I find the whole thing creepy: an ordinary kid simply going about his daily work life becomes the object of affection for thousands of teen girls around the world in just a matter of hours. But whats perhaps even more disturbing is the continuous ascension of youth interest and culture to places of value outside of these organized online communities. The leverage they have - or seem to have - in real life identity politics is powerful and disturbing. All this goes to show that teenage girls, particularly teenage girls coalesced in fandoms, are perhaps the most powerful, and most underestimated, force shaping mainstream Internet culture. If they glom on to something, whether it be a new One Direction single or the photo of some baby-faced Target cashier, it will go viral. That’s not a prediction or a correlation — it’s a proven certainty. And Alex, in his unwitting new stardom, has demonstrated that principle yet again.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 12:29:13 +0000
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