An adult on YouTube? FINALLY!

Dear “geriatric1927”,
I have been following YouTube for quite some time, but have never encountered somebody like you. Thanks so much for sharing your life experience, showing us your face and letting us know that older people exist and have many interesting things to tell. I enjoy your stories, so succinct and well organized, your soft-spoken voice and your thoughtful comments about YouTube, MSM (main-stream-media) and some other issues. Thanks for giving us a sense of history (personal and world history) and a sense of connectivity between past, present and future. With the ascendance of postmodernity and the fragmentation of knowledge, you are that “difference that makes a difference”.

Hey YouTube! - xoxo Paris (Hilton)

Paris
I cannot believe you became a YouTuber!
I cannot believe you traded your privileged, not-from-this-world status for a couple of days of fame! I cannot believe you are among us, competing with lonelygirl15, FilthyWhore , geriatric1927, morbeck and Emmalina ….
The time will show who will prevail.
Under the theory of Long Tail, media businesses that entail abundance of media texts and relatively low cost of storage and distribution (e.g., iTunes, Wikipedia, YouTube), will promote consumption of a greater variety of media texts than media business that have a relatively high cost of production, storage and distribution (e.g., Blockbuster stores). YouTube clearly confirms this model. So, go ahead Paris, use YouTube to promote your new album, YouTubers are not afraid of you. YouTube is not MTV, there always will be a place for everybody. Besides, you may find some highly unfavorable rants and reviews and decide to stay away from YouTube.

Zadok The Warrior and/or The Priest

As we are getting (not!) used to the images of the war in the Middle East, this video creates the sense of absurdity of wars by emphasizing the perspective of the winning side. No dead or massacred bodies, no ruined houses, no crying mothers. This video is powerful b/c it fully exaggerates the portrayal of war as a spectacle of power and technology. Like in first-person shooter video games we are removed from the perspective of the victim. This effect is further enhanced by the soundtrack. Images of explosions and destruction are remixed with the music from Handel’s “Zadok The Priest And All The People Rejoiced “, which is a part of his “Coronation Anthems”. As a result there is no compassion for the victims, but only a pure “rejoicing” and celebration of self-efficacy when getting the target.
The author denies references to the current war in Lebanon and Israel. Yet those are rather obvious. In Hebrew “Zadok“ means “righteous”. Zadok was the name of several characters who lived in biblical times, but is mainly associated with an individual who served as a high priest during King David's and King Solomon’s reigns.
The reference to the biblical times underlines the eternity of wars. The author concludes with a quote from Plato -- “Only the dead have seen the end of the war”. Grimly I am signing out this post -- war was today again a widely discussed topic on YouTube”. I am quite certain today is not the last time.

Dear "Dear World"

I‘ve been watching your new video on the backdrop of disturbing images of the war in the Middle East. As always, major network war reports create a sense of spectacle, leading us to believe that the war is far away, and happening to others. .There seem to be too many commentaries, reports and analyses. Too many talking heads mumbling all day long, without saying anything significant. As we are hearing sirens and explosions and watching bodies ushered to ambulance cars or buried under rubble, ruined houses and cars, we are becoming even more emotionally detached, We rarely get to face those people and look to their sufferings directly. Your images bring that intense gaze of pain. You capture people as if they are not looking to the camera but to the viewer, forcing us to face their appeal and question.
Once again inspiring and powerful!