Everyday I think the Internet sucks more and more. Spam advertising the most vile things, ads for casinos, and popups for mini cameras. It starts to make me sick.
I remember being deeply entrenched in the promise of the Internet. I’d try to illustrate the vision and grandeur of the Internet that I expected to anyone who listened, and when I first saw a URL show up on a billboard, I knew the rocket was launching.
Now that the rocket has crashed it’s hard to have that same passion, the same enthusiasm. Building the Internet in my own way has been what I’ve done for the past 10 years. It’s part of me like my arms are part of me. Having it plagued by the most vile of carnival barkers is very much saddening.
But, through the wasteland, green shoots have developed, and offer renewed promise. There are special exceptions that have endured the storm. Blogs endure, and I expect will always endure, as people and thoughts endure. News sites will endure. Since September 11th I’ve made a habit of scanning CNN on a regular basis. It seems to me that anything I hear on the radio or on a national news cast is simply repetition of what I’ve read during the day.
Of course, this could all be my own perspective, just as someone who loves Backstreet Boys might expect Backstreet Boys fan sites to endure forever.