I’m not usually one to recycle content created by other people, but this is too good to pass up. Imagine, if you will, 1500 prisoners. Now imagine the video for “Thriller”, by Michael Jackson. Now imagine 1500 prisoners recreating the video for “Thriller”.
If you didn’t follow that link, stop what you’re doing, have a look and then come back.
Done? Excellent. How astounding it is aside, it really does raise some questions:
- Did things like this happen before YouTube?
- How the hell did they convince 1500 prisoners that this was worth doing?
- Of all the things you could do with 1500 willing people, was this maybe a bit of a waste of time?
Think hard about number 1 for a second: I’m really genuinely curious as to how much outlandish stuff happens and gets filmed now that wouldn’t have before YouTube existed. I’m sure it happened sometimes (You’ve Been Framed does not count), but I can only imagine the volume has increased a stupendous amount.
So, the real question: if YouTube is powerful enough to cause the world to warp in this bizarre way, what else is it capable of?