The Felt of Memory on YouTube

Abstract

Gregory L. Ulmer (a.k.a., “GLUe”), the McLuhan of YouTube, argues that when the media packages messages about disasters, it often creates a situation where post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) becomes the defining condition of contemporary identity. The disasters are not outside the system of progress but are a crucial part of the system. If we did not filter out, or mythologize, the disasters' contradictory relationships with progress, and the centrality of sacrifice in this process, we would quickly become overwhelmed. Ulmer suggests considering this essential aspect of sacrifice-dependent progress as a Y choice that allows one to realize that there is another choice. When we consider the necessary sacrifice in direct relation to progress (economic prosperity, freedom, participation, technology, happiness, etc), then it makes the seeming inevitability a Y [puncept intended], it highlights the cultural mythology.