Speaker’s Corner
OLOF GILL
Oh Dear. Only back in the office a few days and I’m already contradicting the boss.
Readers of The Mayo News may have noticed in last week’s Speaker’s Corner a scathing critique of the popular YouTube website by none other than our esteemed editor.
Now, far be it for me to pick a fight with my superiors, but as an unreconstructed YouTube fanatic I feel compelled to offer a defence of this website and its myriad qualities.
The basic purpose of YouTube is to enable anyone anywhere to share their video files with the rest of the world. In effect, this means anyone with a camcorder, digital camera, webcam or mobile phone camera can take a picture or film and soon thereafter have it on display for all of humanity to see (well, the ones with high-speed internet connections at any rate).
This is simultaneously its greatest strength and its most glaring weakness. It, unfortunately, means that every fool with enough brain cells to hit the ‘record’ button on their phone can, as our editor pointed out, make a poor quality video of any silly occurrence in their life. And it’s also true that some of the material on display is of a decidedly sinister nature. A very large proportion of content on YouTube is unwatchable drivel.
Sift through the rubbish, however, and there are plenty of diamonds to be unearthed. Persevering with YouTube inevitably provides any number of delightful discoveries and surprises. Type in the names of Mayo’s five elected TDs, and a number of interesting clips come up, including extracts from Enda Kenny’s memorable presidential address from the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis. Politicians the world over are increasingly conscious of the importance of being visible in cyberspace, and Mayo is no exception.
Moreover, ridiculous though it may sometimes seem, YouTube may be playing a part in the future of our local economy, particularly in the tourism industry. Sites like YouTube will almost certainly play a part in how tourism evolves in the 21st century.
A small bit of searching YouTube provides footage of poetry festivals in Kiltimagh, hikers on Croagh Patrick, golfers in Ballinrobe, cathedrals in Ballina and sailing and surfing on Achill.
These clips might not always be of incredible quality, but if they persuade even one person to choose Mayo as their holiday destination, then vital tourist euros are being injected into our economy. Holidaymakers these days are sophisticated - they are no longer content to rely on a glossy Fáilte Ireland brochure or theatrical promotional video featuring gorgeous, smiling people riding horses in the sunshine. There is an element of authenticity to these clips: these are real people enjoying themselves.
My main reason for using YouTube is the music. Any music lover can find incredible archive footage of their favourite artists, from punk rockers to opera divas.
It’s simply staggering how many excellent quality video clips are available. For this reason alone, YouTube should be celebrated.
Where else would you find such instant, easy access to incredible performances by Luke Kelly, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and Maria Callas (to name but a few)? If it’s Mayo music you want, you can, for example, see a live traditional session from Matt Molloy’s or Ballina rock band Whitewater.
The same is true of all your favourite sports stars and sporting moments. They’re all up there. And if they aren’t, they probably will be soon. Searching last week, I found archive footage of Mayo versus Meath in the 1949 All-Ireland football semi-final. I mean, where else would you see it?!
While I readily concede that YouTube is awash with tripe, it’s not all tripe. The diamonds glitter all the brighter when you see the rubbish around them. I urge readers to stick with it - you’ll be astounded at some of the stuff you find.
