of the end of my summer was that I watched a lot of Big Brother. It was fascinating – a complete and utter failure in a dozen or more ways. Bill Wyman wrote a good wrap-up, Reality flops, in Salon. But the reasons for the show’s failure might be more basic than that. Go back to Alexis de Tocqueville – he called it. There has always been a tension in North America between the lip service paid to individualism and the dictates of the group. Big Brother just served as evidence that this tension continues to exist. It was all about punishing anyone who stepped out of line, who distinguished her- or himself in any way. It was like the houseguests were in a trench – as soon as one of their heads popped up, wham, it was lopped off by the North American public. Truly pathetic.
Archives for October 2000
I’m pretty ambivalent
about the whole ratings thing (although Evan Williams makes some very valid points), but two new services have come online recently that I find interesting and useful as I continue to enjoy browsing other sites like mine (more or less). Both BlogStart and BlogHop mix the idea of a directory with ratings.
I too have been enjoying
the Metafilter thread about Jakob Nielsen’s latest Alertbox article, but like Meg Hourihan I think I’ve mis-read Nielsen a bit, or misinterpreted him. And in my particular case I think I may have looked like an ass, although I stand by what I wrote there.
One thing I want
to note is that I’ve decided not to do anything special to commemorate Trudeau’s death. I had considered going to City Hall to pay my respects, but I’ve decided against it. I will note, though, that Fidel Castro is going to be one of the honourary pallbearers at the State funeral tomorrow.
Very busy today:
I’ve been overwhelmed with work today and so haven’t had time to visit my customary places and do my regular media-sift that often ends up here.
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