Some Thoughts on Digitalization, Sexualization, and the Subjective Treatment Lately of Reality

Seeking Primarily Two Things Online...

I (obviously) like to write about popular culture and the trends I see in it. Well, more and more I see the fact that the internet connects us with much of the wider-world making our own personal worlds that much smaller. To clarify: In our ability to reach-out to anyone with an internet connection and learn about different views, exotic places, see new stuff, etc. we have purposely sought out basically only two things--other people who share our exact same views and sex-related content AKA porn.

We are now capable of talking to someone literally half a world away and discussing interesting subjects, but we use the internet to find people who share our precise views and/or will get naked on camera for us. As a book I read long ago once stated in a different context, (it was about genetics), but has a title which works perfectly, "The Future is Now." I would amend that however to state, "The Future is Now About Making Reality Fit Our Views and Getting Off."

A Comic and a Song

It's not a subtle comic, but its fun.

I started having these thoughts when ingesting assorted pieces of culture. For example, I was reading a comic--because this is of course a blog often about comics--which I mentioned when discussing 2016 in review. The comic was the zero issue of, "Lookers," a revamped concept from an old Avatar Press series now published under their, "Boundless," imprint.

"Lookers," is a comic full of sex as it is about cam-girls who take advantage of horny men on the internet who they learn are also social-media trolls so that they can track them down in order to beat them up and embarrass them in order to stop their picking-on other people.  It is a concept both clever and totally stupid at the same time. The first page (which I've edited to make safe-for-work) however makes an extremely pointed statement about the well-known communications concept of the, "Male Gaze," however. Observe:

Edited to be safe for viewing in public!

If you didn't want to bother clicking the image, it states how, "The Male Gaze is a webcam," which is pointed in how true it is. We no longer have to wait for mass media and advertising to create products for the male gaze to observe and consume, we merely have to type the right phrases into our internet search and a few confirmations of being 18 or older and entering a credit card later we've got women (or men) modeling for us in whatever manner we like. The, "Lookers," zero issue is now getting a mini-series tying-in with another comic about a female superhero named Ember hounded by paparazzi so hopefully that will be insightful--the first issue comes out shortly and the 3rd can still be preordered on sites like Things From Another World.

Oh, and I know not all entertainment and porn is designed for the straight male, but plenty a study will show the majority of it is made that way, and with the ease and privacy of the internet we now can easily head wherever we want online to find any sexual desire or fantasy (within reason and legality) we like. Sex has become digitized, and another example of this is the stellar song, "Digital Girl," by Jamie Foxx and featuring The Dream and Kanye West.

"Digital Girl," has a remix too, but I prefer the original.

On the song, "Digital Girl," Jamie Foxx croons about how he feels like he loves a woman whom he has never seen in person, but only knows via his computer screen. The lyrics are worth dissecting for sure, as Foxx goes on and on about how much he adores this lady he's never even met and that someday he wants to get her, "Ass up in this kitchen," but you wonder if in some ways Foxx prefers keeping it all digital. Frankly, the only thing more masturbatory about the internet than how many of us use it for literal masturbation is that many folk use it to find others who blindly agree with their beliefs.

A Reality of Our Own Making

On the internet we love to point out when people are wrong. Arguably, the only thing we enjoy more than that is teaming-up with others who share our views to point-out together how others are wrong. This piece by The Atlantic titled, "How America Went Haywire," is required reading for anyone wondering what the Hell has happened to society lately. Basically, we all live in our own realities that defy actual facts and how by finding others who feel the same way (such as online) we can make our lives an echo-chamber of nonsense until we truly believe Hillary Clinton ran a child sex-ring out of a pizza restaurant or that vaccines somehow cause autism...in dogs.

When we only go to websites that repeat this kind of nonsense and refuse to interact with anyone who feels differently than us we start to buy into the bullshit lock-stock and barrel. After all, if all our sources say Sandy Hook was a false-flag operation to bolster gun control efforts of course it was, the only news-sites and people we believe declare it to be the God's honest truth! We have gotten to the point where thanks to the internet we can enter a reality of our own making, but not just in video-games, it now can be done with simply some web-browsing.

It'll All Be Okay Though! Right?

Tech overload?

This piece so far has been pretty depressing and negative, which isn't my entire intention. As someone who is sex-positive and not at all a prude I want folk to enjoy talking about and watching consensual sex-acts to their heart's content as well as having a great time finding other people who share their social and political views so that they can engage in a jovial exchange of shared opinions. I just find it worrisome at times that as our access to the world expands we seem to be shrinking our personal circle that much smaller to only things that turn us on or people who agree with us.

I guess all I'm saying is when you're done looking at porn on the internet maybe find some articles that challenge your belief-system, pieces that state facts that you may dislike but are just that, facts. Even if you don't like the truth that doesn't stop it from being reality, and if you expose yourself to enough actuality you may turn into/remain a well-reasoned and thoughtful human being. That, or you can be one of those people who insist the Earth is flat. Your call.