Politicians: Welcome to the Internets...

****UPDATE BELOW****

When mediums collide the effects aren't often easily predicted. Such is the case with the recent Democratic Debate on YouTube, which featured candidates answering questions from citizens via their web cam....and an extremely disturbing image of genitalia.

During the debate the "goatse" image was flashed for a fraction of a second, which had candidates flinching. Yet, apparently no one acknowledged it during the debate. I also heard absolutely nothing about it on the morning broadcast shows.

"GOATSE" for all of you not privy to early Internet culture, is a highly disturbing picture of a man's anus and genitalia that people are tricked into looking at, All the while expecting something entirely different (e.g. a bunny). You can read the wiki here but I think I summed it up pretty well.

For obvious reasons, I'm not posting the vile pic.

Yet, it seems this blogger picked up the story and did a bit of research to see if he was the only one in witness to this heinous act (and yeah, its heinous.)He reported over 200,000 phone calls to the Democratic National Committee and currently awaits response from the broadcast media giants.

Had this been a regular broadcast debate, we'd have likely never discovered the prank. I mean it only flashed for a fraction of a second. However, since it was on the Internet it might as well been flashed for two solid minutes.

A part of me really hates that this event will further divide Internet video from its mainstream audience. It's a shame that one foolish individual screwed this up for the rest of us.

***UPDATE***

I recieved an email from a graphic designer friend who pointed out the techical improbabilities of embedding the dreaded Goatse into the question video. I understood none of it but you can view the Video here with no sign of nasty: http://youtube.com/user/jasonkoop