So, a new television network... I'm in debate with myself as to what it would be. Like the book I'm working on, my taste is eclectic. Would it be anime, simply good shows with fantastic stories (things like Firefly come to mind), Pagan-related, history, science...? Our world is so diverse; it is a difficult thing to settle on only one niche.
This segues neatly into some of the thoughts I've been having recently. The Internet is currently doing to television what television did to radio. Beyond that however, are the cultural impacts. Conflict - especially war - requires a Self/Other binary opposition; essentially, there has to be an Us or Them mentality. Among the younger generations, at least in my observations from a western first-world country (certainly a limited viewpoint), this is changing. There are still Self/Other mindsets, but, they seem to be divided along different lines than has ever come before. People are categorizing themselves now, not on a larger national basis, but more on an individual interests basis.
To pre-counter some arguments, allow me to clarify. Yes, people still think of themselves strongly according to their nation. Come a national crisis, this is obvious. The point I am making is that nation as a defining characteristic is becoming secondary. We are, instead, hoards of individuals belonging to many, many, different groups.
It is an obvious jump to say that this is due to technology, specifically that of interconnecting. The Internet is the behemoth of this but one cannot discount also cell phones, world broadcast media, and widespread publishing in all forms. Like movable type, the long-term cultural ramificaitons are worth a life-time of study and just as fogged to us as to those in the 15th century. We are in many ways in an information Renaissance.
