Fads

I have no idea (well, a vague idea) where this will end up, but one problem which has lead to the current winding-down of any number of industries is the fad.

Thinking mostly of entertainment, here. What I mean is now the kids are getting (rightfully, mercifully) sick of American Idol. It was a fad, just like the 1999 mania for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The music business, however, goes ahead and assumes that this is the new thing, the new normal, and thinks how much money can be saved by just cherry-picking some demographically exact kid and building him/her/it up, as opposed to find actually talented people and nurturing them. It's HOT! It will always be HOT FROM NOW ON! Then the ratings slide and a whole business model predicated on this fad slides into oblivian and the music biz people all shake their heads and say what happened? ANYONE can see it is an expendable TREND! A FAD!

Or look at how everything is centered around Guitar Hero (already waning) and Rock Band (not sure what this is actually is, except that it sucks) and how all eggs are in this new flashy basket. "Hey! We'll center the new edition of Guitar Hero around AEROSMITH! My third wife's kids loved them in college [in 1987]!" Meanwhile, all the money flows into the gaming/music fad, until kids finally wake up that Guitar Hero is stoopid and is no more than a Simon with Metallica blaring out of it. And, like the Rubik's cube's quick demise after it was found to be readily solvable, the demise hastens along as the internet shows more and more six year olds from Korea or wherever flaunting their mastery...

Or Starbucks. "Hey, Starbucks! We finally got one here in Terre Haute!" Then one day everyone wakes to the fact that the coffee is a TERRIBLE, bitter, scarcely potable travesty. "What were we so excited about?"

I dunno, it just seems faulty to me. The Internet itself was a fad until it actually came along and overtook reality. But then the Internet's true purpose is to be George Orwell's telescreen and keep tabs on you. Duh!