{I was just chatting on-line with a past student, telling her that I was having difficulty writing this post. As it turns out, she wrote a similar post just hours ago. Rather than continuing my tedious process of writing, deleting and re-writing a mediocre introduction, I thought I would start, and finish, with her eloquent words… and I shall say very little.}
“The creative work that came out of the arts in [past centuries] had to be excellent, because each individual’s standard of living depended on it. Nowadays, I would argue, creative work need not be excellent–just acceptable.”
Listening Experience? 
Or Listening Convenience?
Monumental Mass Media? 
Or Mundane Masses using Media?
(100 million views- video no longer available)
The plot thickens?
Or the selection widens? 
Creative with Crayons?
Or Colouring with Clicks?
Are we willing to ‘settle’ for less? What about The “Dumbness” of Crowds? I think it is wonderful that anyone can have an audience (see Numa Numa), and share their creativity, but how much must an uninterested audience wade through to find something meaningful?
– – – – –
“…there’s a lot of flotsam and jetsam in creative work floating around today–or should I say, dotsam and netsam, a term we’ll probably be hearing a lot more of in the near future.”
– – – – –
Thanks to Kris for ‘framing’ my ideas for me… her post is worth the read!
Earphones image by Chance Agrella
http://www.freerangestock.com/watermark.php?i=1086
Aragon Theatre image by Brandon Perkins http://www.flickr.com/photos/49503201029@N01/79583229/
Crayons image by Marja Flick-Buijs
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/317127
*All photos link to their source.
Originally posted: January 19th, 2006Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting: I find that this post brings out a melancholy feeling in me. I’m not sure if it is because it doesn’t necessarily portray the message I wanted it to, or if it is because it is about mediocrity and our willingness to accept it. That said, I attempted a couple things here worth mentioning. First of all, for the first time in this blog, I tried to use imagery to make a point. Secondly, I believe that I was frustrated since i was trying to understand The Long Tail but lacked both the language and comprehension that such a thing existed. How does a guy holding a video camera and talking about mundane things get over a million views of his videos? If you want an audience, you can find one… in fact, they will find you. But the real challenge is battling mediocrity! When Gary Kern was my Vice Principal, he would often say, “Good is the Enemy of Great”. If something is good (enough) then there is no need to make it better. It seems today that even the standard of ‘good’ is being lowered to acceptable. Now let me pause here and say that this is not about how ‘kids today’ are lazier or less caring or… What this is about is how we as a society are being trained to ‘settle’. Of course I’m talking about the proverbial ‘we’ here: • We don’t fix our lifestyle, we take antacid pills. • We complain about how much longer commercial breaks are, but watch them anyway. • We watch predictable tv and horrible Youtube videos. • We watch the news and complain about how bad things have gotten. • We create multiple choice tests because they are easy to mark. • We don’t get rid of graffiti. • We don’t vote. • We buy cheap things, and we don’t care when they break. Accepting mediocrity is a national pastime. If ‘Good’ is the enemy of ‘Great’, then ‘Mediocrity’ is the enemy of _____________. You fill in the blank. |