"As long as the focus is on these involuntary forms of circulation, we are not asking core questions about how and why people choose to circulate media, about what kinds of media they chose to circulate, about what relationships they are establishing through circulation, about how circulation adds value and meaning and often changes the cultural agenda, and about the ways that influence may work differently in a culture where top-down distribution co-exists with grassroots forms of circulation."
"our discussions of viral videos and Internet memes are often presented in the passive voice, as in “That Psy video went viral.” The subtle suggestion of this sentence construction is that these are naturally-occurring phenomenon — without subjects of sentences, without human orchestration."
"Nobody can guarantee that it’s going to be okay, but — and I don’t know if this will be comforting to anyone else — the possibility exists that there’s a piece of corn on a floor somewhere that will make you just as confused about why you are laughing as you have ever been about why you are depressed."
"Rhetoric” has not always been a synonym for humbug. For most of Western history, it has meant the body of doctrine that teaches people how to speak and write, and, thus, act effectively in pubic life."
RICHARD LANHAM. The Economics of Attention.
"The net is an unending NOW of moments and distractions and wonderments and puzzlements and rages."
"Communication is truth; communication is happiness. To share is our duty; to go down boldly and bring to light those hidden thoughts which are the most diseased; to conceal nothing; to pretend nothing; if we are ignorant to say so; if we love our friends to let them know it."
"Somedays, I feel like the purpose of life is to convert energy into beauty. I know that that’s not true. I know that that’s not rationally true. But some days, it’s okay for things to not be rationally true."
