How Low Can We Go?

This news clip appeared with some joking commentary in one of my social streams today. It brings up something that's been bugging me a bit lately.

There's a growing movement of making jokes out of well-meaning people and terrible things all for the sake of the person passing the link (or the people making the remix) getting some sort of attention for themselves.

This is disturbing in a couple of ways.

For the video of the seven year-old specifically, it tells this kid (and other kids out
there watching it) that doing stuff like this is funny and it will get you the attention you're seeking.

Speaking more broadly across these types of videos and their corresponding remixes, it shows how simple-minded and thoughtless we have become when it comes to what is really being said about us by the things we share and create.

These things aren't that funny when you think about it. And I think the fact that we're making jokes of them and the people involved in them says something sad and pathetic about the direction a large piece of culture is moving.

I guess by posting this, I am hoping that we can all (myself included) become more aware and thoughtful about the kinds of things we choose to share; but I fear we'll
only continue to see culture creeping to new lows as things like these keep getting
passed around.

I hope we prove the second part of that wrong.

Comments

[Justin Powell]

This is an interesting phenomenon Paul. I blogged about a pattern like it and titled it 'Virtual People': http://www.justinpowelldesign.com/blog/2010/03/virtual-people/

My premise was based on the pattern that people have shifted anonymous forum-based behaviors to their real-life personal identities (ala facebook). This theory holds true with your example too - people are behaving in a way they see appropriate and entertaining for the virtual space with neglect for reality.

Something I attributed to Convergence Theory:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_psychology
“Convergence theory holds that crowd behavior is not a product of the crowd itself, but is carried into the crowd by particular individuals.”