LOL Interwebz: A Eulogy and a Thanks

Christ and Pop Culture writer Luke T. Harrington says farewell to LOL Interwebz.

LOL interwebz: “internet” is Spelled With a Lowercase “i” now. i Don’t Know What to Believe Anymore.

Rest in peace, capital-I Internet. We hardly knew ye.

LOL Interwebz: Dropping Mics and Dropping Clients

When Google introduced the “Mic Drop” feature they were just trying to be funny, but they ruined quite a few lives in the process.

LOL Interwebz: Microsoft Made Tay, an AI Twitterbot That Immediately Turned Racist; and in a Way, Aren’t We All Just Racist Twitterbots?

How are you different from an automaton like Microsoft’s Tay, fellow brain owner?

LOL Interwebz: This Post Contains Zero Videos of Hulk Hogan or Other Celebrities Having Sex (Sorry)

What’s almost as striking as the public hunger for violation is how genuinely celebrities like Hulk Hogan seem to feel violated when these videos are published.

LOL Interwebz: Daaaaaaaaaaaang, Adulthood!

The world is a dark, scary place, and disposable pap like “Damn Daniel” is comforting.

LOL Interwebz: Why You Would Dislike Having a Dislike Button

You don’t need a dislike button, and you don’t even want a dislike button.

LOL Interwebz: An Open Letter to Those People Who Keep Writing Terrible Open Letters

Well, there you go, Internet. A self-righteous open letter. I await my kudos.

LOL Interwebz: I Just Found out That “Ransomware” Is a Thing, and That Seems Like a Good Excuse to Write Some Dystopian Sci-Fi

“Ransomware” started small, back in the mid-’10s. How could we have known technology wasn’t automatically good?

LOL Interwebz: Frinkiac and the Triumph of ‘The Simpsons’

‘The Simpsons’ did a better job of reaching the masses that the culture warriors had already written off.

LOL Interwebz: PuppyMonkeyBabies and Super Bowl Babies

One series of ads—and, yes, the Twitter response to it—gave me a bit of hope. I’m talking, of course, about the “Super Bowl Babies” ad series.

LOL Interwebz: McDonald’s Is Dead…and We Have Killed It.

Our culture is drowning in morals but starved for virtues—we all think no one has the right to judge us, but we all reserve the right to judge everyone else.

LOL Interwebz: 96% of Film Critics Want You to Read This

Nostalgia can be a powerful force—the human brain tends to remember what was good about the past and forget what was crummy about it.

LOL Interwebz: I’ll Be Here All Week, Folks, and Don’t Forget to Tip Your Waiter

When we share the Gospel in a way that is deceptive, we strongly imply that the Gospel itself is deceptive.

LOL Interwebz: So, Apparently the Internet Is on a Big ‘Wizard of Oz’ Kick, or Something

I wonder if maybe our own constant chasing of newness reflects a desire to escape our own mortality—an attempt to deny that we’re made of dust and to dust we will return.

LOL Interwebz: The Vine and the Lattice

Sometimes feeling the right things takes practice. Sometimes you have to rehearse the outward forms before the inward form takes root.