[Sean]

Originally Posted by dubman

i agree, but i think we're too used to being a part of A Party that knows what's right. try to strip that away and the differences in opinion on how those should be done will still be lines drawn in the sand and made ideological. people understand that in order to get things done it has to be marketed to as many people as possible, meaning someone has to "lose", meaning co-operation is a facade at best.

I'm a big fan of diversity of opinions and ideologies, so I'm not speaking against that. What I'm speaking about is knee-jerk opposition for it's own sake, and how things like the internet have allowed it to become so coordinated on a large scale. Like cheering when the U.S. lost the Olympics - not because those people oppose the Olympics, but because they oppose Obama and perceived the loss of the Olympics as a way to damage his reputation. That's what I hate, and what makes me think we're not mature enough to handle our technological advances.

Originally Posted by dubman

we havent waxed enough on how everything's gotten smaller by now? exposure's only limited by reach. if we can reach everyone, it's still the same neighborhood mentality, with the rise and fascination and backlash and mockery. just because the size of these reactions has gotten bigger (advertising deals and job offers doesnt say much for real import, just how the chatter processes) doesnt mean a bold new age has come.

I believe it does in some ways. We're no longer isolated societies scattered around the world, where people's actions only impact those who share their immediate surroundings. Instead, we're suddenly being thrust into much more of a true, singular, global society where groups who rarely interacted in the past are now in constant and immediate contact with each other. It was within most of our lifetimes that this was not the case, so I see it as a pretty definitive bold new age. And my Joe the Plumber example was meant to simply illustrate that rather than just being a dumb-ass who asked a Presidential candidate a question, this guy actually has a national fan base that he can potentially influence if he manages to keep the spotlight on himself long enough. That certainly doesn't legitimize him, but it definitely does afford him far more import than he ever would have been afforded in past generations.

Originally Posted by dubman

this i agree with. whats funny is that currently, people are enjoying this widespread fairness (relatively) of exposure. that's new. the problem is that people are idiots. you have 'artists' on deviantart re-tracing the same image with little in the way of technical ability getting thousands of hits from other hubs of mediocrity, yet demanding respect for their 'style'. these people trade back and forth and convince themselves that they're brilliant and ready. you have a staggering glut of crap on youtube which goes without saying, but is still exciting enough people trying to figure out how to make millions off of it. running a blog is simultaneously a necessity as well as a liability. "user-generated content" is an eye-roll for the cynic and still exciting for the naive, but the saturation of this idea is going to get hit hard by backlash, because people just react to whatever is happening for the sake of new. what i cant tell will happen is what's going to come out of it.

Exactly.