I believe the internet has been eaten.

I envision a giant Pac-Manesque cyber critter munching down on all the interesting and diverse points of view and pooping out copy-paste like a bull munching grass and producing familiar smelling piles all over a field.  If you’ve seen one paragraph of BS the chances are good you’ve seen most of them. 

I remember way back when, (circa 1996), I got my own computer and started Googling and Yahooing everything under the sun; I found all kinds of information, message boards, little email groups, stuff that was off the beaten path.  Now it seems you can check link after link for various topics and see the same few ideas over and over, often right down to the same wording.  I think that this is more eerie than efficient.  Don’t believe me?  Try to find someone online who thinks it’s ok to not crate your dog, then try to find someone who doesn’t use the exact same verbal spiel yacking (usually angrily) about why you MUST crate your dog.  If I was brave enough I’d post on Facebook about how sick I was of never hearing any differences of opinion about dog crating then get lectured by my “Friends” on the necessity of crating (get your ass on board PLEASE) and simultaneously be treated to all the little ads for dog crates that would inevitably pop up along the side.  That’s just one possible example, (really, I don’t want to argue about the damn CRATE right now).

Diversity of thought seems to get digested into bullshit no matter what the subject or the media through which it travels.  Look at what happened to local radio?  Eaten by the syndication shark, which is simultaneously the most divisive and homogenizing creature around.  The Pac-Man web-eating critter is a guppy of irritation compared to this shark.  The syndication shark consumes local flavor and even people’s humanity.  The multitudes of “conservative” political shows spew incessant contempt for our fellow human beings; but if you’re lucky, and the radio isn’t slamming hate on most of the population, you get syndicated sports, music, financial advice, legal advice; syndicated – sameness, the latest and greatest flavor of vanilla since last week’s vanilla which was the greatest cream-colored dessert that had ever been!

I have no idea where we will go from here.  It seems the financial gamblers didn’t think much of the Facebook spot on the stock market roulette wheel, maybe copy-paste-sell-you-stuff is running it’s course.  Could little blogs of diverse information become more popular?  Like independant web sites, email lists, and message boards of old?  I really wish there was enough money in the world that we could have local radio back too, with its slow pace of local news and sports and the occasional buy and trade show.  People can do something about local issues, we can’t do much about the manufactured issues the world owners-operators work to keep us full of anxiety over.  Maybe someday we can sit around petting an uncrated dog listening to old Jim down the road call in trying to sell a used washing machine.  Wouldn’t be bad.