Tuesday, April 24, 2007

A list of URLs that demonstrate that the world is warped

From the bottom page of a Yahoo article...

Most Viewed: Entertainment
`Girls Gone Wild' founder sent to jail AP
Rosie takes aim at Murdoch at luncheon AP
Sanjaya reads Top 10 list on Letterman AP
NYC radio hosts suspended for prank call AP
Simmons says 3 epithets should be banned AP

So....
The radio suspension is the result of to dorky DJs presenting a bad imitiation of a Chinese accent during prank calls; Russel Simmons is trying to clean up rap; Rosie vs. Rupert Murdoch? Sanjaya on TV for longer than 30 seconds? And the 'Girls Gone Wild' founder is in jail on...a contempt of court charge.

A comedian commented the other day that with the Internet, there are no more lines for crossing - my addtion is that everything said or written finds its market of one, and though that statement has been meant positively for years, the fact that it's changed to mean that any individual can now take offense and react for billions to read instantly makes things a bit different. Singular voices now become lobbies; whiners now have platforms and many thousands of anonymous "ayes" to support them.

I'm not sure this is all good. Major retailiers like Home Depot, I read, are taking advantage of the voices on the Internet (or rather listening when they amass and taking action) to nip issues like poor service in the bud...clearly, this can have a positive effect. But where do we draw the line in the ability of anyone to have a major reaction - and potential impact - about anything?

We shall see.

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