Strumpette, Satire & Goats
“Amanda Chapel” (one or many humans) a.k.a. Strumpette writes a very funny (if aggressively strident) PR blog. A recent entry (title withheld so I maintain my PG rating) is mean and funny and provides observations worth your attention, unless you are offended by un-natural acts with goats. You have been warned.
Skipping the weird stuff, and going straight to the good stuff, Strumpette says:
[tease] (Emphasis added)
Okay, let’s step back a bit so we are on the same page. There seems to be a lot of confusion about how journalism is being redefined by blogging on the web.
CBS PublicEye asks, “Does Noise Trump Contemplation in The Blogosphere?”
“Is the blogosphere full of citizen journalists who, with a seemingly limitless supply of bandwidth and resources at their fingertips, are becoming a powerful addition to the mainstream media? Or is it in danger of slipping into the 21st Century version of cable talk shows, where those who can shout their outrage the loudest get the most attention?”Answer: Yes, noise trumps contemplation. Indeed we are racing toward a global Jerry Springer Show.
Why? Because “societies create structures of authority for producing and distributing knowledge, information, and opinion. These structures are always waxing and waning, depending not only on the invention of new means of communication but also on political, cultural, and economic developments.” (See Amateur Hour, by Nicholas Lemann for the New Yorker.) Regrettably, the web has no such structure… and it is not likely it ever will.
Now to that amorphous dynamic, add the essential elements that make blogging so popular. Add the elements of lack of control, instantaneous, and undisciplined… and the result is that as a platform for world culture, we sprint to a place of least common denominator from which there is no return.