There's a lot of hand wringing over what the digital age may be doing to us and society as a whole. And though you may not think LOLCats and auto-tuned politicians are high art, Thursday's guests contend the internet is a vibrant platform for human expression. Lynn McNeill and Trevor Blank are folklorists and they say people have been telling stupid jokes and complaining about government long before the web. They join Doug to talk about digital culture and what we can learn about ourselves from it.
Lynne McNeill teaches folklore at Utah State University. She's the author of Folklore Rules [Amazon|Indiebound]
Trevor Blank teaches at SUNY Potsdam. His books include The Last Laugh [Amazon|Indiebound] and Folk Culture in the Digital Age [Amazon|Indiebound]
KUER's All Things Considered host Bob Nelson tries his hand at a new meme, "whaling"
