Posted on 11/28/2006 6:48:55 AM PST by shrinkermd
...If so, we are all crazy now. There is something about the Web that brings out the ego monster in everybody. It's not just the well-established tendency to be nasty. When you write for the Web, you open yourself up to breathtakingly vicious vitriol. People wish things on your mother, simply for bearing you, that you wouldn't wish on Hitler.
But even in their quieter modes, denizens of the Web seem to lug around huge egos and deeply questionable assumptions about how interesting they and their lives might be to others.
This is strange. Anonymity, for better or for worse, is supposed to be one of the signature qualities of the Web...
...But anonymity does not actually seem to interest many of the Web's most devoted users. They are the ones who start their own sites or sign up for MySpace or submit videos to YouTube. Indeed, the most successful Web sites seem to be those where people can abandon anonymity and use the Internet to stake their claims as unique individuals. Here is a list of my friends. Here are all the CDs in my collection. Here is a picture of my dog. On the Internet, not only does everybody know that you're a dog, everybody knows what kind of dog, how old, your taste in collars, your favorite dog food recipe and so on.
Social networking sites such as MySpace (for which Rupert Murdoch paid $580 million last year) are vast celebrations of solipsism. "My interests are music, girls, sports, clothes, cars and oo did i forget to mention girls," writes Lex... Or is this blond...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
An alternative or additional explanation is that after everyday needs and goals are achieved an over-riding goal occurs. The ancients call this "Thymos" or what amounts to a strongly felt goal for recognition and respect as an individual.
IMHO this comes closer to what Kinsley is looking for but, all in all, Michael has done a bang up job in teasing this behavior out of everyday experience.
Ahhhh... the WaPo misses the days when the only way you could be an anonymous, self-serving, drivel-spewing blithering egomanic was to be an editorial writer for one of the big papers.
LOL The Web is digging into his franchise and he doesn't like the competition.
I say he's projecting. He seems to think it's everyone else with the massive ego, not himself (as do all dinosaur media denizens who are no longer insulated from direct criticism).
The web caters to the self-absorbed.
The kind of personal web sites he's making fun of are shared between friends and family. It's neat and fun and intended to be local.
His own sense of self-importance was tweaked. That's all.
Am not
Kinsley is upset because his limp little wrist didn't set up a website before his friend did.
Neat post.
The web is the latest place where people cry out for significance in a lonely, impersonal world.
Good commentary...right on target.
Must be the reason everyone & their mother has a blog these days.
"...If so, we are all crazy now. There is something about the Web that brings out the ego monster in everybody. It's not just the well-established tendency to be nasty. When you write for the Web, you open yourself up to breathtakingly vicious vitriol. People wish things on your mother, simply for bearing you, that you wouldn't wish on Hitler.
Kinsley is a LIAR!!! And he didn't ping me. Don't ever post to me again, Kinsley. /sarc
who is he?
Would you be quiet please? I'm trying to read here ...
And that was only my FIRST week posting here.
Good thing we develop a thick skin.
Is Kinsley referring to the KOS kids and the DU? I didn't think so. If he was, he would be at least partially correct.
Michael Kinsley's the former co-host (with Robert Novak) of CNN's "Crossfire", among other things.
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