The Internet As A Digital Side Show

Welcome to the digital freak show! Feeling uncomfortable yet?

Untitled Shahn, Ben, 1898-1969, photographer. 

Recently I was reading back through some old posts I made on various message boards and I came across a thread from 2007 in which people where mocking the public behavior of a rising "internet star" who self described as being a highly functioning autistic. The person was using the internet to make a spectacle of themselves by posting videos of outrageous and potentially dangerous antics and people were eating it up and at the same time showing very little understanding or compassion for the underlying problems that could be leading to his admittedly unusual and potentially threatening behavior. The whole thing reminded me of something... and then it dawned on me, it's the new equivalent of the circus side show! And we thought we were soooo evolved... pft! We are doing the same crap. Voyeuristically watching others who are somehow different so that we can mock them or at best pity them, but with this new version, we are sparred the "indignity" of paying money to create this artificial chasm between "us" and "them", it is mostly free, and the best thing about it is that we can be as brutal as we want because we feel anonymous. We never have to look them or anyone else in the eye while doing it. So we are spared the shame and guilt we used to feel when we had to gather in public to try desperately to feel better about ourselves. Its all so private... and clean... and digital.

Ah, the magic of the internet.

Here is what I wrote back in 2007 that effectively ended the original thread dead cold...

"*Disclaimer: Doc is not an expert on brain disorders... he just has a few personal theories about them.* 

Assuming we take the information given at face value, the bottom line for me is that the person seems to have problems... possibly both physiological and psychological. For that reason, I don't know if I want to participate in mocking him publicly. 

He IS putting himself out there to be mocked for sure... but if we choose not to take the bait, then other people will be less likely to seek fame from encouraging ridicule of their shortcomings. And to be honest, I am not so sure he "gets" the underlying tone of his "popularity", he seems to be not entirely able to successfully interact socially after all. I wonder if any attention he receives satisfies a need in him, even if it is negative and can only add to his issues down the road. Will making him "famous" stop him from acting badly in public and getting arrested in places he goes to look for girls? I don't think it will. 

To me his "star status" just seems like a digital equivalent to an old circus side show. Something we as a culture thought we were beyond but in fact we are still starring at the people who are different from what is considered average because it helps us each individually feel more "normal". 

As far as him having psychological issues that go beyond being autistic, who is to say how much being autistic screws with your self esteem and general mental health? Aspects of your brain function may be normal or even superior to average but I think that could be a serious detriment to being otherwise balanced because you may have the ability to comprehend just how your autism effects your life and limits what you can accomplish. I think thats gotta mess with ya. 

Brain dysfunction has a wide range of effects on people and we are nowhere near being able to understand it fully. I think at some point in the future we will have a better grasp of just how unique and different each persons "mind" is and we look back on the idea of thinking that people are either "normal" or "abnormal" as very naive."

I wish I could have known him, if only to know for sure...

I don't usually spend much time fussing about when celebrities pass away. I figure many people die each day and they all have played a part... But Mr. Carlin leaving this world is worth taking a few extra moments and commenting on how much I admired his wit and his ability show us the folly in the things we do.

He often just did silly, fun, humor that was light and didn't take any effort to enjoy. He could always turn mundane things such as dogs licking themselves into gut busting comedy... but when the man got "serious" and made us laugh at ourselves and the stupid crap we do as a society/culture/people... THATS when the man blazed like the sun.

I don't like to call people I have never personally met "heroes" because you can never really know what kind of a person they are from the "persona" and PR we get fed. But lets just say I would have really liked to have known this man and I strongly suspect I would have liked him a hell of a lot, and I am pretty sure he would have qualified as a hero to me.

Thank you George.

These are NSFW as if I should have to say that... it IS George Carlin after all. : ) If you are not able to listen in private or are easily offeneded... (who are you and why are you reading my blog! heh) then its best not to click the videos below.

Otherwise please enjoy... these are just a few I quickly found that I like.









Update: Its funny, but I had forgotten how influenced I have been by him. I know I have heard scientist speaking about the overall impact of humans on the earth being temporary, and that it is only us and our way of life that is really in danger from ourselves on the grand scale... but I had forgotten that much of the "feel" of my opinion comes from his well crafted and nearly perfectly argued monologue linked above.

So, much like the old adage "you don't know what you've got till its gone" I am sure I will discover more little Carlin-isims stuck in my mind. He wasn't always the person that originated these ideas mind you, I had often heard them discussed dryly before they ended up in a routine of his, But he found the ways to make them understandable and accessible.

Think about that for a second... The ten commandments routine above for example is essentially a breakdown of human MORALITY! And its not bad! He arguably tightens-up moral issues and gives people a vastly simpler code to live by in just a few minutes while making you laugh... and it mostly makes sense. Not that anyone should take his comedy as serious philosophy... but, honestly its quite tempting at times. He was just that smart and good at "connecting the dots", the great thing was that he loved to show us the solution to each puzzle after he did it.

The world needed him.

Destroy or change the music industry?

Today it was announced that Last.FM would be allowing users to steam songs in full length for 3 plays and offer a subscription model if you want to open it up to play those songs indefinitely. Aditionaly they will be paying artists directly for the plays out of the money generated from advertising and subscriptions.

Seems like a step in the right direction to me. But once again I am freaked out by the lack of respect for the artists themselves on the message boards. Shouts of "Music wants to be free!" and "down with the music industry!" were common. People that know me might understand that this set my head spinning with what is wrong with this line of thinking.

File sharing people and unlimited streaming people feel that it is them versus the evil suits that have been getting rich for decades off of overpriced record and CD sales and they are screaming for the end if the music industry!

Don't they realy mean, the end of the music industry... as we know it?

I don't think many people would be happy if the hard working people that make music all stopped because they had to get jobs at walmart. You have to think about all the people involved in music creation... musicians, producers, recording engineers, even the talented independent artist that has invested a huge amount of time learning the craft and money on decent equipment.

Anyone who has ever tried to make a great song knows just how hard, expensive, and time consuming it is. Even with the vast advances in music technology over the last few decades it still takes a lot of skill, imagination and time. If you are someone who has never tried, and you think I am full of it... then I challenge you to go make an interesting original song that is ready for distribution. Go ahead, I'll wait here... no? yeah, It's not so easy as most people assume. Dire straights were being sardonic suckas!

The music industry is not just a few vastly wealthy jerks at the top. Any new model needs to consider how to compensate the "worker class" people that put themselves into bringing you music that doesn't suck. Hopefully Last.FMs announcement is a step in the right direction.

Now if we could just get the average joe thinking about the people that make music as being worth supporting.

Toss a Coin at the Village Idiot and Feel Better Because Its Not You.

I was recently perusing a message board I frequent and found a post ridiculing a autistic man that had been getting a lot of attention on the web due to his Youtube uploads, online comics he had crudely drawn, and sometimes disturbing rants on his myspace page. Basically he is becoming a viral star because of his online antics. People have even gone as far as scouring the web for mentions of him in the blogs of people that know him personally and staking out places he goes in order to photograph him... wow. He has a page devoted to him on the wiki-style Encyclopedia Dramatica where all this information is consolidated and anyone can basically make fun of him or out right accuse him of anything... true or not.

I didn't know that the teasing of people who are different had gone so digital and global and brutal!

I won't mention details on this guy since that would only be adding fuel to the fire. But I can tell you he is not always the most pleasant fellow. He seems to be a bit intolerant towards minorities and gay people. Not a hate spitting, loud mouth mind you, he just strikes me as someone that was raised by closed minded parents and since he is autistic, he doesn't always know how to filter those ideas, or make his own decisions. He will say things like "Ladies" should only kiss "gentlemen" or other such over simplifications that if they came out of the mouth of a kid we might find them cute but since he is a 25 year old man the words come off as super creepy. Also he tends to get arrested for loitering in his attempts to find a girlfriend. So he does have some bad behaivior, but mostly it seems that he is just a big, socialy inept, creepy guy.

What follows is my response in the thread about why I think using a person that acts "creepy" as a form of web entertainment might be showing us something even more disturbing about ourselves.

*snip*
Assuming we take the information on encyclopedia dramatica at face value, the bottom line for me is that the dude seems to have problems... possibly both physiological and psychological. For that reason, I don't know if I want to participate in mocking him publicly.

He IS putting himself out there to be mocked for sure... but if we choose not to take the bait, then other people will be less likely to seek fame from encouraging ridicule of their shortcomings. And to be honest, I am not so sure he "gets" the underlying tone of his "popularity" he is unable to successfully interact socially after all. I wonder if any attention at all satisfies a need in him, even if it is negative and can only add to his issues down the road. Will making him "famous" stop him from acting badly in public and getting arrested in places he goes to look for girls? Nah.

To me his "star status" just seems like a digital equivalent to an old circus side show. Something we as a culture thought we were beyond but in fact we are still starring at the people who are vastly different from what is considered average because it helps us each individually feel more "normal".

As far as him having psychological issues that go beyond being autistic, who is to say how much being autistic screws with your self esteem and general mental health? Aspects of your brain function may be normal or even superior to average but I think that could be a serious detriment to being otherwise balanced because you may have the ability to comprehend just how your autism effects your life and limits what you can accomplish. I think thats gotta mess with ya.

Brain dysfunction has a wide range of effects on people and we are nowhere near being able to understand it fully. I think at some point in the future we will have a better grasp of just how unique and different each persons "mind" is and we look back on the idea of thinking that people are either "normal" or "abnormal" as naive.

Woman rides mechanical bull, pole dances for an elderly woman, and fakes an orgasm to sell underpants...

Maybe we HAVE gone too far... : )


Sensuality used in advertising is one thing, but somehow I think that this may cross the line, I think its the fake orgasm that gave me pause.

The blatant commercialization of sex is an unfortunate aspect of human nature that we don't seem to be able to get past. Some women don't seem to be willing to stop tying to cash in on their sexuality and many men don't seem to be able to resist it no matter how insincere. Marketers (both male and female) understand this relationship and can't avoid the temptation to exploit it.

I think human sexuality can be beautiful. As one of our most powerful motivations, it is often the source of great works of art, music, and more importantly can be a powerful component in simple human relations. However, the more gratuitously its used as a commodity the more distorted and unattractive it becomes.

Soured legacy

Alan Shepard
Yuri Gagarin
Joseph A. Walker
John Glenn
Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin
Neil Armstrong

The work and bravery of these men and many others, freed us. And how have we repaid them? By re-closing the door and cowering in our cage.