In the interest of full disclosure, I’m on Facebook, but I won’t get into all the things I hate about it. That’s not the point. The point revealed itself to me last night whilst swimming in the swill that is cable “news” opinion “journalism.” Yes, I love scare quotes, perhaps a bit too much, but those words in scare quotes demand them.
I'll take the automobile over social media any day.
Anyway, one of the guests on the show said that you can see cultural and economic progress in the rise of the young entrepreneurs who started Facebook and Twitter. I see the exact opposite. I see a culture that no longer makes things, but rather engorges itself in meaningless, shallow entertainment.
Most of the innovation we’ve seen in the information age has had little to do with making our lives easier or better, but has instead provided new and better ways to be social-media zombified couch potatoes.
While past generations were busily perfecting jets, rockets, the combustion engine and instant coffee, this generation is trying to figure out how best to get the latest scoop on Lady Gaga or Casey Anthony in 30 characters or less. You might say America is entertaining itself to death, and it very well may be. History is littered with great civilizations that imploded from the sheer weight of their decadence.
Perhaps I sound like each generation’s grumpy old man, though I’m not that old, but admittedly somewhat grumpy. Every generation likes to bitch about the generation that follows, and for good reason. It is quite likely that progress is a bell curve that cannot be sustained. At least that’s what history has taught us. Therefore, older generations may have a point about previous generations, possibly starting around the time of the Civil War.
My theory is that America has already reached its potential and is on the right (or wrong, if you prefer) side of the bell curve. The culture has objectively declined in recent years. While parents in the ‘50s were aghast at the pelvis of Elvis, just imagine what they’d think of (insert name of just about any pop star). The juvenile and prurient nature of today’s pop culture does not represent progress toward higher forms of art. Rather, it represents regression to tribal, animal-like forms, a regression that has been ongoing for years.
And while we revel in the ingenuity of iPhones, iPads, Androids, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and whatnot that ensure we’re constantly immersed in regressive pop culture crap, what the hell are we making? Absolutely nothing. We’re becoming less connected as we become more connected, and more distracted from the things that really matter.
In the process, we become more willing to cede our independence and liberty if it will buy us precious app time to play with our doodads. This is not a recipe for a healthy and progressive society.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from the Facebook page titled Americans Against the Tea Party. Sadly, I actually have a couple of friends who are members of this group. The quotes are all from today after the facts about the shooter are established. Apparently, many liberals fell so deeply in love with the “It’s Palin’s fault” meme they’re refusing to deal with the reality. Here we go!
Richard Gillet What common grounds with people that preach hatred,are against abortion,can’t accept minorities ,never got to accept that their President was african-american,don’t realize that migrants have come to do the work that americans didn’t want to do themselves(like in France and many other countries),..
I have never understood the left’s Utopian love affair with Europe. France has a lot of problems, especially when it comes to immigration.
Richard Van Hoosen Of course, the teabillies are already claiming that the shooter is a liberal…
You know what’s completely wrong with this?
EVERYONE KNOWS liberals want to take guns away. EVERYONE KNOWS liberals just talk rather than fight, because they’re so timid and cowardly. We’ve heard this daily for over 40 years. So, how on earth… can anyone even come to the conclusion that liberals are the violent ones and still believe those things?
I didn’t know that liberals were pacifists…
Joseph McKinley I think the far right has ruined America beyond repair. America has just become unlivable for any sane person who pays attention to its politics. Whether you’re a liberal or even a conservative, there’s no way that sane people can live here without wanting to tear their hair out. I’m seriously considering moving to …Canada or the UK at this point. Anyone else know what I’m talking about?
The United States is unlivable for a sane person? Really? Have you ever noticed liberals are always threatening to leave the United States? Have you ever noticed that they never do?
Paula Hodge Did anybody notice that yesterday was 01/9/11 and that the 9 year old’s birthday was 09/11/01. God is trying to tell us something. WOW!!!!!!!! (That is if you’re into numbers and their significance.)
So awesome! What does it mean?
Sonia Shannon O My “problem” is that the country I was born in is starting to resemble a certain European country in the 1930s,and hate crimes are becoming almost as common as they once were in the Jim Crow south,and these crimes are not only ignored but accepted and encouraged,and we have people who are clearly batshit crazy forming organizations in support of leaders who want to turn the USA into a Fascist Theocracy as well as plunge us into WW3 which they believe will lead to the Rapture,etc etc….
This one has everything. First it’s full of Christianphobia and it touches on Goodwin’s Law. I went to church today and there was no talk of turning the US into a Fascist Theocracy. Most Christians I know aren’t interested in taking over the county. I’m as conservative as they come and I don’t believe in the Rapture. I wonder where it all went wrong?
And finally…
Colleen Anne Cups These people are terrorists. Their “We want our freedoms! That means you can’t have yours!” mentality is right up there with Hitler’s.
If you’re willing to believe that your political opponents are terrorists doesn’t that justify doing anything to prevent them from winning? If Collen Anne Cups thinks I’m a terrorist she probably won’t mind if a lose some civil liberties. It’s been an interesting weekend to keep up with the news.
Time magazine has announced its 2010 Person of the Year, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. I guess this is because of the The Social Network (read my review), maybe? Facebook has been a phenomenon for six years, but other than the movie I’m not sure why Zuckerberg was chosen this year.
Among the other choices was the Tea Party; however, Time only recognizes grassroots political movements when they help Democrats get elected. Here’s Time’s take on the Tea Party.
In a sense, identifying with the Tea Party movement was like catching Beatlemania in the 1960s. People were drawn in for different reasons — the beat, the haircuts, the lyrics — and great gulfs of taste divided the John fans from the Paul fans, the George fans from the Ringo fans.
Smashing success broke the Beatles apart. As 2010 closes, there is no bigger question in U.S. politics than whether the Tea Party will go the same way.
The Beatles broke up because they were a smashing success? That’s news to me and the history of the Beatles. I won’t bother going into the other finalists because they were pointless (see: Chilean Miners). Nothing ate up more political coverage in 2010 than the Tea Party and the epic defeat of the Democrats in Congress. The GOP won 63 seats. The biggest turn in the House in a half century. What more do you want?
I guess you can't make an excellent movie without distorting the facts.
Last night I had the pleasure of watching David Fincher’s newest film, The Social Network. By now everyone knows this movie is about the origins of Facebook. Apart from reality, the movie itself is great. It’s funny, it’s dark and it’s an insightful look at contemporary culture. However, as a realist, I’m troubled by the fact that it’s not entirely accurate. Mark Zuckerberg is easy to pick on. His college emails and IMs are all public record. Although my guess is that if you had everyone’s correspondence in their early twenties they wouldn’t come off so well either.
The weakest part of the movie are the Winklevoss brothers. The script is based partly on their weak argument that Zuckerberg stole their idea. Facebook isn’t based on an original idea. MySpace and other social networking sites existed long before Facebook. What made Facebook what it is today is the interface and the fact that it’s cooler than MySpace.
With the talent involved in this project it’s a shame there’s not a more accurate take on Zuckerberg. As much as I like the film I can’t beat up on the morons making the Nadagate movie and then turn around and praise Fincher and company. At least The Social Network isn’t a political film. It’s more about the last ten years of our narcissistic history. Technology has changed our lives. If there’s anything the movie represents, it’s the angry and anonymous Internet trolls.
Zuckerberg’s character is motivated by revenge and anger: first by his ex-girlfriend and by the elite clubs of Harvard. In the movie he used technology to get back at both groups. Before he knows it Facebook is bigger than anyone could have ever realized. The story rolls on very quickly, cutting back and forth between the history of Facebook and the depositions that came later.
I would be remiss to point out that there is a lot of truth in this movie. Zuckerburg lost some friends along the way, but haven’t we all lost some friends along the way? The Social Network is a great movie. Mark Zuckerberg is lampooned, but people should remember he created one of the greatest websites ever and he’s not nearly as mean or lonely as the film suggests.
This is about as "intelligent" as it gets at the Facebook group Intelligent Women and Men Against Sarah Palin. I'll never forget the most important lesson I learned about intelligent debate: If you disagree with someone, just tell them to shut up, or call them names. Works every time!
They say ignorance is bliss, but apparently it becomes more “blissful” the more “intelligent” you are, or say you are. The ever-tolerant left wing is alive and well in its efforts to destroy one human being, in this case Sarah Palin, simply because that person doesn’t buy into their Utopian objectives.
For whatever reason, Sarah Palin is a lightning rod for the self-proclaimed “intelligent” among us, consisting primarily of the hipster dufus crowd that sees every political issue through the prism of the propaganda they were taught in college.
A typical post on the Sarah Palin-hating Facebook group, Intelligent Women and Men Against Sarah Palin, says, “Someone should overturn a rig on her and her damn family and let them see how ‘easy’ it is to ‘recover’ and ‘go on’…….F’ING IDIOT!….get OFF THE STAGE…..YOUR SCENE IS OVER!!!!!!!”
I guess this is what passes for “intelligent” commentary at Intelligent Women and Men Against Sarah Palin. The rest of the writings and rantings are no more illuminating than that one. In fact, that’s about as “intelligent” as it gets.
These are people who never see the other side of an issue and simply spout hateful missives about people and policies they care not to delve into themselves. I believe “shallow” would be the more pertinent word, as in Shallow Women and Men Against Sarah Palin.
Me? I’m neutral about Sarah Palin. I agree with her on most issues, but she hasn’t shown much depth in her ideological reasoning. Ironically, just like the groups aligned against her, her positions don’t appear to be very well thought out, other than “it sounds right.”
Like me, she has taken a stand against increasing government growth and interference. But at the same time I haven’t heard a rational defense of this position other than the fact that she’s against it.
When asked to name her favorite founding father, she said, “All of them.” While that might be true, it shows that maybe she hasn’t really thought all that much about the founders or the founding principles of the nation.
In the same way, the leftists at Intelligent Blah Blah Blah on Facebook provide no reasonable defense of their positions, other than calling anyone who disagrees with them Teabaggers, Baggers, anti-choice, Nazis, F’ing idiots and other vulgar word combinations, as well as original stuff like, “How’s that drill-baby-drill thing working out for you?” It’s like reading Bizarro Palin.
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