September 1, 2007

"Reading/writing people…we are ghosts witnessing the end of the literary era."

I was thinking about this line, from Philip Roth’s forthcoming and highly anticipated novel, Exit Ghost (out in October) – the ninth and final book of his Zuckerman cycle – when I encountered AOL’s home page last night.

Of the 16 headlines featured on the first four rotating splash screens last evening, 11 were about sex, relationships, substance abuse, or public image. (NOTE: As lame as it sounds, I still use my AOL account on occasion. And, equally as lame, I have not yet taken the time to personalize my AOL home page. Which means: I am no more likely than anyone else to receive news blasts of this nature.)

The 11, in the order they appeared:
-Sex Sting Ousts Idaho Senator
-Bombed Mom Makes Kid Drive
-Hard-to-Ask Health Questions: Embarrassing for Guys/Women
-Is She Country’s Sexiest Bartender?
-Nannies Talk Frisky Hubbies
-Ex-‘Idol’ Rocks Out With Bikini Babes
-Book Says Actor Was ‘Gay for Pay’
-When Women Aren’t Looking, They Go for Your Deodorant
[Surely, I copied that down wrong]
-Celeb Fashion Train Wrecks: Brit Forgets Pants...
-No. 1 on List of Prettiest People
-Secret Signs He’s Interested in You

In the hierarchy of AOL, the slumping economy, terrorism, the war in Iraq, even summer storm updates, were not on the radar, at least not on the generic home page that I receive. And why not? It seems that across the culture we’re attuned not to substance but surface, not to meaning but mirage, not to the literate but to the latest sleaze-tease. We want raw, red-meat, clickability. And we want it byte-sized. And we want it now, now, now.

It's not about aborsbing what's on the page. It's about maximizing the page-views.

Perhaps I should give up the AOL ghost, since I only use the service intermittently. Or maybe I’ll tailor my AOL home page so I won’t have to burden anyone further with such rants.