Sunday, November 14, 2004
Sam Smith on the current nature of blogs: Thinkworld vs Shoutworld
"Therein lies the Great Lesson of 2004: Technologies can mostly be counted on not to change us or improve us, but to serve that which we already are. America is instinctively given to black/white, either/or constructions.
"We're reflexively attracted to simple answers for complex questions. We're more prone to feeling than thinking. And while we like the idea that we're among the world's most intelligent cultures, our entertainers and athletes can earn twice as much in a day as our teachers earn in a year. In the world of politics, the unattractive and charisma-challenged need not apply for anything more glamorous than school board.
"The Jeffersonian ideal is Thinkworld: educated, thoughtful, dispassionate. But we live in Shoutworld, where "debates" are carried by the witty put-down, which trumps the insightful policy observation every time. Given this, there was probably never a reason to expect the blogosphere to be more or less than precisely what it turned out to be: a revved-up techno-manifestation of the culture that created it."
¶ 11/14/2004 05:38:00 AM
"Therein lies the Great Lesson of 2004: Technologies can mostly be counted on not to change us or improve us, but to serve that which we already are. America is instinctively given to black/white, either/or constructions.
"We're reflexively attracted to simple answers for complex questions. We're more prone to feeling than thinking. And while we like the idea that we're among the world's most intelligent cultures, our entertainers and athletes can earn twice as much in a day as our teachers earn in a year. In the world of politics, the unattractive and charisma-challenged need not apply for anything more glamorous than school board.
"The Jeffersonian ideal is Thinkworld: educated, thoughtful, dispassionate. But we live in Shoutworld, where "debates" are carried by the witty put-down, which trumps the insightful policy observation every time. Given this, there was probably never a reason to expect the blogosphere to be more or less than precisely what it turned out to be: a revved-up techno-manifestation of the culture that created it."
¶ 11/14/2004 05:38:00 AM
