[besson3c]

I'm always amused at the seemingly completely random attention that seemingly random people get on seemingly random political subjects, how they sort of attract media attention for a while, and then just sort of go away. They sort of create controversy and drama for themselves in a very train wrecky fashion, get everybody in a big huff for a while, show up on every TV show imaginable, and manage to somehow escape the overarching question of why we should care in the first place?

Just to be clear as to what I'm getting at with this classification of person, these are people that are not involved in politics at all prior, are non-career politicians yet somehow get thrust into center political stage for a while. They are people that usually come across as complete dumbasses, and just can't seem to wedge themselves away from all sorts of negative and/or positive attention for their intense period of political scrutiny. I know more about Carrie Prejean than I ought to.

Exhibits:

A) The most recent is Carrie Prejean. Google her Larry King appearance. I honestly don't know why I bothered to watch her Larry King appearance, but it was deliciously awkward. Why the hell do we care about what Miss California thinks about gay marriage and other social issues? I mean, she might be bright and articulate or whatever, I don't really know, but this is completely random. What makes her opinion special? Why should we care?

B) Levi Johnston. I guess this is a little more understandable because of his relationship to the potential VP's daughter, but why do we need to care about what this moron has to say about the Palin family? He admits himself that his leaks are a form of retaliation, why should we care about this little family feud? You could just as easily make the case for Sarah Palin, I guess... There is something about this family that seems to attract tabloid type gossip about stuff that seems completely irrelevant

C) Joe the Plumber. After his little moment of fame people were starting to ask him for his political opinions on stuff. I guess he made a name for himself somehow. Why? I guess his question he asked was well conceived or well timed or something, but how he managed to jump into the media spotlight seemed pretty random to me.

D) Kanye West and his thoughts about George Bush and black people

Can you think of any others? Why do we need to care what these people think about various political issues, or care about them period? What is it with the way this media chooses to obsess over people for a while, and then they just sort of go away? Is this a new thing?

Am I the only one that finds our fixation on these sorts of personalities rather random and bizarre?

[Dork.]

It is random, but not at all bizarre. It's a function of the fact that, on the Internet, everyone in the world can communicate with everyone else in the world at the same time. Think about that. You (And by you, I specifically mean besson3c) can start a blog where you post all your tuba sex tapes, and theoretically, everyone in the world has access to it. (They will only ever visit once, of course, because some things can't be un-seen).

This leads to Dork.'s two rules of the Internet. (I added one recently! Don't you feel special that I'm posting them here?)

1) You remember all those useless people from your High School who Just Didn't Get It? You know, the ones who were just utterly clueless about everything, and had no hope to ever get a clue? Every high School class had at least one of these folks, they are now the loudest people on the Internet, and they all want to post on your forum/blog/Facebook/twitter.

2) You know all those people who are into strange and useless hobbies and fetishes? like pooping in kitchens, having sex with tubas or robots, or collecting stool samples for "scientific research"? Look long enough on the Internet, and you will eventually find groups of people from all over the world, who use the Internet to gather and talk about their shared deviant practice. (Often, these are the same people from Rule #1).

These two rules combine to make the Internet an echo chamber for morons. Do you think the President was born in Kenya? Do you think 9/11 was an inside job? Do you think we faked the Moon landing? Well then, you will be able to find more than a few websites who purport to know the "truth", and will validate and reinforce your beliefs. With such handy reinforcement available 24/7, there is no need to expose yourself to contrary views.

I milder form of this explains Internet Celebrity. Since the beginning of time, people have always loved to gossip about other people. Back in the day, you could only gossip about the people in your town or church (with the people in the same), because that was the sum total of your world. But now, we can talk about anyone we want to. And since most of the Internet is made up of clueless deviant morons, whatever they are talking about is guaranteed to be stupid. But since they are the loudest people, and the rest of the Media will forever be behind the Internet, they will always pick up on these trends and broadcast them two days after they get stale.

I really should watch Idiocracy one of these days. I think I would be able to make my rants about society much shorter by just linking to its IMDB page.

[ort888]

What about people who like to poop in tubas? Anyone else out there?

[Dork.]

I'm sure besson3c knows where they are.

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

Carrie Prejean

She's hot.

Levi Johnston

He reminds me of jeans. Carrie Prejean.

Joe the Plumber

A good plumber, like a good mechanic, is priceless.

Kanye West

This one I cannot defend.

Can you think of any others?

Yes. besson3c. What's his deal? Why is he always hogging the MacNN spotlight? Why should I care what he has to say?

[besson3c]

SpaceMonkey: how do you know that I'm not somebody who is incredibly important and significant in real life? I could be a famous politician, celebrity, black crusader, singer, chef. You never really know.

I suggest you be nice to me just in case I'm somebody important and powerful that you should care about.

[hyteckit]

Carrie Prejean is pretty hot. I would do her. That would keep her mouth shut.

Carrie Prejean, Levi Johnson, Joe the Plumber, and Kanye West?

Is that a cast of some new porno? Maybe their next career move. Carrie Prejean already has a sex video and Levi Johnson is posing for playgirl.

New porno staring Carrie Prejean, Levi Johnson, Joe the Plumber, with music by Kanye West.

[ebuddy]

I would add Cindy Sheehan to the list.

These are people that get propped up to serve a purpose and dropped off when the populace tires of them. Levi, the plumber, Sheehan, Prejean... they were all propped up for taking a stand with the notion that their case simply had to be dealt with. Once people determine how shady, narcissistic, moronic, unimportant and/or ineffective they are; they just as quickly fade from popularity.

[besson3c]

Sheehan is a good example, she is list-worthy.

At least her and Levi *sort of* had a relevant back story though. The others were mostly famous by fluke, although none of these people were obsession worthy, that's for sure.


I wonder how much Playgirl would pay for posing?

[BadKosh]

Don't forget the Baloon boy's family! It's all a show!

[besson3c]

Except there was no politics even remotely involved.