Re: <nettime> The Society of the Unspectacular

[Morlock Elloi <morlockelloi@yahoo.com>]

If "empowerment" of the public by cheap self-publishing has demonstrated
anything, it is that a vast majority has nothing to say, lacks any detectable
talent and mimicks TV in publishing the void of own life (but unlike TV they
derive no income from commercials.)

So I wouldn't say that the classical notion of "public" has changed in the
sense that it got fragmented around "new media". It's "new media" giving
content-free personal smalltalk the ability to be globally visible (not that
anyone looks at it in practice, but they could, in theory.)

The public still congregates around the professionally prepared content, where
the most talent and money is, be it movies, gladiator spectacles, or books
pushed through big publishers. There is no data confirming erosion of any of
these in favour of consumption of cheap publishing for the masses. And that is
good, as it shows that we are not complete imbeciles, yet.




> societies. The current explosion of self-publication in countless  
> weblogs, on community websites, self-video portals, in on-line  
> diaries, web fora and a plethora of individual websites is only the  
> visible sign of an undercurrent that was already for many years  
> transforming 'the public' into an amalgamation of increasingly  
> unrelated  subjectivities and singular interest groups.



end
(of original message)

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