Forty years ago, as an undergraduate studying politics and sociology at York University, I stumbled upon a work of magisterial prescience.
It wasn’t on any course reading list as it had just been published.
If you’ve read the above, then you will get the following:
These words are being arranged on a screen in my electronic cottage in an area that was on the losing end of Second Wave civilisation.
Because of geography and geology, Dún na nGall was never going to be an industrial centre.
Instead, her people were exported to Second Wave centres in Britain and North America.
The same was true of my father’s Mayo.
Only on the Lagan did Second Wave civilisation have a foothold on this island.
I was reminded of Toffler’s analysis when I looked at the Celtic presser last week.
Firstly, a hat tip to Dom for having the fan media in before the print titles.
I hope that he was sending a message for the future.
In the 1980s, the proliferation of word processors created the fanzine movement.
At Celtic, those Samizdat publications created an environment where Celts For Change could become an irresistible movement.
At the start of that decade, Toffler imagined the growth of a “de-massified media” as the Third Wave hit human societies.
That future has arrived, and the old industrial Second Wave model of top-down media no longer delivers.
For example, when it comes to intelligent analysis on how my team is doing on the pitch, I look no further than Celtic by numbers and the brilliant Alan Morrison.
He provides a level of professional insight that would be utterly out of place on the liquidation denying sports desks of Planet Fitba.
Many of those within the old media see the future, and they don’t like it.
Certainly, the collapse and death of Rangers in 2012 caught the traditional media by surprise.
The man who unveiled Craig Whyte as a billionaire in 2010 is still employed at the Daily Radar.
Today he was less than Zenlike about the inclusion of fan media in the day of pressers at Paradise.
If you must, then you can read it all here.
Here is the key passage of award-winning succulence:
In their blind rush towards placating the punters ahead of season ticket renewals it was decided to open the doors to ‘fan media’ for Postecoglou’s first day.
Incoming chief executive Dominic McKay may see the business sense in reconnecting with the fan base but he must surely have been regretting it from the moment the first question was asked and the cringe-factor was dialled up to 11.
It’s one thing attempting to embrace the future but it’s quite another when supporters are stuck in some sort of time warp, bleating about conspiracies that belong in another time and place.
With such quality commentary, it is amazing that the Daily Radar is circling the circulation drain.
Another positive note was that unlike the anonymous heroes on message boards, these bloggers and podcasters are out there as themselves.
As I stated last week, I knew that James Forrest of the Celtic Blog would be value-added at the presser.
However, I thought that some of those in attendance sounded a bit too grateful that they had been invited.
That said, in time, they will settle into the task and ask tough questions.
With his natural Australian bluntness, I don’t see Ange having a problem with straight questions.
As a card-carrying member of the NUJ, I’ve been in Celtic AGM pressers.
Dear reader, I’ve witnessed some of the most softball questions that I’ve ever seen in several decades as a journalist.
So I can’t be too harsh on the Fan Media folks at Paradise last week.
With his own immigrant back story, which he mentioned in the presser, I’m confident that Ange will get what Celtic are about and what they mean to so many people.
Since he got the job, I’m told that he was issuing performance-related diktats via Zoom.
For example, I understand that he sent the fitness data of his squad in Japan to the sports science people at Celtic.
From Day One, he was setting standards.
I’m aware of at least one current player who has been told he has three weeks to shape up and save his Celtic career.
The new Celtic boss has a massive job on his hands and very little time to get there.
It goes without saying that the succulent Stenography Corps want him to fail and how.
Those on the sports desks who bridle at the inclusion of Fan Media has been exactly that for the Ibrox franchise since they got their first dignified laptop.
They represent the dying Second Wave model of journalism.
Your humble correspondent is counting the days until my next date with Third Wave technology.
The second dose of an mRNA vaccine will give me a high degree of protection from Covid19.
When the H1N1 hit the planet after the Great War, millions died because Second Wave civilisation had no answer to it.
These are the Good Old Days.
Like all wartime emergencies, this current pandemic has generated scientific discoveries and demonstrated proof of concept of existing technologies to the wider society.
The Electronic Cottage and the De-Massified Media makes life better for all of us.
Toffler was correct in 1980, and the Third Wave has democratised the media.
That is good news for the Celtic Family and indeed anyone who wants a club formed by immigrants to do well in a hostile environment.
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Please explain these waves you refer to, perhaps I,m getting to old ! does it pertain to tech, news, societal issues……
Jackson and his Ilk’s problem is that I now view the game as I would the Christmas pantomime or a travelling circus act. I dont feel a need to “rise above” claims of conspiracy and corruption any more than I feel a need to let the clown or baddie know there’s someone behind him.
My wallet is taking a similar approach.
So, is 1690 still in the ‘Second Wave’ Phil, or perhaps even the ‘First Wave’ ? And for that matter: Has the MSM in Scotland any chance of reaching the ‘Third Wave’ ?
Headline from the DR today;
“Alfredo Morelos rumoured Rangers exit takes another turn as Porto identify their ‘plan B’
The Colombian is wanted by the Portuguese giants but they could be ready to move on if a Portguese report is to be believed.
By Steven Mair, Live Sports Writer”
==============================
“…if a Portuguese report is to be believed.”
The DR questioning the veracity of another media outlet?!
…and after the DR had breathlessly ‘reported’ on 34 [?] transfer moves for Morelos last summer?
On the contrary, there is still a place for the Scottish MSM in 2021 – even though it is has not learned much since 2012.
The DR and the rest of the SMSM sports coverage does provide much needed mirth during these difficult times! 🙂
The reason the Spanish Flu spread so widely is fairly straightforward.
It was rife in the trenches and neither side could afford to let the enemy know that they had an outbreak so as a result they kept quiet about it.
This was ok until they started sending men back to their respective Countries injured and of course it subsequently spread like wildfire as a result.
There are similarities with the current outbreak given China sat on it for 3 months before declaring it could spread from human to human.
It is only named the Spanish Flu because it was Spain who let the cat out the bag and told the World.
It is believed to have started in the US at a Fort housing recruits in billets overcrowded in winter.
That aside one can only wonder just how utterly amazing these vaccines are given they were designed for the original Strain and NOT the subsequent strains that have evolved from it?
I mean to say you wouldn’t expect to go to your GP for a Flu injection in 2021 for a vial containing Flu vaccine dated 2019 would you?
Of course not because that would make no sense.
▪️Will the vaccine still work?
The new variant has mutations to the spike protein that the three leading vaccines are targeting. However, vaccines produce antibodies against many regions in the spike protein, so it’s unlikely that a single change would make the vaccine less effective.
Over time, as more mutations occur, the vaccine may need to be altered. This happens with seasonal flu, which mutates every year, and the vaccine is adjusted accordingly. The SARS-CoV-2 virus doesn’t mutate as quickly as the flu virus, and the vaccines that have so far proved effective in trials are types that can easily be tweaked if necessary.
Peacock said, “With this variant there is no evidence that it will evade the vaccination or a human immune response. But if there is an instance of vaccine failure or reinfection then that case should be treated as high priority for genetic sequencing.” ▪️
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4857
Keep taking the blue pill 👍🏼
It is somewhat expected for fervent fans to bleat about conspiracies but was Jackson so withering when Gerrard, someone that should know better, couldn’t go one match before spouting the same?
That was an excellent read the truth the refreshing truth about the antediluvian attitude of the smsm in this country, shocking bigots the lot of them.
The best you have written by a mile with a nod to the third wave how could it not be.
I am betting that the other mob would be loath to let their fan based blogs into a media presser in case a whole hen house of mobs were loose. By the way what ever did happen to all those folk that were going to be arrested for the riot?. Is ulster not part of the braddish isles then.