December 19, 2008

| No Shortage of Beauty >>

Thoughts on the collapse of the news:

We tend to get all holier-than-thou when we look at countries without free press. We think their lives must somehow be more pathetic or sad. Needless to say, this attitude makes us feel better. But people go on. They know, or at least suspect, that they are being denied something, but they maintain hope and optimism. They don’t go around moping. They get on with their lives, and sometimes, at least now and then, feel like maybe the censorship doesn’t matter all that much. There are still reasons to be cheerful.

The author? Why, David Byrne, of course!

I don’t agree with his analysis — I think it’s quite Golden Age-ist, and silent on all the new possibilities for news — but I really enjoyed reading it.