Talking Smack In Yo' Face

[gerful]

george, what the far-hark is going on with your hair? think of all the quality docos you could make in alaska...

[andyfreeberg]

I feel like YouTube is just a microcosm of the rest of the internet with video as the medium. All of the best and worst aspects of freedom of speech are at play. In general I think it's a hugely positive thing as long as people have an education on the credibility of the information they're getting (as in, very little). But I mean, this is democracy, not always fair, not always truthful, but there's a lot more good there than bad.

[rcm62]

The democratization opportunities of YouTube are intriguing, yet the mere availability of beaucoup content doesn't (yet) get me optimistic about its potential. I can't take the time to watch every conventional Hollywood movie, TV show, or listen to every commercial audio CD as it is: I count on reviewers, editors, trusted associates, to help wade through the piles.

I think the hot career of the next 10 years is "digital librarian." Help find the diamonds in the rough.

[mermaid808]

Re the film-- nice articulation of the issues and challenges. Youtube has risen to prominence in an era when mainstream media organizations have largely failed in their function as govt watchdog. In spite of all the dubious "entertainment" that youtube provides, it also seems to be the last best place where independent investigators can ask hard questions, and propose real answers. We can assist viral processes to create buzz around the world's issues, not just the next cute kitten video.

[edoran]

I think more people will watch the kitten video. You're mistaking You Tube for television, where journalism holds sway, and the authoritative voice reigns supreme. You Tube is centerless, utterly hedonistic, a dreamland. Bring on the kittens!

[mermaid808]

Certainly, the kittens will get more play. My point is that MSM is no longer asking hard questions to the powers that be; they are complicit in the dumbing down of public discourse. I'm not mistaking YouTube for television; I'm suggesting it is a positive alternative. Specifically, to the extent that most of us can't afford an FCC broadcast license, YouTube offers a place where we can ask and investigate the questions on our minds. I'll wade thru the conspiracy theories--the cost of freedom.

[edoran]

Check out my note below, re:democratization. What kind of challenge to the powers-that-be has really erupted from the halls of You Tube? Don't confuse dumbing down with commodification. TV news is a highly intelligent show of asking the tough questions which is designed to sell crap (and whatnot). It begs the question, What does it  matter to "ask tough questions" if that's where it ends? And what really BEGINS with You Tube? Maybe a revolution in aesthetics but probably not one in politics.

[mermaid808]

Revolutions are years--if not decades--in the making. Just because you're not aware of the political impacts of some content, doesn't mean it's not happening. There is a new generation of young people who are now politically savvy about the US govt and its banking, military-, medical-, and other industrial complexes, because of YouTube. Give it time.

[mermaid808]

Clarifications re the "Revolutions are years" entry: It was in reply to edoran's comments in the thread below that begins w/"Re the film" below. And my statement should have been "Just because one is not aware" rather than "...you're not aware"; didn't mean to personalize the argument.

[pthorn1]

Youtube allows almost anyone to be a media artist. All new means of expression have import and then become only a tool, just like the means before them--cave drawings, watercolors, megaphones, etc. Anything short of a conversation is anonymous to some degree, and now the internet has handed everyone a nom de plume. The accessibility of video and now youtube is just another way to see and make culture, to see who we are, in all our beauty and ugliness, and our ugliness is always so disappointing.

[barkfish99]

I wonder, Mermaid and Pthorn, if you think there is still a need for "experts" or "gatekeepers" - some non-authoritarian method of filtering out the hateful and the banal. Are all opinions equal? Is there still a reason to devote your time to study, or are do all opinions have the same "value?" so there is no reason to become more expert? I have mixed feelings on all of these topics!

[edoran]

This video, btw is very un-You Tube, because it does have experts and gatekeepers in the form of the two filmmakers and the people interviewed. Or perhaps it's part of the You Tube II phenomenon, which is videos on You Tube that are about...videos on You Tube! Like the numerous two-girls-and-a-cup response videos, such as the ones featuring Kermit and Fozzy. Meta meta meta

[edoran]

I don't think You Tube makes us all artists, just as the tape recroder and the point-and-shoot didn't either. With You Tube anyone can be a kind of Zapruderesque witness posting frameless, inscrutable, seemingly important fragments.

[HHHarrison]

My own feelings are mixed. I just read Clay Shirky's book Here Comes Everyone which I found fascinating. I think the powercurve applies here especially when it comes to quality. The true value of Youtube is not in the copying of TV or movie content or silly little films about a ball throwing machine (though they are not valueless) but in the power of individuals to inform and organize as citizens. This is the real democratizing power, not just that anyone can make a film.

[edoran]

I think "democratizing power" is misstated. In what way is You Tube representational, or processual? There are tons of shocking videos on You Tube that suggest a need to organize, but what effective action can site You Tube as a raison d'etre? Actually it reveals how recreational our politics is. You Tube's power is anarchic, not democratic. It utterly fractures power into individual pieces that we pick out and enjoy like jelly beans.

[HHHarrison]

I disagree. Certainly their is a poeverty of "riches" here, but step beyond US domestic politics for a moment and look at places like the middle east and the Ukraine. Individual citizens post videos of state actions thereby holding them to some modicum of account, no matter how small. This empowers the individual citizen. In Ukraine, people instituted peaceful flash mobs to do such things as eat ice cream in a park and then documented the police cracking down and arresting people.

[TheoLipfert]

I don't know about you, but when I watch a video and response "debate" about a place I am not that familiar with, I find myself falling back on mainstream media, like CNN, to determine who I should be believing. Wait, were the Serbs the aggressors or victims? Should i believe this YouTube rant? I find myself grounding my opinions in the NYTimes and CNN, all the while aware (or trying to be aware) of their biases and orientations.

[barkfish99]

Cool! You old folks are really thinkin bout stuff!