Let Our Experience Work For You: Commentary: Do We Really Need To Know?
Let Our Experience Work For You: Commentary: Do We Really Need To Know?
Let Our Experience Work For You: Commentary: Do We Really Need To Know?
MLS #406959
I am talking about social media, or to be precise a specific action of social media. To be even more precise, it has to do with a little billion dollar program called Facebook. Remember the drubbing that occurred in the last American presidential election? It was more than just a culturally riveting event. African American Democrat versus Ole Time Republican. It was more than just young versus old (Obama was 47 when elected; McCain, a tender age of 71 when he ran. Dont assume I have anything against the ages. I am merely pointing out the breadth of separation. My only familial appreciation of that degree of difference was when my then young, 68 year old grandmother, returned to school, this time to the University of Alberta and achieved her B.A. degree four years later. To prove a point of a more public example of age irrelevancy, 61 year old, Vietnam Vet Alan Moore recently became the oldest active college football player in the U.S he kicked a conversion point in his first game.) History is showing that the presidential election of 2008 was a technological smashing with the younger being commander and chief of the technological age - with all that internet play, twittering, and yes, Facebooking. I am not quite a Luddite. I am aware of its relevancy. In Facebook-land the name of the game, initially, is to connect. My wife whose family is as large in numbers as a medium size letter in any dictionary - has been able to reach out and touch many of them. Cyberly at least. She has been able to hook up with long lost cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews, ones normally seen if at that at 25 year reunions. With families looking to delve into their genealogical past the internet databases are in gathering mode, all in an instant (and for a certain amount of coin). And there is nothing wrong with that, I say. In the past, keeping tabs on families, large or small, immediate or distant, could be expensive especially when telecommunications was in its infancy; and letter writing yes, putting pen to paper was your only hope. But thanks to Facebook, keeping tabs is only a key stroke away. Photographs and other forms of visual and recorded information amongst family and friends are easily shared in a moment. And with the natural human begats, the newest family member, or the recent celebration is only growing and growing the heap of digital information. But Facebook (and electronic media in general) has morphed somewhat more towards the business side: The business of selling you. You are the commodity now. You and your information you are willing (or unwilling) to share. And pg 3
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To Know more towards the business side: The business of selling you. You are the commodity now. You and your information you are willing (or unwilling) to share. And this is where I have problems. Admittedly, I am not good, or comfortable with the idea of selling myself. Maybe its because the selling is not some sort of subliminal action. Its unashamedly, P. T. Barnum-style look at me drum beating. Without revealing names, my enormous group of friends and I am being facetious here on Facebook (by Johnsons 18th century dictionary a friend is One joined to another in a mutual benevolence and intimacy. I doubt if he could have understood how friends were to be joined in the 21st century) includes workers in the
same field I am. Many of them use Facebook to maintain their professional ranks (I am writing chapter three of my new book on Somethingosaurus, followed by I am writing chapter four of ... two days later with the appropriate responses from devotees like golly gee, your amazing..., to creating some level of personal ranking by dangling some sort of article specifically for a response of self-grandeur (fourth person to reply will get this book, followed a week later, making sure there is no congestion in the want list by the first person to reply will get ....) So, maybe in some part of me I am envious. Or....maybe not, for it is not uncommon for me to have the stomach turn and nausea infiltrate my consciousness when stuff like this is posted. And my nausea is a good barometer of disgust and useless information.
Jon Jung of Talisman Energy in Shaunavon donated $5000 to the Eastend memorial hall boiler fund, Bonnie Gleim accepting as member of the Hall.
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Thanks from the Library
Eastend School has donated quite a few yearbooks from over the years (they had extras of certain years) so Sharon Girard gathered them up for us. Many thanks for this effort, Sharon. Lorraine
will be donating $1.00 from the sale of each scarf sold in October to Breast Cancer Research. A variety of scarves in cotton, polyester, pashmina, cashmere are available. The donation will take place at the annual Breast Cancer Tea at the Wolf Willow Health Centre on Saturday, November 5. Store hours: Monday-Saturday, 10:00-5:30pm
The other fro Knowiends group are regular folks. Folks who have lives; who have families; who have experiences. And are many are conscious of the world around them. But even this can trail off into the land of absurdum. Found an injured Mourning Dove in my yard. Hope I can help it L, or paper cuts suck L. It cant be denied that social media continues to have useful purposes. The recent Amber Alert for an Alberta child is just one case where an entire section of the hemisphere was on the lookout almost instantly. Or, the support for disaster relief over the last few years especially. Or, the role social media played and is playing in what pundits have called Arab Spring (which is now turning into Fall) where pro-democracy movements in North Africa and the Middle East are reshaping our daily newscasts and the lives of millions thanks to the immediacy and gathering potential of social media. This aside, I guess I just dont want all my senses dulled or insulted with see how great I am (contrarily to, here is what Ive been up to, what are your thoughts?); or I scraped my knee L (contrarily, who gives a hoot). I want to absorb words of wisdom from lost authors, see photographs of recent gatherings or those of the distant past, to know that they, the Facebook posters are doing o.k., to read about recent discoveries or personal insight into major events. If I wanted to be dulled to death, or insulted, I can play with a different form of medium like the nightly news. But from an aside glance I can still see my Facebook page, of course. TT