#727 E-Cacophony

The internet may end up being the ultimate reproductive strategy for cleansing the species of idiots. Then again, it may just make more of them.
It’s always been the norm for people with a crazy streak of exhibitionism to embrace new technology. They could, say, go on public access TV and make a fool of themselves. Ham radio brought out the nerds. Cheap amplification brought out the garage bands.
Young and single people aired out their angst in hopes of attracting similar spirits. But the internet and things like YouTube and MySpace are littering the digitosphere with hours of mindless idiocy and florid displays of stupidity.
Forget about eHarmony, eCacophony is stridently flaunting the foibles of humanity.
Take, for instance, Carmen Kontur-Gronquist. The name Kontur is spelled not like the word for curve but like the way they badly spell names of cars. K-o-n-t-u-r-. At this point her judgment is already in question. If I had a name like Kontur I probably wouldn’t hyphenate it with the name Gronquist.
Kontur. Gronquist.
Anyhow, Carmen decided to post risqué photos of herself on MySpace. No problem there. It’s a free internet. The problem arose when certain internet viewers noticed that not only was Carmen on MySpace, she was also the mayor of their fine city of Arlington, Oregon.
She was apparently ousted from her Mayoral position forthwith.
I hesitate to think what would ensue if one of our local mayors were to feel similarly inclined to express his inner naughtiness in this regard. I mean, I’m all for full disclosure and complete transparency for the dealing of politicians. But not of the actual politicians themselves.
We want them to bear up under pressure—but not too bare.
But here’s the really unsettling thing. This woman was a mayor, and presumably smarter than the average bear. But her defense was the pictures she posted on the world wide web were meant to be private.
That’s my space, she explained, that’s why they call it MySpace.
I’m thinking we need some kind of “do you even have a clue?” test for people running for office.
America, ya gotta love it.