Can you imagine if social media was available in during the Wild West?
The very idea that your big mouth could get you shot would be enough for people not to tweet certain things. I mean, even during those days, just a cockeyed look could get you a belly full of lead.
It crack me up about free speech. We don't fully comprehend the consequences because we don't see it. We think sending thoughts into the open air, we're buffered beyond a fist. Or public shaming. I'm sure during those days there was public shaming. They did post notices of cattle rustlers and thieves. And they did have a bounty system. It'd be weird now if we had a system where people can find the complete strangers talking smack about them and get revenge. I guess we do, it's called the government. J. Edgar Hoover use to use every resource he had to find shit-talkers.
But that's not a society we want to live in. It's funnier just to crack wise on each other and fuck with each others' psyche on a daily basis. You do have to consider the effort it would take back in the pioneer days to really find a way to let Ezekiel know you are displeased with him. I think the best public shit-talker was Mark Twain. Few people knew what an asshole he was. His quips were short and stabbed you right in the heart. It's odd he lived as long as he did. But that's another thing, perhaps in his public shit-talking, there were people who could live through his words (if you agreed with him). Which I would consider him, a modern day blogger.
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