That Glaswegian Melbournite and angry middle-aged PR practitioner Gerry McCusker has co-created a superb video on the similarities and differences between social media and punk rock.
For your humble aging rock star whose words you are currently reading, Gerry is absolutely spot on.
Like Gerry, I presented at the recent #iabc09 conference in San Fran (“man”), and I can certainly concur that punk rock and my presentation met in a holocaust of violence:
- I had several people spit on me
- One kicked me in the shins, then threw up on me
- The majority of the audience (all seven of them) swore at me afterwards.
But, in the tradition of all good punk rockers, I had my revenge: on the flight back from LAX to SYD (on a A380 no less!) I had the pleasure of spitting on an infant that exercised its lungs rather vociferously for many hours on end.
To add delight to piquancy, I then flicked the ears of two separate toddlers on the SYD-ADL leg who belted out their frustrations at a volume level that even Barnesy at the height of his powers would have been proud of.
At the risk of causing a torrent of abusive comment and email, I wonder why airlines allow toddlers and infants to fly, seeing as how the vast majority of them suffer excruciating pain in their ears as a result of the changing air pressure. I honestly do feel sorry for the poor little rug rats. The fact that their screaming also causes excruciating pain on all surrounding passengers is inconsequential; it is massively cruel that parents inflict the cause of the pain on their offspring.
Perhaps there is another one of those senseless and futile Facebook groups in the offing…
And, like Gerry, I wish I could shake this damn jet lag!
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