Welcome to the Internet - the Glossary for TV
Ever use Google Zeitgeist?
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html
Google Zeitgeist is a track of the top ten search queries for a week of time. For a number of years now the top ten searches have been (always - without fail) items that have been in the public eye - items that news and entertainment news and movie producers have wanted to us to know about. The top searches are never on anything but top media related items, particularly movie and pop stars.
I find it ironic that, many years ago, people marveled / worried that the internet would usurp or surpass TV - instead it has merely become a glossary reference for the images that hypnotize the public on a regular basis. They want to find out more tidbits from the lives of venerated people - how DOES J Lo really live? - to make up for the emptiness of their own lives. Naively believing that if someone is rich they must be happy / fulfilled -for in our democratic oligarchy, what else matters but pleasure, and what else can bring pleasure other than loads of money. Therefore, the subconscious assumption is that rich people must be happy, and to alleviate the emptiness of one's own life they try to invade the privacy of the stars.
Of course, that assumption (that the rich is happy / satisfied) is largely unwarranted - as evidenced by all the psychological / drug related problems the stars are evidenced to have. Not that the general public is any better, but the fact remains that, as they say, money can't buy love, it can only provide comfortabillity.
The question is what do we do with our leisure time? Look up more info about the stars apparently. Or, listen to ourselves talk on self-righteous web logs.
Of course there is an exception; people do post and read usefull and educational information online, but that has always been so since ancient Greece - the medium has changed, that's all. The internet is no more exceptional a medium than news paper, academic journals, or major media. The Internet IS a fad. And if "zeitgeist" means the spirit of the time, judging by the moronic searches people look for on Google, WE are a fad too.
josh
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html
Google Zeitgeist is a track of the top ten search queries for a week of time. For a number of years now the top ten searches have been (always - without fail) items that have been in the public eye - items that news and entertainment news and movie producers have wanted to us to know about. The top searches are never on anything but top media related items, particularly movie and pop stars.
I find it ironic that, many years ago, people marveled / worried that the internet would usurp or surpass TV - instead it has merely become a glossary reference for the images that hypnotize the public on a regular basis. They want to find out more tidbits from the lives of venerated people - how DOES J Lo really live? - to make up for the emptiness of their own lives. Naively believing that if someone is rich they must be happy / fulfilled -for in our democratic oligarchy, what else matters but pleasure, and what else can bring pleasure other than loads of money. Therefore, the subconscious assumption is that rich people must be happy, and to alleviate the emptiness of one's own life they try to invade the privacy of the stars.
Of course, that assumption (that the rich is happy / satisfied) is largely unwarranted - as evidenced by all the psychological / drug related problems the stars are evidenced to have. Not that the general public is any better, but the fact remains that, as they say, money can't buy love, it can only provide comfortabillity.
The question is what do we do with our leisure time? Look up more info about the stars apparently. Or, listen to ourselves talk on self-righteous web logs.
Of course there is an exception; people do post and read usefull and educational information online, but that has always been so since ancient Greece - the medium has changed, that's all. The internet is no more exceptional a medium than news paper, academic journals, or major media. The Internet IS a fad. And if "zeitgeist" means the spirit of the time, judging by the moronic searches people look for on Google, WE are a fad too.
josh
posted by JB @ 9:55 AM
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