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."

Breaking my own rule on celebrity deaths.

I am not quick to heap praise on celebrities when they past away, especially if they have taken their own life or abused substances to the point that it kills them. I don't want to add to the mystique of the tragic famous person that died too young. They are just people after all, they had talent and got a series of lucky breaks and perhaps worked very hard... But that makes them no different or better than the people in my life that I personally know and love. Those are the people I want to reserve my admiration for.

The death of Robin Williams however, presents a special case for me and makes it difficult to stay within those guidelines. He was a friend to a sad little boy, a like minded deep thinker to a maturing young man, a crusader for truth to someone who wanted the world to be honest and true, and a constant reminder to a cynic that the world and the bodies we live in are ridiculous, hilarious, and beautiful... At least the characters he played were all those things. He was the near perfect mixture of white faced and red nosed clown. He skillfully took the words and direction of very clever people and turned them into unforgettable performances that reminded us of our mortality and then let us know that it was OK to be mortal... I can't say I will miss him, because I never knew HIM, and I still have all the gifts he gave me. I can only say that I am somewhat selfishly sad that I will not be receiving any more of those amazing gifts, and that I never got a chance to personally say thank you.

Here is a partial list of the Robin Williams movies that I love him in. Not all are great movies but I still enjoyed him in them. People tend to ignore some of them… I see that as a mistake.

The World According to Garp (See this film, don’t question me… just do it!)

Moscow on the Hudson (Not bad, I recall being moved want to see it again)

Good Morning, Vietnam (Great and everyone knows it)

Dead Poets Society (Great and everyone knows it)

Awakenings (Brain oddness is a personal interest to me, in a "there for the grace of god" sorta way)

The Fisher King (I fully expect I would go mad the same way his character had in this film. Its hard for me to watch because I feel it hitting so close to home)

Hook (Made me emotional when I first saw it, now as a father it hold even more meaning, who else could have played that role? I wish I could edit it and take out some of the cheesy stuff but, still)

Toys (Hey, don’t judge me!)

Good Will Hunting (Great and everyone knows it)

What Dreams May Come (Sappy and bombastic, sure…. do I love it. YES! Can you imagine watching this film NOW while thinking about his own passing. I think that would turn me into a mess)

Bicentennial Man (Screw you haters! Hard speculative fiction! Bite it and love it!)

One Hour Photo (Freaky)

World's Greatest Dad (Also one that will be hard to watch again now… great film).

Volkswagens, Cats & Chunky Peanut Butter

Recently I have felt like I may have come off like conspiracy theorist among a few people when it comes to personal privacy issues due to recent caution I have shown over using cloud based applications and because I railed against a Facebook app that asked "random" questions of my friends like:
1. Was I bisexual?
2. Was I an eggs and bacon guy rather than a cornflakes guy?
3. Would I travel outside the country to see a concert?

Wow... those are SOME questions...

You know that I am not trying to stay out of every database in the world... That would be pointless. if someone wanted to find out about me, it would take them about 5-10 min to get the meat and a couple of days to get a pretty detailed overview of who I am just from the breadcrumbs I have already left so far on the web.

I actually have been really public on the web for many years because I see it as a public place. I have assumed that anonymity would become an illusion at some point and I would not necessarily know when that happened so I treated it as if I was never anonymous. Instead I act on the web much like I would in any public area... in other words I try to be civil and respectful. *blink* wah! *blink* hehe

So, I just don't throw my information around frivolously. I don't see any reason to make compiling a "everything there is to know about Doc record" easier than it already is. heh. I hope I don't come off as a conspiracy theorist just because I advise caution and don't like to hand out my information it I don't have to. : )

Its just a personal thing... The spread of personal information really can't be stopped, only slowed somewhat. At some point we will have no privacy. To many people and companies want to know about us, they WILL find a way to entice us to give up the info. My question is, why give up the data to them willingly? Why give up data to just anyone that can profit from it? Its valuable! And we just give it away! Hell, at least we should be paid!

Let me introduce you to Steve Rambam, He is a private investigator who lectures on privacy, or the lack there of...
I haven't been able to watch all of the video on his lecture, but check out this section and how Volkswagen was able to determine that people who own cats and eat chunky peanut butter are more likely to buy a Bug...

Jump to 2:30 to hear about dipping your cat in peanut butter...


So... wanna know the funny part? my wife has always wanted a bug, I don't care for them... and we have to by 2 jars of peanut butter at the store. Guess which kind she likes and yes we have cats. : )

He starts to talk about "Roveology" when it cuts off (watch all of these videos if you really want to be freaked out) in honor of that here is a bit of video that shows the roots of evil! Jump to 3:50 if you are in a hurry. heh.


Notice how they talk about sending mail to people who order steaks looking for donations? Thats pure Rove it seems. Even back then... wow.

Actually watch this part also...



Ah, dangit... I still sound like a wacko... but really I swear I'm not, I'm just more careful than most people these days and man, that is not hard. : )

If you don't fix the cracks, the rats can get in and infest the place

For many years I have felt like I was shouting into the wind about the decline in news media. It is most visible to me in broadcast, but consolidation and demand for profit have dealt the print media multiple blows over the years and from my perspective it seems like they have been in a weakened position, unable to compete or fully deliver on the mission the once charged themselves with.

That weakness has come to be exploited more and more by the powerful but now apparently its time to attempt a killing strike, at least in one jackass' mind.

Its rare to hear of someone quite this arrogant, but the tone of the McCain campaign begins to make more and more sense after listening to McCain chief strategist Steve Schmidt speak about our press this morning.

This is what he said in part...
“Whatever the New York Times once was, it is today not by any standard a journalistic organization, This is an organization that is completely, totally, 150 percent in the tank for the Democratic candidate, which is their prerogative to be. Everything that is read in The New York Times that attacks this campaign should be evaluated by the American people from that perspective.”

He also indirectly implied that they were on par with blogs, using the term "blogosphere", and called them "pro Obama Advocacy organization"

Here is a recording of the audio...


This all came after a CNN reporter ask Rick Davis an "uncomfortable" question...
At this point it should be noted that Rick Davis is Mr. McCain’s campaign manager, and at one time had been paid nearly $2 million by Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac to head a group devoted to defend the mortgage giants against the imposition of stricter regulations. He was a deregulation wank for the failed groups that desperately NEEDED to be regulated! This on top of the fact that they have been running ads blasting Obama for having "friends" involved in those groups... Yeah, I wonder how they even know that... Maybe because McCain's campaign manager actually headed a lobbyist group that worked directly with them!

Here is my main point, on all this.

The mainstream news media can not afford to have the public perception be that they are anything less than near PERFECT. They have to strive constantly for the highest standards at all times because if they don't it will give bastards like this a large enough flaw in their armor to stick their knife in and twist. This attack was on the New York Times but recently he has made comments similar in tone about many other news outlets reporting stories that he didn't care for.

He feels like he can say things like this, even about a well respected news organization, because a good percentage of the people will believe him completely and many more of us will consider that there may be some truth in it!

I want that to sink in... We have gotten to the point were people don't trust integrity of the news... and it didn't take much. It should not be this easy for someone like him to feel like he can go on the attack against the mainstream media! Part of the blame goes to news organizations themselves, for allowing a slackening of the rules and a blurring of opinion/news/entertainment to raise readership and ratings, and part of the blame goes to us for letting it happen and not demanding better.

We as people that enjoy a free-ish press should stop taking it for granted and expecting it to entertain us like a puppet show. We should demand it to be better and support it when it is.

***Update***
Some interesting related links:
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/schmidt_jumps_the_shark.html
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13747.html

Everything I Need To know, I Learn From Alan Moore It Seems

A man goes to the doctor. He tells the doctor that he's depressed. He says life seems too harsh and cruel. He says that he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain.

The doctor thinks about this for a while and then confidently says "Well the treatment is simple! The great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him, that should pick you up." The man then bursts into tears, and barely able to speak through his own sobs says "But doctor... I am Pagliacci."



Yes, I am reading Watchmen yet again. Rorschach recounts this "joke" much more simply, as you would expect, so I embellished it some here. It is so beautiful and sad to me because I understand exactly how "the clown" must feel at that moment.

As near as I can tell the joke has existed for a very long time and Mr. Moore borrowed it to deftly use as a very clever device in Watchmen, The more I read his work the more I am convinced he is brilliant.

Yeah, People Are Awesome

Sorry to invoke Judge Judy but the "star" of this clip is just to good to pass up regardless of the pop culture setting...

I came across this remarkable bit of daytime television justice because I was reading about how useless Ebay has become and how overrun it is with scammers. The article told a story about a man that had listed his laptop 5 times. The first time it didn't sell because he didn't pay the $20 extra dollars to get a "featured" listing and it was always so deeply buried that it was never higher than 6 pages deep in searches for identical items.

After that he posted it 3 more times and had people bid outrageous sums for it but insist he ship it to Nigeria, he would get spoofed emails from "PayPal" saying that due to Nigerian law he had to send them a shipping receipt before they could release the funds.

On the 5th atempt to sell the laptop he stated in his listing that he would not ship to Nigeria and this caused his account to be shut down presumably by an automated system looking for keywords.

This entire time he tried several time to contact Ebay and only got automated email responses that had nothing to do with the problems he was having. Even after his account was shut down he could not talk to a person on the phone or by email. The online "Live chat" proved to be a bot.

So the asylum is unmanned and the inmates are running amok... use Ebay at your own peril.

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.