A New Version of the Ditto Machine: Facebook

Remember the “ditto machines” of the 1960s?

During my teaching days at Roncalli High School in Aurora, Illinois, I made liberal use of this machine to reproduce tests and other written materials for my students. They seemed to love the smell of the “dirty purple” paper after they received this paper even though it was a test.

Later, I graduated to the mimeograph machines to make copies of the Lewis College intramural newsletter, “The Competitor.” The concept was identical to the ditto machine and there was no confusion as to the originator or author. Readers were intramural athletes who would agree or disagree with the author/editor and would provide feedback immediately and personally through dialogue. 

The latest version of the ditto and mimeograph machines is called Facebook, a format that clones statements made by someone else without any personal effort. The cloner agrees to be represented by and agrees with the originator.

In 1988, Rush Limbaugh listeners converted the ditto machine to a radio talk show format. Rather than agree with and repeat Rush’s commentary, the listener would just grunt, “Ditto” or “I believe exactly what you just said.” Thus came the birth of the “ditto heads.”  

People have used other words to describe the copy and repeat process of living through the words or actions of another: sock puppet, surrogate, avatar. Or living vicariously through another. (Little League fathers are notorious for attempting this phenomenon. It usually doesn’t end well.) 

Is it true that we have designated someone else to say the things that we are thinking but afraid to say? Or perhaps what I am thinking is disrespectful and shouldn’t be said at all. Or maybe the repost more accurately and succinctly states something that I believe but lack the words. Or the author has more credibility than I do. (I often use quotes of credible named authorities to help substantiate my perspective.) 

Reposts that denigrate, disparage, and bully might be a way of saying, “I didn’t say this, but I tend to agree…just saying.” It may be similar to one of my friend’s comments, “He is only saying the things that we are all thinking.” (I don’t know who the “we” are, but I don’t think like anyone or everyone else.) Whatever the motive, the re-poster cannot escape being colored with the same tints as the originator regardless of any disavowals.

Since reposts and quotes will continue into the future, it may be worthwhile to add more comments to the reposts. We could use more thoughtful dialogue in our dealings with one another.  My observation is that honest dialogue with those unlike me has all but disappeared. Opportunities to exchange ideas through oral and written conversations have retreated into dark corners that narrow our minds. The technology may have improved but the “dirty purple” aroma might smell better than the Facebook fragrance. 

After all, the ditto machine didn’t seem to splinter student groups into tribes that despised one another. 

Maybe it was the hallucinogenic waft of the purple paper as the captivated congregation careened into a classroom coma.