Two resolutions for the New Year:
First, watch less network TV. More and more, my reaction to what I see on television is "who cares?". Network TV is simply becoming irrelevant. I think a few things are going on here. First, the ‘net is a vastly more efficient medium for finding reliably relevant content. Second, the major networks are chasing each other down the toilet. Third, I’m getting older, but TV is also getting younger. This is not #2 rephrased. Quite apart from the vulgarization of culture, network TV is also conspicuously targeting a younger demographic. I’m convinced that the reason the young are the desirable marketing demographic is not because they spend more, but because they are (believed to be) easier to convince to spend more.
Second, switch off the US political blogs (cool RSS aggregator trick #1 – wipe an entire media sector from your consciousness with a simple right-click <delete>). The tone has become intolerably shrill, on both sides of the aisle, the surest sign of all, perhaps, that for the foreseeable future US politics will be beyond reason. Too much of the ‘debate’ on the blogs seems almost a parody of schoolyard argument. Escalatingly preposterous claims, ascribing cartoonishly absurd motives to one’s opponents, and outright verbal thuggery. For the time being, as far as I’m concerned, political bloggery, with the exception of Wonkette, is a failed experiment. Ctrl-Alt-Del, and try again. Next time, with adults.