Is That All There Is?
When I was a kid I was in charge of answering the phone. Even back then I was the mini-social networker, I loved the phone. It was my megaphone to the world, I could spread my thoughts to adults that unsuspectingly called for my parents, but got instead a long conversation on why ice cream should be before dinner.
What Are You Wearing?
The only downside to being the first to answer the phone was that I was the victim of many an obscene phone call. They would start off with heavy breathing and then the inevitable question "what are you wearing?". At first I thought it was a fashion conscious adult with a smoker's hack. Then I clued in when they asked me if I like certain body parts. After the fifth such call, I was savvy enough to hang up at the first deep breath.
I was sitting in Silver Lake today eating gelato with Steve Spalding of HowToSplitAnAtom.com, we both mused over the death of land line obscene phone calls. Then it came to us, the internet. Why bother with the phone when you can post images, videos, send anonymous emails and comments all over the web with your secret obsessions? You hit a wider audience with one click of a key. The phone is one blade of grass in a football field, with the internet you are the football field.
From Land Lines to Online Land Mines
One benefit comes out of this, we are no longer subjected to late night phone calls or guys jumping out of bushes with just a rain coat on. Why leave the house when you can jump of the shrubbery of the internet? One site Chatroulette is an example of this. From Wikipedia: "Chatroulette is a website that pairs random strangers for webcam-based conversations. Visitors to the website randomly begin an online chat (video, audio and text) with another visitor. At any point, either user may leave the current chat by initiating another random connection." A majority of the users are naked and performing sex acts, why leave home when you can shock from the comfort of your basement? Chatroulette is in the process of filtering the abusers of the site, but the site is branded with its early adopters and will not loose that stigma of endless masked flashers. Be careful where you click...Kaboom, yes that's a body part on your screen.
What Doesn't Shock You, Will Only Make You Numb
When I was 12, an obscene phone call was shocking enough that I was traumatized for days and would hesitate answering the phone, until I got used to the anonymous callers and dealt with them with a quick slam of the phone. Now I am subjected to images that I find distasteful daily, through the internet, I have a choice not to view these videos and sites, but I am in the minority. With the advent of the world wide web, obscenity is so commonplace that it has moved into the mainstream and no one blinks twice when Conan O'Brien introduced a character The Masturbating Bear on late night television.
Is That All There Is?
We are now able to shock in any language, in any forum, on multiple devices, with the push of a button. And we are complicit in lowering the bar by encouraging the bad behavior of a few for our entertainment.
My greatest fear now is that I will no longer be shocked, and that scares me.
I remember when I was a very little girl, our house caught on fire.
I'll never forget the look on my father's face as he gathered me up
in his arms and raced through the burning building out to the pavement.
I stood there shivering in my pajamas and watched the whole world go up in flames.
And when it was all over I said to myself, "Is that all there is to a fire
- Is That All There Is? Peggy Lee
Image: Ophelia Chong / sssssss
