Woodstock
So, the original was the seminal defining event of the 1960's. Google couldn't even find a decent link in the first page of hits for the 1995 version. The 1999 Woodstock wasn't even in Woodstock, but took place in Rome, NY and enjoyed looting, burning, and other assorted fun. I wonder what it is all about that changes the peaceful 69 from the violent 99.

Maybe it is the lack of a solid cause like Vietnam. Maybe it was the attitude of commercialism that pervaded the Rome version. (Did Rome fall in a day? Maybe so in 1999) Maybe it had to do with it taking place on an abandoned airfield instead of a dairy farm.

I think that maybe we are or, at least, have been moving through a transitional phase of interaction. People are holed up watching TV, playing video games, playing with their computers. Maybe we've lost the ability to act appropriately in large crowds since we spend most of our time alone or in small groups. Maybe the advent of instantaneous communication via cell phones has made our crowd socialization skills atrophy. As great as the internet is as a communication medium, it is still lacking in crowds. Maybe that is what chat rooms are, but it is different. We are what we are face to face, but we assume differnt personas in the internet, in our blogs, and within chat rooms. The key to the web is the communication. Markets are conversations. Maybe so. Conversations are fine, but our massive social interactions are somehow skewed. You can't even attend a sporting event without expecting a lot more than a game and a marching band at halftime.

Events like Woodstock are too unscripted for us to know how to behave correctly. We lose contact with our individuality within the crowd and allow ourselves to act in ways that we never would in "normal" circumstances. To let ourselves go, seems to be the equivalent of allowing ourselves to be violent. Even our "spontaneous" celebrations of the home teams championship erupts into violence. Where am I going with this?

Just this. The internet, the web, cell phones, technology, whatever is still lacking a true integration with the crowd. Chat rooms are almost it, but how do we take the chat room into the crowd and the crowd into the chat room? There is a basic disconnect with other humans on a day to day basis that hasn't quite been answered by all of our wonderful 21st century technology. I love the technology, but the next round needs to address the crowd, the crush, the street, the celebration and provide us with meaningful ways to interact with others within the crowd. With love, respect, and generosity.