While I'm really glad that smart people like Tim O'Reilly and Chris Anderson are enjoying t-shirt media hack, I'm realizing that the really terrifying thing is that everybody in my social circle knows what Goatse is.
But Tim's right, of course. The only thing bloggers love as much as a good old-fashioned pile-on is an inside joke. Ours is an influential and popular culture, but it's still full of memes that have never crossed over to traditional media such as television and print. (Star Wars Kid excepted.)
With things like Crying While Eating showing up on TV even more quickly in their life cycles, are we going to lose the chance to have web-geek-only inside jokes? Is everyone already going to know what we find amusing? And is getting our memes out there going to be as annoying as the radio show prank callers who get themeselves onto TV?
News flash:
Those memes are already godawful annoying enough just in the world of blogs.
We may as well spread them to the TV/radio/print worlds to annoy the maximum number of people possible.
Anil, Just the site of that word makes me sick. That aside. I've only seen that image once, because I didn't know what it was. I've tried ever since to will it from my memory.
There are as many people using technology to create truly wonderful uplifting works as those who are creating the truly horrific and degrading images.
In case you haven't seen some of the more encouraging and delightful images, check out what's listed in this post. Pay special attention to incredible talent of Fredo Viola.
I agree with you it's - well I would use the word sad rather than frightening - that more people know that word, which represents degradation, than know about Fredo's moving and technically astonishing work. Can we change that?
while Stephanie had her own rants about her "XXX tshirt" photo being immortalized.. the blogsphere seems to have taken notice of only your photo in goatse.. wonder how many people even thought about the real gist of the article :))
I've only seen that image once, because I didn't know what it was. I've tried ever since to will it from my memory.
I hope you understand that's ... a common reaction. The packaging of that squick factor into a net meme is more or less a defensive social reaction. The more net-savvy may well seem more inured to such imagery, but it's partly the jokey frame that makes it tolerable.
I do wonder when grandma will be as goatse-blase as the rest of us. Certainly Ron Jeremy, of all people, needed to be initiated ...
By the way, I disagree about the "degradation" involved. The model in those shots seems to be a fetishist who would, likely, reject that label for something he does voluntarily for his own pleasure. Degradation is a social effect, involving more than one person.
And if you think there's some sort of contest between the uplifting and the degrading, well ... I'm not sure we're at all on the same page. Fark is never going to be a place where "uplifting" imagery is used as a surprise for someone blindly clicking on a link, you understand.
Yes, Dan, I'm fully aware of the joke aspect of the game. However, I didn't click on a link. I had the pleasure of seeing the woman version of Goatse on a mobile phone. There was no frame that made the experience acceptable. I've never seen the image you describe, so I won't comment on your version.
Degradation isn't "social". It is not a verb. It is a noun, and I'm satisfied with my use of the term.
degradation - n.
1 The act or process of degrading.
2 The state of being degraded; degeneration.
3 A decline to a lower condition, quality, or level.
You understand that you are making all sorts of unfounded assumptions. You make assumptions about the level of my net savviness. Why is that? Because I'm offended? You seem to also be assuming that my initiation was recent. Why is that? You are also making huge assumptions about the human being in the image.
Deep Throat was a film before the label was used for a character in Watergate. The woman who starred in the movie was drugged and forced to perform in that movie. Would it change your cavilier attitude toward the degradation depicted to learn that the photo was taken under duress?
I was tricked into viewing the image by a 17 year old boy. It appears that he has many peers in the blogosphere.
Btw, I've been on the net since 1985 when it was still called the Arpanet. How about you, Dan?
Do you remember the Green Card Lawyer?
OY! This is embarrassing. The image that I was shown as goatse, is completely different from the actual image. so, um, all that stuff above...
Where's the delete comment key? Never mind.
No problem, I'm glad to have someone learn something and have a record of that on my site. Much better than a flame war, especially since it's an entertaining and civil conversation between two people whom I respect.
Don't worry, Anil. The Internet is ultimately a human enterprise. In-jokes among cliques are part of the human condition. New ways to reinforce community (which is part of the value of in-jokes) will arise. (But you do need to diversify your activities if everyone you interact with got the joke.)
As long as we remember that all your base are belong to us, we'll be fine...
I just saw that picture, and found my way to your blog from there. Now I'm even more bummed that I wasn't accepted as the Six Apart Summer Intern.. how cool would it be to work with the guy who everyone saw wearing a Goatse shirt!?