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Billy Bragg gets the internet wrong

For someone who exists in an environment where their political views are in a minority, immersing themselves in an audience who are singing songs that articulate those views can be inspirational. To find yourself among other people in your town who share your views – people whose existence you may not have been aware of – offers a sense of social solidarity unavailable in internet chatrooms.

Agreed that the singing is different, that one is in physical proximity with those fellow believers.

But as Natalie Solent pointed out near a decade ago (not quite, but this has all been going on nearly that long) what the internet makes much, much, easier is:

find other people who share your views – people whose existence you may not have been aware of –

Whether we are talking about people who knit small animals to leave in urban locations or those who would discuss libertarian political ideas we can all find, much, much, more easily those who share our ideas on these here intertubes.

3 thoughts on “Billy Bragg gets the internet wrong”

  1. So Much For Subtlety

    Bragg ought to know. He posts at the Guardian. If you can find a village made up entirely of greasy, limped haired, sandal wearing, weak wristed, flatulent bores I would like to know about it.

    So we can nuc’ it from orbit.

  2. the example a friend of mine offers is “furries”, one of the more unusual sexual sub-hobbies in which people dress up as furry animals and get jiggy with each other; twenty years ago if that was your kink you might have been lucky to meet one or two sexual partners in your life who shared it. These days they have huge conventions.

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