Well based upon the volume of the demented who post here, one might conclude they represented something more than a nit.
But this from Last puts a nice perspective on things.
ADVANCE COPY
In the new issue of The Weekly Standard:
THE LAST WORD
The Internet is an amazing thing, isn't it? It eases commerce and spreads information, but the biggest impact, sociologically at least, is that it magnifies. If you are deeply committed to something that's relatively obscure--take '70s DC comic books, for example--you might have felt pretty alone in 1993. After all, how many people in your town were obsessed with those great '70s DC titles? Two or three? If you lived in a big city, maybe 200?
But along comes the Internet and now everyone in America (and the world) who loves DC comic books from the '70s can find each other. You've gone from knowing a handful of co-enthusiasts to knowing thousands, maybe even tens of thousands. You've got an entire community. Your little world is now big enough to fill your entire field of vision.
The Internet magnifies, but doesn't provide a sense of context. You may feel like you no longer belong to a tiny group, but in truth you do. If you've found 5,000 or 50,000 DC comics lovers, that's great, but it's also statistically insignificant.
The best way to puncture this exaggerated self-image is by exposing it to a mass medium, such as television. You can have a thriving Internet community about DC comic books, but if you tried putting on a prime-time TV show geared towards this community, you'd get microscopic ratings and, in short order, cancelled.
All of which is the long way around the barn for this: The Howard Dean phenomenon isn't as big as it looks. Dean has 163,000 supporters registered at MeetUp.com and 280,000 people have contributed to his campaign. That's great and more power to them.
Only they should understand (1) that if 280,000 people tune in for a TV show, that program gets canned the next morning; and (2) that elections are depressingly like the Nielsens.
Happy New Year!
Best,
Jonathan V. Last |
