.....

It's a natural thing, this reflection on the events of yore and the process of ranking them. We all do it. In fact, I don't think we cannot, not do it. But, what startled me most about these lists, especially the 'Douchebag of the Year' lists, is that they all contained the same people, or, at least a pretty close approximation: Nancy Pelosi, Al Sharpton, Alberto Gonzales, George Bush, Michael Vick, Larry Craig and that overly annoying 'Don't tase me, bro!' fella. Granted, there were others sprinkled in for good measure, folks like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, but, in the end; all unoriginal and all pretty much the same. And it amazes me, this snow-globe effect of information: forever trapped and forever to be the same the world over. Overturn, shake, read and repeat.

For how else could it be? How else could one possibly explain the similarity of these lists. Were they created by some secret cadre hell-bent on spreading their manifest of selected douche baggery to the masses? Can it be possible that the entire InterWebs got together in some secret IRC channel to bear witness to their insidious task? How else could it be? How else could it have happened? How else can it be explained? Am I to truly believe that the entire world-wide genre of blogologists were present to witness their dark work? And through their own devices were compelled to repeat it? Ad nauseum? Something strange, as they say, is afoot at the Circle K.

There are evil forces at work here, my friends. Evil forces. And they are not of the 'dark work' variety. They are of the green commerce variety. And to prove my point, to put edge to blade so to speak; all I need is for you to simply look to the right, sometimes left, of whatever site you are reading these lists on. Do you see it? It's as plain as the nose on your face. It's advertising, kids. The root, father and some say 'Saviour' of all 'free' content on the Internets, television and radio. And it is this that I draw as suspect.

Is it mere coincidence that a vast proportion of these 'names' that occupy these lists are also among the years most popular news stories? Is it it some sort of requirement that douche bags be known the world over? Again, I think not. Think of the Paris Hilton coverage you saw last year if you disagree with me. Lists of these type are mere traffic generators. Built, and designed, entirely to draw as many readers as possible to the hosting site. Whether or not they reflect the author's actual viewpoint is unknown. Some I feel are honest portrayals, as seen from our friends over at devilmoon.net, others, on the other hand, well, you can judge for yourself. The next time you see one of these lists, and you are required to view each and every one on a separate page, you have the almighty click-through and page-count revenue system to thank. The more clicks a site gets, the more they get paid. The more an ad gets displayed, the more the site-owner gets paid. So, it only makes sense to fill your site with popular search terms to drive traffic. More traffic equals more money.

And that's a good thing. Or so I'm told. We all need money to live, thrive and survive. But, at what cost? Art? Originality? What has happened to the pure thinkers of the world? Where have they gone? Has the internet become just a snow globe of perpetual shit? Hell, I am just as guilty as the rest. Regurgitating unoriginal material, posting videos I found elsewhere all in lieu of actual content. Posting links of crap that I feel you need to know about. All in lieu of doing actual work. All in lieu of convenience in order to fill some stupid goal of thirty posts in thirty days. Of which, in case you forgot, I failed.

Perhaps I should have split this post up over a few hundred pages. I really could have used the twenty-eight cents.

More later kids as the cleansing contiues.

30 in 30 update: Day 150/30—Post 15/ 30

And endings. But, I bet you already knew that.

30 in 30 update: Day 146/30—Post 15/ 30