Jeff Jarvis Launches a Hashtag, Tapping Into Anger and Dropping Major F Bombs

Looks like I wasn’t the only one angry while watching the dueling addresses last night from President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner.

CUNY professor and blogger Jeff Jarvis started a hashtag, #FuckYouWashington, that has racked up tens of thousands of comments. One thing Jarvis made clear during his appearance on The CBS Early Show (The Atlantic Wire’s coverage of the CBS coverage is pretty funny) was that he tapped into the frustration felt around the country over the government’s inability to come to a budget resolution. People felt moved to engage and participate.

Likened to Howard Beale’s famous rant in the 1970s movie Network, it’s really become more of a discussion about what angers people, whether this is the best way to discuss political issues, and what exactly is bugging them about this debate.

As ABC News notes, Speaker Boehner’s Facebook page has been getting an earful since last night. (AllThingsD reports that Boehner’s site and certain other Congressional websites have crashed.) There are also some various hard-to-follow discussions on the President’s Facebook page. And besides social networks, voters have been taking President Obama’s advice and picking up the telephone and going to Congressional websites to push for a “balanced approach.”

“All I’m saying is that when I get to hear the true voice of the people – not the voice of government, not the voice of media, not a voice distilled to a number following a stupid question in a poll – I see cause for hope,” Jarvis writes in The Guardian.

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