No More Crap.
In theory a Locke and Demosthenes could still emerge, taking the nets by storm. But they probably won't. Because when something is open to everyone, it becomes filled with an insistent flow of clutter and crap.
Welcome to the internet.
The world wide web has created an infinite loop of open source content. Everyone makes everything for everyone to experience. The good, the great, and all the crap.
And let's be serious, there's a lot of crap.
Because whenever everyone has access to something, the "good" becomes "average" and the "average" becomes more noise. The few "great" things online are highly subjective or sadly obscure. Once they become popular they are emulated, creating a world of Fall Out Boy sounding clones. And suddenly it all sounds the same; it all sounds like noise; it all sounds (or reads or looks) like crap.
The solution? I don't know if there is one. People will read and watch and listen to whatever they want to. (Or whatever their friends tell them they should.) We live in an American Idol culture, where Simon really knows what he's talking about, but he doesn't get to call in and vote.
There is good out there. Though it is often buried under and among the infinite loop of online content. And I wish I could say I always rose to the top of the pile, but sadly I'm just as guilty for adding to the current, sweeping the things worth reading even further downstream.
But sometimes the goal is to simply write. To create. To collaborate. And luckily the internet is a near ideal space for that very thing. Everyone has a voice, everyone has the ability to read, write, and edit.
Don't believe me? Leave a comment below and you'll join the noise -- I mean, conversation.
Ready, set, comment.
