We live in an era of celebrity, when people can tweet "read this" or "see this" and millions follow suit. Crazy. I don't think the times we are living in are overly "dark" in reality, I do think this is how they are reported to us via the media. Over 90% of the news and information we receive is "negative". Do you think that over 90% of your interactions and experiences outside of media are negative? I sure don't. Hope you enjoyed the festival.One can attempt this exercise with any selection of current cultural artefacts, from top ten iTune songs to current best-selling novels.
-I think if we were to look at the top 10 books, we'd be shocked at the influence of one particular person. I was talking with a manager of a Barnes and Noble store recently and she told me that when Oprah releases her current pick for the Oprah Book Club they will sell close to 100 of them the same day it's announced. Keep in mind it's not announced until 4:00pm. Now thats some major market influence.