I saw this ad for PayPal on the 1 train today:
“No one is special because everyone is.”
It certainly got me thinking…for six stops and beyond.
Obviously PayPal wants you to think they treat every member special. But does this saying go against everything our parents have told us… our teachers have pounded into our heads… our very country has sold us: you can achieve anything if you have the talent and the work ethic.
The truly special succeed.
Or maybe it’s a wake-up for all those helicopter parents who tell their children how special they are when they really aren’t. For children’s sports teams that give trophies to every child on every team, regardless of who won or lost the game (if they even keep score, that is).
Or maybe this ad campaign is merely a reflection of that very phenomena. We’ve raised a generation of children who all think they’re special…so PayPal is acknowledging it with this bizarre turn of phrase.
Or…maybe it’s a typo.
The Sticky Egg 
Twitter etiquette
When Teddy Kennedy died back in August 2009, I was surprised to learn the news via Twitter instead of more traditional news sources.
Today, Twitter breaks most big stories.
Then celebrities from all walks of life began making their statements of sympathy.
On Twitter.
Yet another development many a publicist and PR maven probably didn’t see coming down the information superhighway.
All those carefully worded press releases and statements of sympathy and support that once earned them an extra billable hour or six? Gone. Because now their clients can take to Twitter and, in 140 typo- and emoji-filled characters, sum up their feelings about the dearly departed.
And start a Twitter sh#t storm at the same time.
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Posted in Celebrities, Commentary, Death, Entertainment, Humor, Internet, News
Tagged 60 Minutes, automobile accident, big stories, billable hour, Bob Simon, CBS News, celebrities, client, commentary, dearly departed, death, emoji, entertainment, etiquette, Humor, information superhighway, Internet, New York City, news, news sources, PR maven, press release, publicist, statement, sympathy, Teddy Kennedy, Twitter, Twitter shit storm, typo, Upper West Side, Westside Highway