***  Haus der Kulturen der Welt: Forum1 Archive  ***
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   [Date]: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 16:22:25 +0200
   [From]: "Ami Isseroff" <ami_iss@netvision.net.il>
     [To]: "Cultural Exchange via Internet" <forum1@hkw.kbx.de>
[Subject]: Re: [forum1] Re: Access

Hi Dianne,
You wrote:
"I don't think television portrays the human soul or even pretends to"

There are numerous programs that seem to be  trying to do something of the sort explicitly- including advice for living, talking voices of conscience etc in many different formats etc. (Ally Mcbeal having a sudden flash of being dumped for example :-) ) There are also religious programs that are after our souls literally.

However, in this case I was referring to the implicit estimate that people's nature, interests and esthetics are better than are indicated by television, and the hope that this would be evident if only they turned to an interactive environment like Internet. I don't think this is so.

Judgements as to quality and who will be the judge - we went through that already. Nobody knows the answer it seems.
How many people realized the Beatles were Great Art in the 1960s?
Maybe "The Simpsons" or "South Park" will turn out to be the definitive cultural statement of the late 20th century.
Or maybe it will be the Maddona with dung.
Is Woody Allen the Shakespeare of the 20th Cent?
Perhaps some Arnold Schwarzenegger movie is the 20th century equivalent of Hamlet.
Will Cage be remembered as the 20th Century Beethoven?
Andy Warhol - 20th Century Rembrandt ??
I don't know.  Someone will also argue that even if some of the above turns out to be true, time is not necessarily a good judge.

However, none of the above is  relevant here.
My instincts tell me that the Webification of humanity will not reveal armies of new Shakespeares and Goethe's and Monets and Mozarts, just as great intellects were not cultivated by radio talk shows.
It is a 20th century superstition par excellence that technical improvements will change the content of our lives for the better.
Witness the happy people in the gadget advertisements  - a long tradition that you may find mirrored in the faces of the happy couple in the advertisement for the 1927 Pierce Arrow I expect.  But it is only a superstition.
Salvation will not come through better gadgets.
Best,
A-