We're in a very connected world these days. I've got anime from Japan, a new interest in Bowties from the UK, friends in Canada, receipies from India, and an mutual fund trying to navigate the Euromarket. We talk via Facebook and Twitter, Skype and IRC to people all over the planet.
Flash mobs and memes rocket around the world. Protests spring up out of cyberspace. Petitions come into being and are rocketed off electronically.
The world is getting more connected.
It just makes the fact that some people are terribly out of touch and disconnected More Freaking Obvious.
I've watched the entire Occupy Wall Street events lately, and the cluelessness of many people reporting on it was astounding. Look the economy sucks, politics is screwed up, and people are angry – and they're connected and rallying and getting the word out. But I watched people try and map the protests to old stereotypes or actually ask "hey, what's all this about?"
The connected and the disconnected.
Or you can sit with me and watch Bank of America continue to melt down. I'm sure when it finally implo-explo-loads it will be greeted as a SHOCK by many people viewing the insides of their own rectums. On the other hand people like you and I, who stay in touch, have popcorn . . . and vodka. Or sake in my case.
The disconnected and the connected.
What's becoming obvious in this more connected world is how out of touch, insulated, ignorant, and deliberately stupid some groups of people are. There's a lot of contrast when you look at the state of the world.
Dear disconnected people – you look like morons. Oftentime insensitive and unethical morons (which you may be actually). The only flaw?
You're not reading this.
Of course, we can all be out of touch, insulated, ignorant, and deliberately stupid. So perhaps we should try and catch ourselves, but meanwhile it's up to people who are connected – hopefully us – to try and make sure the economy, careers, and the world works.