Reply #115: i will look for the Frank essays. the clintonian optimism of the early 90s

[nashville_brook]

was prolly well deserved. it was the end of the cold war which promised the end of irrational military spending. i cringe remembering being asked about "globalism" in an interview on our local public radio station where i gushed with trust and optimism for clinton. god, how i was wrong. it was a seductive myth, that the world was becoming one big happy family, and happy days are here again. i, of all people, should have seen thru the bullshit.

to be fair -- the clintonian message has changed since 92. they don't trade on that utopia anymore -- but, boy was it in full effect back in the day. maybe they didn't mean for it to be so childishly simplistic -- maybe that's just how the public received it. but, i definitely remember the weightless feeling that america was becoming a paradise of knowledge workers and web-based consumers. it was supposed to "change the way we work," i.e. that everyone would telecommute, taking cars off the roads. locally-grown produce would be delivered to your door using your web interface. people who lived in far-off places (like east tennessee or central florida) would find "community" via the ones and zeros blinking across cyberspace.

okay, maybe that last one holds -- :)