWxy]

23. I wonder if flat out lieing the Republicans do like breathing counts ..Ryan tweeted CBO said HCR

act would "destroy" jobs. That's a lie. That is not what the CBO direcor said.

http://politicalcorrection.org/blog/201103210003">The "Job-Killing" Lie The GOP Loves To Tell


http://politicalcorrection.org/factcheck/201102110014">Rep. Ryan Falsely Claims CBO Director Testified That Health Care Law 'Destroys Jobs'