which is itself, of course, published on the internet.
i'm getting really sick of hearing how facebook, myspace, twitter, and blogs are:
1) only for solipsistic, self-absorbed emo kids who have as the foundation of their entire identities a massive illusion that everyone on the intarwebs cares deeply about their personal and cultural observations and emotional tribulations.
2) that somehow communicating through these mediums is destroying peoples' ability to write "correctly".
i'm beginning to wonder (potential paper idea?) if this is some bizarre extension of the media's obsession with celebrity culture. the same way that we have, through reality TV, created a culture in which "normal" people can skyrocket to national fame, maybe people have been sort of inculcated with this idea that, through internet, etc. anything that anyone says is potentially noteworthy (or newsworthy), and therefore we assume in turn when people are talking, they are talking to garner potential fame and interest, rather than just for the sake of propagating or discussing information. i dunno; it's just an idea.
i'm just not sure what complaint #1 is based on, and complaint #2 has been pretty much flatly discounted by every linguist who has any idea what they're talking about and who wasn't born before 1940.
the original article was published on mcsweeney's, which i suppose shouldn't surprise me. look ma! i can out-irony irony! tres ironic.
:)
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