The fist was usurped by the clubs and swords.
Clubs and swords were usurped by the sling.
The sling lost to the bow and arrow.
The bow and arrow lost to gunpowder.
Gunpowder was trumped by TNT.
TNT lost to atomic bombs.
Dumb bombs lost to precision munitions.
Rock glyphs lost out to Sumerian Clay baked inscription.
Baked clay tablets lost to paper.
Paper files are losing to electronic files.
Photoypositing was obliterated by desktop publishing.
The Victrola was replaced by vinyl records.
Vinyl was replaced with 8 tracks.
8 tracks were replaced by cassettes.
Cassettes were replaced by CDs.
CDs and Walkman are being replaced by mp3 files and iPods.
The telephone on the wall was replaced by the wireless phone.
The dial was replaced by the touch-tone.
Operators are replaced by robots.
The tri-plane was usurped by the biplane.
The bi-plane was passed by the straight wing.
The straight wing was trumped by the swept wing.
The swept wing was usurped by variable geometry wing.
The propeller was passed by the jet.
Commercials are being reduced by TIVO and DVRs.
Telephones are replaced by cell phones.
Address books and pagers are replaced by cell phones and PDAs.
The horse drawn carriage was replaced by the internal combustion engine.
Standard transmission automobiles replaced complicated two gear autos.
Standard transmission autos were replaced by automatics transmissions.
Scratching stencil instruments were replaced by quills and ink.
Quills were replaced by ball point pens.
Ball points were passed by roller ball point designs.
Vacuum tubes were replaced by transistors.
Transistors were replaced by microscopic diodes on integrated circuits.
Waterpower mills were replaced by electric mills.
Expensive military like airlines are having their asses kicked by cheap relaxed Southwest Airlines.
Cedar and Granite hammers were replaced by iron hammers.
Iron hammers are trumped by air hammers.
The screwdriver loses to the electric screwdriver.
The refrigerator replaces ice delivered in trucks.
Rubbed wool replaced raw wool.
Cotton replaced animal hides.
Mixed Martial Arts are handing Boxing and Wrestling their asses.
Empty holes in the wall were covered with windows.
Expensive fru fru dining was smothered by casual dining.
Blogs are replacing the mainstream news.
Digby, Steve Gilliard, Matthew Yglesius, and Duncan Black replace Thomas Friedman, David Brooks, Peggy Noonan and Laura Ingraham.
Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert trump Wolf Blitzer and Sean Hannity.
The moral of the story: (Necessity is the mother is the mother of invention. When people realized that the press as inaccurate, irrelevant and even dangerous, they started turning to online media. Today blogs are more complete, fact checked and educated opinions and reporting.
So this isn't just about the irrelevance of the mainstream media. It's about technology empowering poeple. It is about the inevitable.
The Falafelbot lurkers here know it. The Billo’s of the world know it. And in fact, all the pundits and inside the beltway hacks know it. Paper media. Old media.
We’re up next.
They can resist us.
They may even slow us down.
But they cannot stop us.