Home | Concepts | Internet habits | Hegemony? | Civil unrest | Credits |
The Failure to Se The experimental movie, Blair Witch Project, which was shot on a hand-held cam-corder had little artistic merit and was nauseous with its ever-shaky scenes. However, this low budget film instantly became a blockbuster hit and grossed over millions of dollars! What's its winning formula? Its ingenuous director and producer started spreading a legend on the Internet one year before the film was released, claiming that 3 students who went in search of the mythical Blair Witch were never found and only their video footage was discovered. Thus the show was supposedly a "true" video recording of what happened. Many people were taken in by the tale and rushed to see the show for themselves, much to the delight of the director and the producer.
|
![]() |
The Blair Witch symbol |
![]() |
Living in a fantasy world The Internet has brought about a new level of idealism, leading initially to a surge in dotcom companies. However, this dot.com bubble was quick to burst, most but a few strong ones had vanquished. |
Even the survivors, such as Amazon.com and Yahoo.com have reported losses by the millions. In fact, most dotcom companies have been making huge losses right from start. Business acumen would tell any entrepreneur that profitability is the key to a successful company. However, blinded by idealism, many dotcom companies were unworried about the figures in red. Their assurance came in the form of investment from venture capitalists and advertisers. Once the bubble burst, the huge capital flight saw many companies' share prices drop from 3 digits to a single digit. Companies that have done well generally do not just depend on revenues from investors and advertisers, such as Microsoft and Oracle. They usually provide goods and services which customers pay for. Thus, the New Economy still operates on the Old Economy's maxims. The dream that one can earn a living just by maintaining a popular website is a mere fantasy.
Discernment The above 2 examples underlie the lack of critical judgement in Netizens. They believe that in the Internet, the rules and wisdom of the physical world are temporarily suspended. However for Kant, maturity requires the exercise of one's reason in all matters and therefore in the case of the Internet, the principle of having independent and critical thinking would still apply. |