More Benefits From The Internet
Since I fly (as a passenger) a lot, I check in now and then on Patrick Smith’s Salon column Ask The Pilot. At the end of the most recent one, the following excerpt from a reader comment really nailed my funny bone. He’s talking about the persistent internet activity regarding conspiracy theories about TWA Flight 800, which exploded over the Atlantic from fuel tank vapors:
The Internet is wonderful, but it is a two-edged sword. Years ago, I pointed out that it used to be that every village had its idiot, but all he could do was sit in the village square and mutter to himself. With the Internet, all the village idiots now can converse, compare notes and build on each other’s mutterings, making them … global village idiots.
John Mazor, a 27-year communications veteran in the airline industry
I should probably take the above as a caution against my own mutterings. I’m reminded of the scene in Woody Allen’s movie Love and Death, in which some town is playing host to a Village Idiot’s Convention. A huge banner hangs over main street proclaiming, “Welcome, Idiots!”
