Article: 113673 of alt.peeves From: tvm@user2.teleport.com (Tim Mefford) Newsgroups: alt.peeves Subject: Re: Situational Awareness Organization: Up the, Lines: 86 Message-ID: <8pu2ho$7qu$1@user2.teleport.com> References: <8pp673$f5m$1@user2.teleport.com> <8pp7tr$2l43$1@idiom.com> <8pr4sn$b4h$1@user2.teleport.com> <39c179ba.1637048522@news.newsguy.com> Keywords: Vaya con Cojones! Date: 15 Sep 2000 13:58:32 -0700 NNTP-Posting-Host: 192.108.254.12 X-Complaints-To: abuse@onemain.com X-Trace: nntp1.onemain.com 969051421 192.108.254.12 (Fri, 15 Sep 2000 16:57:01 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2000 16:57:01 EDT Path: news.meer.net!nntp1.ba.best.com!news1.best.com!feeder.via.net!feed2.onemain.com!feed1.onemain.com!nntp1.onemain.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: news.meer.net alt.peeves:113673 In article <39c179ba.1637048522@news.newsguy.com>, Uncle Gargoyle wrote: >> woman might reasonably have taken notice... >Probably not. Most people seem to float through life.... Hmm, I hadn't planned on administering a test based on my posting, but, Congratulations!, you passed with flying colors. I'm sure I have a star for you here somewhere. ObPeeve: Here's an argument I never thought I'd be making, here's to mediocrity and short attention spans. I read yesterday that the fucked company website has become so incredibly lucrative that the guy behind it is no longer able to refrain from selling it. The idea this inspired, which I leave for you to mull over through the course of the weekend is this: Over the last few decades, our society has not only grown incredibly, but its ability to communicate and transmit information has exploded beyond anything imaginable in the recent past. The unintended consequence of this is that anything which demonstrates any merit or worth above the ordinary, at least of a nature which a significant chunk of the populace is able to appreciate, is almost instantaneously crushed by a popularity which destroys it. I'm sure we all have personal examples of this: the local band which you'd seen in tiny bars suddenly becoming so popular that you can no longer get tickets to see them in row 500 of a stadium, if you'd even want to, as the clever songwriter has taken to having an entourage; the favorite author, who has sold so many copies of a book that his publisher won't accept anything which isn't just like the first, or, worse, has decided on his own that he is too talented to require the services of an editor; the favorite restaurant which has decided to remodel to add 100 seat to the original eight along with a few small changes to the menu; and other examples I'm sure you can provide. At one time, we were posessed of a certain amount of regionalism. Sports fans didn't follow the best team, even if that team was located half a continent away. And why not? All their games are on cable and it's a better view than buying tickets for the crappy local team, which are unavailable or too expensive anyway. At one time, a band might work for years without being well known outside a small area, no matter how good they were. The time where talent exists outside the spotlight is becoming vanishingly small. As a spectator to society's spectacle, we would seem to have three possible mechanisms to cope with this: 1. Embrace mediocrity. Go see bands which are good, but not good enough to really succeed. The seats will be better, and you won't grow to hate them through heavy rotation radio play. Go to the local restaurant without reservations a week in advance and hope they don't go too heavy on the mango chutney. 2. Develop a short attention span, or at least a short interest span. I don't really understand how one could do that. Suppose one had a genuine interest in Mayan archeaology. One could pursue it for a while, until it became the next big thing. When every hippie college town has a Mayan archeology store, when digs in central America sprout three star hotels and the Tikal Hard Rock Cafe opens, when every mouth breather has a Mayan artifact dangling from his rear- view mirror, how does one choose to turn off one's interest to avoid the annoyance? 3. Cultivate really esoteric interests. Try to be interested in things which most others are unable to appreciate. This sounds good, but good luck. There are almost six billion people of whom a good number are trying exactly the same thing. Besides which, you can tell yourself you are really fascinated by the icthyology of Lake Baikal, or traditional folk dance of Lichtenstein, but is that really going to stick? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "...very fond we were of Argument, ...Which disputacious Turn, by the way, is apt to become a very bad Habit, making People often extreamly disagreable in Company," --Benjamin Franklin ____Tim_Mefford______________________________tvm@teleport.com______