The Society of the Unspectacular
[an amusing rant from nettime]
From: Morlock Elloi morlockelloi@yahoo.com
Date: June 10, 2007 1:42:47 PM EDT
To: nettime-l@bbs.thing.net
Subject: Re:
If “empowerment” of the public by cheap self-publishing has
demonstrated anything, it is that a vast majority has nothing to say,
lacks any detectable talent and mimicks TV in publishing the void of
own life (but unlike TV they derive no income from commercials.)
So I wouldn’t say that the classical notion of “public” has changed
in the sense that it got fragmented around “new media”. It’s “new
media” giving content-free personal smalltalk the ability to be
globally visible (not that anyone looks at it in practice, but they
could, in theory.)
The public still congregates around the professionally prepared
content, where the most talent and money is, be it movies, gladiator
spectacles, or books pushed through big publishers. There is no data
confirming erosion of any of these in favour of consumption of cheap
publishing for the masses. And that is good, as it shows that we are
not complete imbeciles, yet.