Change?

I think most people generally have similar wants and desires in life. One saying that I believe is very true is that "all politics are local". I also believe that people for the most part are very much more pre-occupied with the events that impact them on a day-to-day basis rather than broad social and economic issues.

We live in an age when the level of information available to the average person has increase both in quantity and availability thanks to the Internet. The response to that has been that social websites such as Facebook, Myspace and others have grown exponentially. These networks allow people to connect with old and new friends, share photos, and engage in any number of on-line surveys, games, and polls, most of which impart very little knowledge (unless knowing what member of the Brady's you most resemble is important to you).

Yes, the sites also offer opportunities to join various causes but it seems pretty unlikely that we are going to solve any great social or political issue because of Facebook.

When you consider the current economic crisis, it has impacted millions of Americans. Generally, everybody is aware of it and it creates a certain general buzz. However, outside of those who have lost a job and/or gone through a foreclosure, a large number of the general public is actually fairly unimpressed.

Most people are rightfully more concerned about things that impact them on a personal basis. A stuffed up toilet constitutes a real crisis while the economy is just "one of those things". If you ask most people, they really just want someone to tell them what they need to do to help fix the problem, not the fact that the dollar may be getting weaker, or that the banks are issuing secondary stock offerings. Those are more of those things that they talk about in the papers.

These things come and go and I think many peoples views can be expressed quite succinctly, "the more things change the more they stay the same".