Demetri Martin: Trendspotting—Clubs
This video does not have the same title as the one listed on the Syllabus, but Tom assures me it is the correct video to watch.
The video is a clip from The Daily Show, and it features resident "trendspotter" Demetri Martin exploring the Oklahoma State campus, and obtaining information about a few clubs out of the 800+ the student government sponsors. Some of the clubs are totally awesome like BBQ Club and Whip Club…actually based on these two clubs I’m guessing all the clubs are awesome. Rabbits Against Magic is not a club and never will be, although I would totally join it (if I were a rabbit…and against magic—but no, magic is awesome).
As was displayed, there is a roster of all the clubs listed on a website somewhere. This is the only portion of the clip I found to be digitally relatable, as the breadth of the story took place in the “real” world.
I suppose clubs are a form of social networking, but not on the same scale shown in some of the other pieces. Perhaps these clubs all have MySpace or Facebook pages, allowing their members to NETWORK WITH THEMSELVES. You are six degrees… from yourself! I really found this to be a healthy way to get together and share common interests without risking the prejudices clubs like Ballroom Dance could face if held spontaneously on the Quad. Although Martin continually pokes fun at the more esoteric (I’m surprised BBQ club didn’t have more members—as a school-sponsored organization, it could probably be a way to eat for free. I know BSU has a Pizza club, but I don’t know if it is privately funded. Dale will look into this!) it is something that people have been doing for years. End.
4 comments:
I thought this video was absolutely hilarious! I don't think originally this video (since it was shown on TV) really had much to do with digital media as we have described it in class and as others have described it in the pieces we have read, but now that it is online I would consider it just that. It is putting out information in a non-linear way (no matter how much of a joke it is).
PS. Dale I think you should look up more about this pizza club.
I just have to say that, aside from being highly amusing and gee don't I wish we got to watch more of the Daily show for class, Ithe satirical nature of this video seemed to share the general feeling I got from the article " Five Reasons Social Networking doesn't work" and "Six Degrees of Separation". In other words, isn't it all great that we are all to some degree interconnected but in reality doesn't that just allow us to seek out new people just like us. The clique grows but in the end most of us seek out the same people and the same ideas.
I know that in my experiences on Myspace.com and other sites like it mirror the experiences of Molly Wood. If I accept that social networking can be helpful in connecting me with more people like me, which can be handy if I move to a new state for example, then I can understand why these web networks can work. They can keep distant frineds together and link like minded people but I have to agree that they don't seem to draw together radically different classes and ideologies.
In a different class this week I was asked to comment on diversity at BSU, which I think is an interesting parallel conversation. Yes, in a conservative state BSU is far more diverse in political, religious, and cultural viewpoints than say the whole of Buhl, Idaho (no insult meant) but does that really mean anything if htis diversity of ideas is only focused on campus?
What I wondered about most after watching this video was whether or not we limit our social interactions that would be meaningful for us by joining some of these clubs. If I met a really interesting and intelligent person with whom I was were getting along with great, and then they told me they were the president of the whip club, I would second guess my judgement about this person.
Some things, like whipping, don't really seem to belong in a legitimate, recognized, extra-cirricular club. I could see if everyone in the whip club wanted to be lion trainers, and were going to school for that, it could be recognized. Maybe I am just shallow.
Social groups always tend to be exclusionary. No matter how many times you try to invite new people, there will always be people on the outside who do not understand what your organization is up to, and will write you off as illegitimate. How many people outside of band think band kids are nerds? How many people not involved with sports think that all the atheletes are just dumb jocks?
People are generally not motivated to go out of their way to meet new people, and even though the internet offers an anonymous way to do it through these social sites, I don't understand the popularity of Myspace. You can feel free to mutiny me for that. I am proud not to have a page that I have to check daily to see if people posted to my site. If I want to talk to someone, I will pick up a phone, send an email, or (heaven forbid) visit them in person.
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