Why I'm Upset About The Golden Globes

Morning everyone.  Before I go off on my rant, I just want to once again wish all the winners of last night's award ceremony success and happiness with all their future endeavours.  I have singled out my personal favourites on my movie blogsite Real To Reel, and my television blogsite Telly Vision.  I harbour no ill will to any of the filmmakers or actors who have created the movies and television shows that were applauded last evening, and am thankful that the industry is still providing entertainment for those who enjoy their offerings, myself included.

That being said, I'm fucking pissed that "The Social Network" won Best Picture - Drama.

Let me explain myself:  Facebook, the website whose creation forms the plot of the movie, is responsible for the breakdown of human interaction that allows for people to commit the kind of acts the United States saw in Arizona last week.  Ignore the fact that Facebook breaks up marriages, ignore the fact that viruses are poised there waiting to pounce on your computer if you add the wrong application, and ignore the fact that identity theft has become much easier since the site was founded.  Hardcore users of Facebook disconnect from other people so much that it can most likely be compared to the kind of training armed forces go through to de-humanize the enemy before going into battle.  With no real interaction, other people become more of an idea than a reality, and the mind can become accustomed to no longer separating reality from the computer screen.

I am not suggesting that this phenomena has been documented.  I am also not suggesting that Facebook in any way contributed to the attempted assassination of the Arizona congresswoman, or the murder of anyone at her meet-and-greet.  What I am saying is that Facebook, and other websites like it, are contributing to the overall disconnection of people from other people.  It is easy to say that these social sites bring people together, but at what cost are they doing so?  There are articles online, very easy to find with Google or Bing, from all over the world talking about divorce rates, a decline in human interaction, identity theft, and the change sweeping the planet in regards to how we talk and relate to one another.  Cell phones also contribute to this phenomena, allowing people to text instead of talk, and to some extent e-mail has added to it as well.  They are all methods of convenience, but they also make things undeniably impersonal, whether they are designed to or not.  Want to break up with someone?  Text them the news, avoid a messy confrontation.  Want to proposition someone for sex?  Take a photo of your genitalia and fire it into the stratosphere.  Want to incite someone to do something drastic to a public figure?  Make a few violent-sounding tweets and post a website with gun sights over various districts, 'targeting' them.

It all links together, and in my mind giving the Best Movie nod last night to a film about how wonderful the leading contributor to this degeneration of interaction not only condones it, but it also will increase the speed at which it happens.  I'm guilty of using Twitter; I tweet my posts so that I can grow my readership, and I'm sure that I am contributing to the problem along with everyone else.  However, I've noticed something the last few days.  I follow a few emerging models from the UK, girls who for the most part are trying to get their pictures in ZOO Magazine, and a lot of them are suddenly stating in their tweets that they now, just now, have Facebook pages.  Now, these girls didn't wake up yesterday and suddenly become aware that the site existed, nor did they decide just the other day to become models.  The buzz around this film, and maybe even the film itself, is pushing Facebook into the public eye more than it had been there before, and people are joining it in a new wave.  These models just happen to be the way I'm noticing it, that's all.  And yes, I am following these girls because I like looking at boobies.

Thanks to Meddy Ford (@meddyford) for tweeting this photo.

Anyway, keep in mind that this is how I see the world around me.  That is the reason that this particular bit of writing isn't going to be found on the Real To Reel blogsite, even though it pertains to a very specific movie indeed.  You read my blogs, you get a dose of me with every entry.  If you disagree, I welcome e-mails and comments, feel free to do either.

Until next time, Good Readers, keep an eye on your anti-virus software and your credit card numbers.

(Update: Just finished the second half of my CoD: BO review on Confessions.  Check it out.)