In a kinder, gentler age, people had little choice in shaping their life experience. Our lives were one big vanilla-flavoured handout of a generic dream, in ways reminiscent of early futuristic films.
The Internet, with spam kits, freely downloadable spyware, e-mail and instant messaging, gives us power over machines and people`s lives.
Carel Alberts, Technology editor, ITWeb
We worked, got paid bad salaries with structured and minimal advancement, bought our monthly goods at the closest retailer, since the next one was in the next town, drove our cars for 15 years, consumed politically flavoured, sub-standard advertising and docilely took whatever the government, our employers and purveyors pushed down at us.
Working class heroes like John Lennon had it sussed. Power to the people, that would be our rescue. Of course, we, the people, couldn`t be bothered to take charge ourselves (was it something in the water?), so others did it for us.
We shouldn`t have missed that boat. Technology companies, insurance outfits, holiday merchants, banks, car manufacturers and others are now empowering us and managing the dream, when it should have been us.
They empowered us
Make no mistake, these entities have empowered us no end. I imagine Lennon, if he were alive today, sitting in front of his Apple Mac, surfing royalty sites with his right hand and offhandedly composing another soul-tearing ballad to his mother with the left, on software for which no Mac version exists, except on his computer. His psychedelic Sergeant Pepper limo stands in on amusement drives at Devon Disney, to which he has franchised the Lennon brand. He drives a Mini Cooper with on-board Webcam, and has taken to filming, with his hipcam, the world, which he feels is watching him, and broadcasting this on Lennonsownmedicine.com, pending agreement by the FBI to stream the syndicated footage.
That`s leverage. But Lennon is faintly envious of Ferdinand Rabie, a minor SA celebrity, who through the empowerment of Big Brother SA became a household brand name the world over. Lennon realises ordinary citizens are taking over, and his ballad takes a turn for the worse.
The problem is that through cheap and ubiquitous technology, increased corporate interest in share-of-credit of the already stretched ordinary citizen as well as the venal fascination with reality TV, ordinary man has been elevated to the status of potential celebrity (Webcams and shows like Big Brother), media mogul (likewise Webcams and other communications technologies) and lobbyist (instant messaging and e-mail), and that is just the tip of the iceberg.
The new citizen of the world goes anywhere he pleases (airline loyalty points), succeeds through unprecedented strata of exclusivity in the best places (credit cards), drives the best cars every other year (motoring plans) and has good teeth (dental plans).
But look what we did with it
Not all of us have Lennon`s talent. We don`t desire meaning, or the love to end all loves and estrange us from better partnerships with other musicians. And most of us can`t compose. All of which means we probably shouldn`t have very much power from technology, communications reach, credit or TV at all.
But we do. We have Webcams and we can star in reality shows. The Internet, with spam kits, freely downloadable spyware, e-mail and instant messaging, gives us power over machines and people`s lives. We`re given gold cards at the drop of a hint, discovering later that what we needed was a platinum, diamond or black card; we have shared holidays, belong to whole lists of exclusive clubs and on and on.
And look what we do with it. It started with jennicam, where some woman would prance around in or out of a towel and broadcast it. Now there`s the Webcam trained on Heritage Square in Flagstaff, Arizona, as reported by Salon.com. Bonsaikitten.com features admittedly funny, but twisted spoofs on what some character dreamed up one can do with cats. I`ve seen obviously fake pictures of kitties inside bottles, the feeding tubes and twisted limbs nowhere in sight. But with PhotoShop, everyone can be a Dali, and it`s just a matter of time.
Rotten.com and ogrish.com seem to have actual footage, not aired elsewhere for obvious reasons, of carnage, graphic suicide depictions, murder, bombings and whatever your liberal heart desires should not be kept away from us.
Spyware is freely downloadable, and although I`m not saying where, you probably already know. Universities and security companies are offering advanced hacking courses, and there is no end to the power of the ordinary citizen.
Afraid yet?
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