For a good couple of minutes earlier this week, my face was frozen between a wince and a grin: my elected congressman was on BuzzFeed as the “most YOLO Congressman on Facebook.”
The grin because it is great Quigley is getting recognition for his public appearances, community outreach and grasp of social media, the wince because while the BuzzFeed piece was celebratory it was also satirical and that made me defensive. YOLO makes me think of reckless young adults passed out at a party or driving drunk. "You Only Legislate Once" doesn't do it for me, so stop trying to make that happen, Benny Johnson. Ugh.
This is why then, that I immediately puffed up with “How dare BuzzFeed mock Quigley for actually doing his job and photographing it!” upon reading the title of the piece. Quigley and his neighborhood antics -- which include riding with garbage pick-up workers to experience their job difficulties -- has always made me proud to call him my elected official.
I’ve been following Quigley’s antics on social media, primarily through Twitter, for years now and I was always impressed with his use of the Internet. His team is constantly sharing photos on Flickr, Facebook and now Instagram, as well as news blasts, alerts, and website polls on issues and upcoming legislation. Quigley and his staff understand how to use the Internet to keep his constituents happy and informed. I know, because I am happy and informed. He even responds to emails-- once in letter form-- and his staff has always been helpful and polite on the phone if I am calling about legislation that has caught my attention.
Which is why then, that I wince over BuzzFeed being the first national publication to recognize Quigley’s social media prowess, and them doing so in a not-so-respectful nor complete-enough-to-my-liking manner. I realize BuzzFeed is currently rebranding itself as a serious news site but I still associate them with regurgitate from reddit and social media shaming posts meant to stir liberal hate, both clickmagnet formulas they won't be stopping any time soon. Maybe one of their readers might actually think Quigley does nothing but photo-ops, pick fights in his Blackhawk jersey and plays with marine life all day! I hate that person, whoever they are.
Quigley, being the man that he is, took the BuzzFeed post with aplomb, tweeting the link various times including one tweet beginning with “Cool story bro.” What a guy. Someone should give him an award or something.
