The Whatever’s

Guest post by David Cohn

Michael Wesch gave an amazing talk at PDF that I dare not try to summarize.

I will point to an anecdote that Wesch used to give insight into how our cultural conversation is changing all the time.

The word "whatever" has morphed over the years.

Pre 1960s: Whatever meant: Whatever, that's what I said.
In the 1960's: Whatever was a call of rejection: "Whatever man."
In the early 1990's: Whatever was a term of indifference. "Meh, whatever." Also captured in Nirvana's "Whatever, nevermind."
In the late 1990 to now: Whatever has become a term of self indulgence "Whatever" from Clueless.

The question is if the internet can create a sense of "whatever" that implies: By any means necessary or anything is possible.

How does the cultural conversation that takes place change as a result of our ever changing mediums of communication?