This essay examines one such 'single strand,' the Miyazaki Mailing List, an international group of fans devoted to the works of Miyazaki Hayao, who is Japan's, and arguably the world's, greatest living animator. He makes a strong case for how these trends lead to alienation and passivity, including offering a melancholy vision of 2010 where future Americans will spend their leisure time 'sitting passively alone in front of glowing screens.' 1 While he does acknowledge the potential role of the Internet as a facilitator of communication-quoting the sociologist Barry Wellman, who maintains that 'computer-supported social networks sustain strong, intermediate and weak ties that provide information and social support in both specialized and broadly based relationships'-Putnam also worries that overuse of the Internet will lead to 'single strand' cybercommunities and 'Cyberbalkanization' in which individuals speak only to a circle of 'like-minded intimates.' 2 Chronicling the fading of civic groups, union organizations, church socials, and sports clubs, Putnam paints a picture of American society (and, by inference, other postindustrial societies) growing ever more disconnected and fragmented. Putnam charts the increasing decline of what he terms 'social capital' in contemporary American society. In his landmark book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000), the political scientist Robert D.

Michael Johnson, owner, Miyazaki Mailing List

Anime pdf