Thursday, June 16, 2011

Computers and the democratization of us all

Yes, I am getting pretentious here but when you think about it, what has, more than anything else, made us more equal than almost anything, besides the vote?
It has to be the computer and what it has led to.
Think back about 25 or 30 years ago. If you lived in a small town or rural area, you bought what was available at your local shop or you had to drive miles out of your way to the city. If you wanted to see a major entertainment or sporting event or even buy a bestseller, you pretty much had to do the same thing, since big name acts don't usually fly into beautiful metropolitan Podunk and many of these smaller areas don't even have (gasp) book stores.
It just ain't the same today. Thanks to computers and the internet, we can get anything we want when we want, whether we live in New York City or Hicksville. We can order whatever books and tea whenever we want or not when the local shopkeeper decides to carry it. I remember years ago looking for pants in an olive green color and being told by the local shopkeeper that she didn't sell them because people around here didn't want that color.
Yeah. Guess I didn't count.
But that's OK now because I can get them online in whatever color I choose and not what a local yokel fashionista deems to be the proper shade for my rump.
The same goes for my coffee and tea choices. I tend to get most of my day to day stuff online with the occasional taster bought locally when something catches my eye. I do try to shop locally when I can but I refuse to give up when they don't carry the things I like.

No comments:

Post a Comment