Oh, Internet! Like some Olympian diety you giveth and smiteth (smote?) with such tremendous ferocity. Between Julia Allison conquering all media in one week, to the disillusionment of one painfully naive but pretty astute blogger-cum-disaffected literary burn out, to Jakob Lodwick leaving the internet in a huff, to (little old) us receving desperate attention-whoring emails from a fucktard designer, it all feels a bit overwhelming doesn’t it? I’ve started and stopped at least 7 different blog entries to wail, scold and lament. But these folks did it better.
In a special Halloween episode of The Simpsons that aired in October 1995, a freak lightning storm brings all of Springfield’s giant advertising statues to life. The advertising monsters begin to destroy the town when Lisa, an advertising executive, and Paul Anka come up with a jingle urging everyone to stop paying attention to the monsters. Here’s the chorus:
Just don’t look. Just don’t look.
Just don’t look. Just don’t look.
Just don’t look. Just don’t look.The townspeople comply and with no one paying attention, the advertising monsters collapse and die, saving the town.
The “just don’t look” strategy works for more than advertising…it’s effective in any situation where someone or something runs on attention. On the web attention comes in the form of links and pageviews so “just don’t look” translates roughly into “just don’t link or read”.
Look at this instead! The internet can be lovely. As lovely as you are. See ya monday, thanks for a great week!
Oh My Fucking God! Tell me that it’s not Apollo again! Lie to me! I’m glad he’s back, but really I don’t know how much more I can take. Though, this time I am inspired. I have made a t-shirt of my own. It reads:
“Apollo is my attention whore”
Yay!! You’re back!! We missed.