Imus, Transparency, and Niceness
I pay near zero attention to the political nattering class, but a lot of people are bringing technology into this Don Imus racism shouting match, so it's worth a comment. While some people seemingly think that the lesson here is that negativity is out and niceness is in, I disagree entirely. Negativity and shock work as well as ever, and they will get work even better in a world preoccupied with niceness.The main lesson, captured in part by David Carr in the NY Times today, is that all media is now visible and permanent, even radio. As a media personality you can never assume anything you say will go sliding by into the ether, and eventually forgotten. Everything is being archived, everything is permanent. Your media life now has URLs -- as Don Imus just discovered when something that would have ordinarily blown over quickly got a second thru twenty-second life online.
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