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TRIO Eleven: Thomas Hart

G21 Guest Writer

Why the World Wide Web Failed

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A bucking bronco, our symbol of rebellion. There are three(3) types of people(At least here in the United States, corporations have the same rights as people) in this world:

Corporations with limitless bucks to expend to SELL us something

Amateurs who can be on the Highway for free at "members.tripod," "Geocities," or some other such shill server, where they can "rant," put up pictures of themselves, and/or their children, nephews, cousins, favorite movie stars, "dream" to their hearts' content to 3 people a week

Obsessive Lunatics

This why, IMHO, the World Wide Web has failed in all of its much-hyped, get-on-the-bandwagon flamboyance.

TRIO Logo The second TRIO of this week features Austin, Texas's THOMAS HART: "Why the World Wide Web Failed!"

London Calling! Logo FLISS USSHER's LONDON CALLING! talks about finding the "Common Ground. " AND at the end of this month: FLISS REPORTS FROM BERLIN!!

Powersbooks Logo BOB POWERS finally gives some clues about HOW TO WRITE in POWERSBOOKS.

Planetary Madnesss Logo JENNIFER BLUE's PLANETARY MADNESS looks at YOUR influences!

TRIO Logo In this week's TRIO, ROD AMIS says the Unthinkable: "Turn Off Your Computer!"

Hot Links Logo HOT LINKS(Not from Louisiana) has a new Silver Surf Award site for you, and the Link Partners program.

PREMIERE: G21 COMIX: Bix the Snowboarder - The Legend Continues!
Du-ude, Bad News: This feature is best viewed via frames. But guess what? There's a non-framed version so you can enjoy this totally rad feature of the magazine. So you know what to, like, do right?

Trend Bends Logo JENNIFER BLUE takes our TREND BENDS in a very different direction. Media Meta-Critique, G21 style.

G21 TALK! Bust a move! We KNOW you have something to say about your time here. And the Message Board is the only place you can put your Official Contest Entry. What are you waiting for, Surfer?

Bare Knuckles Logo JEFF WINBUSH looks at the Texas execution of Ms. Tucker!

You need to use The Message Board

HOUSE OF CARDS!"

There is NO democracy on the "Information Superhighway," let alone "community." Just like in the world so many people come here to escape(Admit it!) MONEY AND VIOLENCE(in this case, verbal or titilating) Rule the World(WW.)

Or is that better left unsaid?

I laugh my ass off watching the TV commercials from computer companies talking about "where [I'd] like to go today," or featuring some nuns in a country I'll never afford to visit talking about how IBM is the coolest --- IN SUB-TITLES LIKE IT WAS A CLASSY MOVIE OR SOMETHING!!! It's all Madison Avenue again, presenting False Needs for our amusement and amazement. In the center ring: the Dancing Baby websites ad infinitum!

Why does every single television show or movie have a web site? Like we give a shit.

Well -- wait. I guess we do. If we aren't connected(once again!) we don't BELONG.

We aren't part of th In-Crowd.

So look here, Billy-bob, if you 'fraid of come-pooters, get the Ball-&-Chain and the young'uns onto WebTV(a Microsoft subsidiary.)

I want to scream!

Our symbol of the new Multinational Village Why say this here?

File this one under "Obsessive Lunacy." A week or so ago, I wrote an e-mail in to what passes for a "Letters to the Editor" page on this web site. That very same night, I got back this response:

You raise some interesting points. Flesh them out more, and we'll publish the result, if you'd like.
Regards,
RA

The office of the departmental Inspector General reports that our Department of Commerce gave out almost $80 million in grants, from 1994 to 1997, to foster the growth of the Internet.(That's only one department of our government. What have the rest of them larded out of the pork barrel? you got to wonder.)

Newt Gingrich, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, claimed that if it was up to him every poor child in America would be given a laptop. Bill Clinton and Al Gore(our Chief Executive and Vice President, respectively, if not respectfully) are always ready to wax rhapsodic about getting every school in the nation on the I. Superhighway.

For What?

So we can all know where the closest place is to buy Joe Boxer? So we can find out that "Binky"" hates broccoli, or "Carlene" thinks Gloria Allred should die? Lest I puke! Other than the fact that we're getting alll the Usual Pop Cultural Crap from A MILLION sources --- instead of 100,000 --- is this "medium" better than any of the others, pimps and panderers every one?

And don't give me that weak, lame, tired song-and-dance about "an invaluable research medium," or "a means of reaching out into the new global economy." I got the t-shirt.

WHEN'S THE LAST TIME you "researched" anything on the World Wide Web beyond the Pam and Tommy Lee video? SINCE WHEN you wanted to have a meaningful dialogue with some slob whose also sitting in his underwear in Estonia, Bubba?

Let's pull down the window-dressing.

THE REASONS THE WORLD WIDE WEB HAD FAILED, NEWT & AL, ARE THE SAME REASONS YOU WERE SO INFATUATED WITH IT FROM THE START:

Numero Uno: It validates our national technology investment, primarily in the computer industry, which has always been driven by the planned obsolescence which once characterized the General Motors mentality.

Numero Duo: ACCESS to this rapidly changing technology --- and the ability to upgrade to the newest, coolest stuff --- is economically stratified. To put it in layman's terms: "Sure the price of the computer is going down, Leroy! But lookahere, Bud, your want to use Macromedia Director, and have your site really scream, you gottah plunk down five grand. You understand what I'm saying here, Pardner? Come on, son, I know you speak English!"

Numero Trio: The myth of "cyber-culture" being the Great Leveler, bringing all strata of society into a Global Community, like the "Melting Pot" myth that demagogs throw out about America is just that: A MYTH(Let's be charitable here and not call it A LIE created to produce another False Need.) There is no Gold Mountain.

Reel this tape back here for a second, okay? I want you to think back to that Inspector General's report I mentioned earlier. Did the Inspector General's office find ANY VALUE derived from the Department of Commerce's $80 million largesse?

Nope. What they found was a poorly monitored, haphazard, slapdash mess. They stopped just short of using the word "boondoggle," but you and I don't have to. It's OUR MONEY we're talking about here.

Have you seen an explosive mushrooming of web sites devoted to community empowerment or bringing the voices of the underclass into the "global dialogue" in the last four years?

Me neither.

What I HAVE seen is the explosive mushrooming of corporate and corporate-sponsored websites.

Have you noticed an expansive presence of people of color, multi-lingualism, or cultural diversity blossoming on the World Wide Web?

I REST MY CASE...

+++ The Previous TRIO +++

Thomas Hart is a software designer living in Austin, Texas. This is his first published article.

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