We'll see many more Charlie Sheen moments: ; Unfortunately, the new media also enables narcissists

A Charlie Sheen moment was inevitable. In fact, this perpetualpublic display did not have to be about Charlie Sheen.

It could have been any other B-list celebrity.

All it took was someone famous enough to draw considerable publicattention and a willingness of that individual to use traditionaland new media to chronicle his or her decline in real time.

The nature of the meltdown rants themselves is not new. Mentalillness, alcohol and drug abuse all contribute to the narcissisticbehavior for which Sheen has quickly become the poster child.

What is new is how this is happening.

Yes, Sheen has done mainstream media interviews, but he's alsobeen able to create his own audience through Twitter and Internetbroadcasts. He is his own show.

In that sense, Sheen is right with his continuing focus onhimself.

He's saying in every possible way, "Look at me," and people are.

This is the downside of technology. The same rapidly evolvingcommunications systems that help fuel democratic revolts are alsoexploited by individuals whose reason for being appears to becentered on the amount of attention and constant stimulation theyreceive.

The ability to attract viewers who want to be part of theexperience produces sycophants who give Sheen even more reason toact out.

So when Sheen says, as he did in one recent Internet video that"people need to hear my gold as it rolls out," he probably doesthink he's delivering fascinating nuggets instead of stream-of-consciousness ramblings.

Not long ago, before the instant and constant information stream,the camera would occasionally turn off. There would have been timeto reflect.

Before Twitter and Facebook, we might have paused for a time toconsider whether every event of our lives - from the hopelesslymundane to the highly personal and traumatic - was appropriate forpublic consumption.

But the changing technology has created a market as well asmillions of sources for this new information.

The filters, once like great dams, have been washed away. We'releft with a steady flow in which the obscene and ridiculous is mixedwith the meaningful.

This development allows the Charlie Sheens of the world to throwthemselves into the stream, leaving those watching to wonder whetherwe should throw him a rope, take a picture, or jump in and be a partof it ourselves.

It will be fascinating to see what comes next.

The conventional wisdom would be that the Sheen ordeal is a blip,a pitiful distraction from everything else in the world.

But it could be more.

Maybe Sheen isn't too far off when he says, "We are in the middleof a moment here, an odyssey of epic proportions."

This moment isn't about him, however.

He's just the current attraction, and one thing that has notchanged with new technology is that acts still get old.

Rather, this is the newest example of the nexus of technology andthe "look-at-me" mentality.

It is the ultimate expression of the self-indulgence of theinstant communication generation.

Kercheval is host of TalkLine, broadcast by the MetroNewsStatewide Radio Network from 10 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday.The show can be heard locally on WCHS 580 AM.