A very short entry and mostly just one question.
Reading Jughead's thoughts on NYtimes articles made me think of one I read that had me scratching my head.
Relatively Uninteresting Article
A run of the mill look at what the internet's been like for 4 years business piece. Except one thing which I'm sure is present elsewhere but haven't thought about until now.
"These days, a Web site may not even be the best place to start promoting your products or services. Instead, you can consider setting up a blog"
Since when was blog not a website? Is there a clear and obvious demarcation I missed along the way? I mean I feel like this is a buy a labrador not a dog sort of thing. Does this lazy language seem important to anyone else?
What a silly article. Of course blogs are websites, it just sounds like this writer is trying to take the distinction in their content way too far. Strangely, it also reminds me of my constant battle with my mother over whether or not the computer should be used to watch TV on (or, while I'm at it, whether it should be left on while I'm not in the room--I often come back to find someone has turned off the power without shutting down).
So this article sounds to me like its trying to make sense of something that might be unfamiliar to its audience?
oh the dumbing down of media. Or the creating of artificial hierarchies?
I was talking about the dumbing down of media for a certain audience, because I think many people who read that article who actually use the internet on a regular basis would have the same reaction we did.
You bring up an interesting point about the nature of hierarchies, though-- isn't the phrase "artificial hierarchies" in itself paradoxical? I mean, aren't all hierarchies artificial until they become incorporated into the surrounding culture? I guess the more important question would be, who has the power to create the hierarchy? The NYtimes writer seems to be talking about an already-accepted notion, and therefore is more of a perpetuator than a creator. So is there actually a creator, someone who theorists like Adorno would accuse of shoving pre-packaged culture down our throats? Or is that going too far in the case of electronic media, which is highly shaped by its users?
If there is such a mastermind, it's interesting that the notion of the hierarchy is perpetuated through its own medium.
speaking of the dumbing down of media, here's an article from the onion about the launch of "the google."