Steve Martin: ‘Today, the Process Is Faster. It’s Your Brain, a Button, Then Millions of Reactions.’ quoted by DF who then writes:
“…after a misquotation of a joke he tweeted was spread by Salon. Winston Churchill once said, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” It’s a lot faster now.”
Martin goes on to say in his original post:
Comedy is treacherous. I used to try out jokes in clubs and the audience’s feedback would tell me when I had crossed a line, or how to shape a joke so it is clear. Today, the process is faster. It’s your brain, a button, then millions of reactions. But it’s my job to know.”
[When you edge up against the line, which is an essential job of comedy atmo, the modern social networks raise the cost of being wrong to an incredible level. The part that everyone needs to know is that the world is listening, that you can’t really delete things, and the consequences for making a mistake could well be far in excess of the level of the transgression. Tweets are generally treated as the expression of an individual and so the “blow back” is personal and vindictive.]
Source: Daring Fireball
turnings :: daniel berlinger 