But then again, Dear Blogosphere,
These are indeed strange times to be recalled to life…A period of great dualisms and polarization that can easily shock anyone to silence, reminding me of a similar period in 1775:
These are indeed strange times to be recalled to life…A period of great dualisms and polarization that can easily shock anyone to silence, reminding me of a similar period in 1775:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…” – The Period section of the first book of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.
We are deep into the Golden Age of The Internet. It is now the thread that connects the scattered hemming of the world and brings it together in one tight ball of fibre-optic cable called a global village. It is an unspoiled sea of space begging for input, like a desert or a vast jungle where we can each discover newer versions of ourselves and transform our own personal apportionment of that space as much as we like, creating a huge, never-ending virtual pyramid of information. The beauty of this pyramid is that everyone is building this pyramid for everyone’s sake. From Wikipedia to YouTube to torrents, you can learn and gain information on almost anything. Skills and art are constantly influenced and improved by this medium – access to thousands upon thousands of professionals, technicians, developers, creatives, spectators, critics etc. etc. are easily crammed together as global exposure and global recognition work hand in hand. They call it Crowd Accelerated Innovation. You can even get your KCSE results by asking for them via Yahoo Answers! Amazing, huh?
This same internet phenomenon is also quickly loosening the hard rules that revolve around certain concepts that have remained unchanged for a very very long time. It is behind the changing face of democracy – we have already had a number of revolutions that have been sparked off from the click of a keyboard button this year and any world leader is bound to be worried by the presence of ‘e-dissent’ in his or her country. It is also what is behind the changing face of capitalism for better and for worse. Instead of the masses being strictly the market consumers, they can barge right in and influence production of goods and services long before the process starts. Looks at what happened in the GAP logo redesign fiasco for example. It seems like the tide is turning and now most things are nowadays influenced by the opinion of the global masses.
Social networks have made human interaction a boundary-less affair and even I myself am left wondering how many physical man hours of socializing I would have to go through to meet some of the awesome friends and colleagues I have met on twitter, facebook and other social networks. However, these networks have a way of going karma on our asses and showing us their unavoidable ugly sides. Just located side by side with their more useful avenues, social networks also possess virtual dark street alleys shared by lynch mobs, bullies, gang rapists, quacks and street preachers with the sprinkle of honest passers-by turned victims, most of the time played by the same persons – you and me. We switch these roles quite seamlessly, perhaps because of the assurance that we will soon have our turn at the other end of the equation as we also try to prove how much of a joke we can take.
What has resulted from this development is a radical change in what social conscience/mass conscience has turned out to be. Mass conscience driven by Trending Topics and Status Updates and 4Square notifications etc. etc. simply has simply transformed into a mixed bag of ironical values somehow working together and against each other at the same time. This is perhaps the greatest exhibition yet of how morals cannot be uniformly conformed to or enforced in a society, especially a society whose online users determine in real time what morals and positions are popular.
For the younger generation that still needs some form of mentoring, it seems that what they are doing with now are noir role models caught between looking good and doing bad things who never really help to influence the paths that these kids should follow. It’s like all the good role models – the Mother Teresas, the Gandhis, the Mandelas of this world – either prove too boring or seem to be part of distant history. Maybe there is a need to expose and learn about the really bad role models who meet bad ends now more than ever…I don’t know…
As regards language, things are also changing to reflect this age of new and improved revolution and resistance fuelled period so much so that grammar rules are continually changing to reflect irritating informality and jarred brevity. We again find ourselves with a lot who think they are told what to do a lot too frequently, not only by their parents but also by the current mass conscience of the internet and social network users born between the 70s and 90s.I have a feeling that resistance to the death of Latin was similar, but like all the fallen dictators this year we are sure to lose the war against the XOXO and SMS language users. Also, since mode of dress, tattoos, drug and alcohol usage doesn’t miff us any more (take a look at the mother-daughter combinations in malls on weekends, for example) perhaps language is the new miniskirt of the 60s and 70s, or the new sagging pants of the 90s - a bold exhibit that the world is about to change more radically than we can ever imagine and we must be able to change with it in order to survive.
It is in such a world that I have been recalled to life, dear Blogosphere… what we shall do with it or about it, I don’t know yet…
Social networks have made human interaction a boundary-less affair and even I myself am left wondering how many physical man hours of socializing I would have to go through to meet some of the awesome friends and colleagues I have met on twitter, facebook and other social networks. However, these networks have a way of going karma on our asses and showing us their unavoidable ugly sides. Just located side by side with their more useful avenues, social networks also possess virtual dark street alleys shared by lynch mobs, bullies, gang rapists, quacks and street preachers with the sprinkle of honest passers-by turned victims, most of the time played by the same persons – you and me. We switch these roles quite seamlessly, perhaps because of the assurance that we will soon have our turn at the other end of the equation as we also try to prove how much of a joke we can take.
What has resulted from this development is a radical change in what social conscience/mass conscience has turned out to be. Mass conscience driven by Trending Topics and Status Updates and 4Square notifications etc. etc. simply has simply transformed into a mixed bag of ironical values somehow working together and against each other at the same time. This is perhaps the greatest exhibition yet of how morals cannot be uniformly conformed to or enforced in a society, especially a society whose online users determine in real time what morals and positions are popular.
For the younger generation that still needs some form of mentoring, it seems that what they are doing with now are noir role models caught between looking good and doing bad things who never really help to influence the paths that these kids should follow. It’s like all the good role models – the Mother Teresas, the Gandhis, the Mandelas of this world – either prove too boring or seem to be part of distant history. Maybe there is a need to expose and learn about the really bad role models who meet bad ends now more than ever…I don’t know…
As regards language, things are also changing to reflect this age of new and improved revolution and resistance fuelled period so much so that grammar rules are continually changing to reflect irritating informality and jarred brevity. We again find ourselves with a lot who think they are told what to do a lot too frequently, not only by their parents but also by the current mass conscience of the internet and social network users born between the 70s and 90s.I have a feeling that resistance to the death of Latin was similar, but like all the fallen dictators this year we are sure to lose the war against the XOXO and SMS language users. Also, since mode of dress, tattoos, drug and alcohol usage doesn’t miff us any more (take a look at the mother-daughter combinations in malls on weekends, for example) perhaps language is the new miniskirt of the 60s and 70s, or the new sagging pants of the 90s - a bold exhibit that the world is about to change more radically than we can ever imagine and we must be able to change with it in order to survive.
It is in such a world that I have been recalled to life, dear Blogosphere… what we shall do with it or about it, I don’t know yet…
“Mr. Jarvis Lorry—sitting opposite the buried man who had been dug out, and wondering what subtle powers were for ever lost to him, and what were capable of restoration—the old inquiry:
‘I hope you care to be recalled to life?’
And the old answer:
‘I can’t say.’
The end of the first book.” – Conclusion of the first book of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.
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