F Word Sets D.C. Abuzz!

READING THROUGH THE GONE META MOMENT ON THE CHENEY EFFING ERUPTION: Post Editor Explains Decision to Publish Expletive in the Washington Post, we learn .... The Washington Post printed the word yesterday for the first time since publishing the Kenneth Starr report in 1998. And that set the town buzzing.

A sane man might think that it was the use of the phrase against a man who so richly deserved it that might be the cause of the buzz, but no, it is really all about the Washington Post's ability to float the most overused word in the English language into its august pages. This, of course, means that the whole thing has gone meta inside of one news cycle and we can look forward to at least four more cycles before it fades into oblivion.

At this rate, the arguments about when the Net will supplant Old Media are now over. The behavior of the Net has utterly entered the host body of Old Media and taken it over. From now on Old Media is just a zombie of the Net and all future news cycles will be merely "typical net.exercises" -- i.e. "It was a typical net.exercise -- a screaming mob pounding on a greasy spot on the pavement, where used to lie the carcass of a dead horse." (Source unknown)

Posted by Vanderleun at June 26, 2004 9:56 AM