Doomsters Or Dumpsters? May 12, 2009
Posted by granthamtech in Blogosphere, YouTube.Tags: doom, doomsters, economic collapse, ferveriam, gloom, themodernmystic, videos, YouTube
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I have to confess to watching far too much YouTube. Since mostly giving up watching mainstream TV some time ago YouTube has been providing most of my entertainment. For me this usually takes the form of educational videos covering various tech or scientific topics.
But there are other genres that are of interest and one in particular is what I might refer to as the “doomster” genre. Put briefly these “doomster” videos are created by people who try to convince us that for a variety of reasons, and in the not too distant future, we are all doomed to suffer one or more catastrophic fates.
The dire fates promised for us are, not unusually in these times, often to do with predictions of global economic collapse. Arguments why such a collapse is not only inevitable but imminent are advanced, sometimes with various suggestions as to what defensive actions might be employed to mitigate them.
Amongst the plethora of doomsters out there there are a couple that I find reasonably entertaining. Firstly there’s Mike. Mike goes under the YouTube id of FeverIAM and he produces regular video commentary of the state of the global economic system. Mike is an affable, likeable guy and his style is to recite, more or less verbatim, snippets of news or opinion from various sources and then to mutter darkly that “it’s coming folks” or to declare sagely that “it’s getting serious now”. What exactly “it” is, is not clear but from the look on his face it can be inferred that it’s not going to be good.
My second choice is the rather more convincing Nick. Nick is known on YouTube as TheModernMystic and he offers thoughts from the arcanely philosophical to the more down to earth financial. Regarding the global economy Nick is convinced that we in the West are all “screwed”. He has checked the numbers and, based on mathematical certainty, has declared that collapse is inevitable. He also cites various news and informational sources to support his contention but does, at least, analyse them rather than simply reading through them. Again, beyond the suggestion that we are all going to be broke, the nature of the collapse is not clearly spelled out. From what I have been able to glean from his commentary Nick creates his videos from the relative safety of a farmhouse in France. I must say that I find his quiet, calm and educated approach, in an otherwise wild and wacky doomster scene, quite convincing.
These modern day soothsayers may or may not turn out to be correct in their predictions. But in either case it is always interesting to hear thoughts and views that otherwise would never get an airing on the mainstream media. Beyond that all that can be done is to hope for the best. After all I am going to be 60 years old this year and I don’t want a small thing like global economic collapse to get in the way of my free bus pass.
Mind Your Back, Guido April 17, 2009
Posted by granthamtech in Blogosphere, Governing Elite.Tags: Blogosphere, guido, guido fawkes, mainstream media, new media, old media, political blog
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Looking into the reaction to the case of Damian McBride, Gordon Brown’s so called “attack dog”, sending out scurrilous smear ideas direct from the Downing Street bunker I discover a whole new world of dissent. The “political blogosphere”, which exists independently of the old mainstream media, has come to greater prominence because of this scandal. A wander through some of the comments on these blogs reveals a huge frustration and anger with the present state of affairs. An anger which has virtually no voice in any of the mainstream media.
I have long believed that the problems we see in our political system, the self-serving, grasping and above all unrepresentative nature of most of our career politicians are aided and abetted by a complicit and compliant media. The occasional spat between a Today program presenter and a dissembling minister is no substitute for genuine and independent investigative oversight. The career politician and his attendant old media hack are two sides of the same coin and neither can thrive without the existence and cooperation of the other. It would be surprising if such an arrangement did not, over time, result in a coincidence of self interest.
New media represented by the blogosphere may offer, at least initially, a useful alternative viewpoint to the traditional thought stream that irradiates us today. Of course the very accessibility of the blog, which is it’s strength, also means that it is possible to encounter expressions of opinion that, even being generous, could only be described as juvenile. In this respect some critics are correct to say that it is nothing more than a playground.
In the case of Damian McBride The Guido Fawkes blog was responsible for exposing the facts and the consequent forced resignation of a man very close indeed to the Prime Minister. There are those who claim that this represents a victory, a scalp even for new media over the old media guard. If this is true then it’s significance will not be lost on those who would prefer to continue the cosy cohabitation between government and media that exists at the moment.
Therefore whilst some satisfaction may be drawn from this shining of a light into a dark corner, it is also a moment of danger. It will not be surprising if attempts are made to limit the impact of the truly independent political blogger. We should be on our guard.
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