While lacking the money and inclination it would take to get into hard drugs, I have heard things. Something I've read about is that dealers will entice a prospective customer with the best product, that which will give you the purest effect, and this will be below their usual cost as well. Of course once said customer is hooked, they will be expected to pay full price, and for less distinguished product as well. At this point they're considered to have no choice.
For a while it's seemed to me that the internet has been pulling the same game on, well, all of us. Where there used to be a fascinating variety of features and voices, now you have a mindnumbing monotony that can't even hold your interest long enough to repel it. An especially sad decline can be seen in the area of fansites, where loving online shrines have been replaced by dull official sites and social media accounts. And while this is partly due to the migration of internet usage to phones with smaller screens, there's also a question of plain indifference.
And 20-25 years ago, when print media started to go into an obvious decline, we were told that it didn't matter, that the web would not only pick up the slack but bring more variety and beauty to the media. It sounded too good to be true, and as things have panned out, it wasn't.
For a while it's seemed to me that the internet has been pulling the same game on, well, all of us. Where there used to be a fascinating variety of features and voices, now you have a mindnumbing monotony that can't even hold your interest long enough to repel it. An especially sad decline can be seen in the area of fansites, where loving online shrines have been replaced by dull official sites and social media accounts. And while this is partly due to the migration of internet usage to phones with smaller screens, there's also a question of plain indifference.
And 20-25 years ago, when print media started to go into an obvious decline, we were told that it didn't matter, that the web would not only pick up the slack but bring more variety and beauty to the media. It sounded too good to be true, and as things have panned out, it wasn't.
2 comments:
The bait and switch trick you describe drug dealers using has a long history - likely at least as far back as the Opium Wars. It's only got worse since the 30s when gang wars first broke out during Prohibition because the trade in illicit substances became so profitable for organized crime.
There's a difference in kind with what's happened with the internet but not necessarily in form. That's almost all down to the fact of profit making. In the years since the internet was allowed to monetize indiscriminately it appears to have had the effect that you describe. Many people left blogging altogether while others joined social media sites.
It's become more and more obvious that the internet promotes cursory reading, distracted thinking, and superficial learning. While we can get easy access to vast amounts of information, it's turning many of us into shallow thinkers.
There's nothing like a good book - printed on paper. Maybe there'll come a time when zines prove to be attractive again.
It's not too surprising that the method goes back a ways. It has the feel of something that a lot of people have spent a lot of time perfecting. Also it's one of those "need money to make money" deals. If you don't already have access to the goods and a steady supply of customers, it won't work.
What I described doesn't necessarily depend on people having that particular motive. They don't necessarily need any motive. Certain actions take place and have a certain effect regardless of intent, and their own aims seem just sensible to them. The problem with people leaving blogs is that they no longer have the freedom they used to. They can try to say and do the same things, but people aren't listening to them in the same way.
The internet at the very least rewards low attention spans. And that has a lot of deleterious effects in many areas of the world. Things deteriorate because no one can put it all together.
Zines are incredibly valuable. They bring new kinds of beauty and dream into the world.
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