Dying cultural phenomenon alert.

Whatever happened to "mic check"? Why, only last fall it was a burgeoning new cultural phenomenon. Look at Richard Kim burbling in The Nation last October:

We Are All Human Microphones Now

... [T]he protesters [have] adopted an ingeniously simple people-powered method of sound amplification. After the mic check, the meeting proceeds:

with every few words / WITH EVERY FEW WORDS!

repeated and amplified out loud / REPEATED AND AMPLIFIED OUT LOUD!

by what has been dubbed / BY WHAT HAS BEEN DUBBED!

the human microphone / THE HUMAN MICROPHONE!!! (jazz hands here).

Jazz hands here, indeed.

The overall effect can be hypnotic, comic or exhilarating—often all at once. As with every media technology, to some degree the medium is the message....

Oh, yes it is. And that particular message lost its appeal. Am I wrong?

[I]t’s Occupy Wall Streets’ raw anger and simple resistance to being beat down (sentiments well suited for the human mic) that have captured the public’s imagination....

The public's imagination seems to have escaped from that captivity. It's hard to find any recent enthusiasm for the old mic check game. And by "old," I mean: last fall. In the past week, I see some pathetic "mic check" activity in D.C.:

[M]embers of Occupy D.C. clustered in the middle of R Street NW for an impromptu general assembly as police were hoping to reopen the roadway to oncoming traffic. They resolved to relocate to the Black Cat, where the City Paper debate was about to begin....

"Mic check!" a loud voice in the back of the room exclaimed. A rabble of occupiers—not more than 20—started to issue their demands that the debate cover issues such as Walmart and corporate campaign contributions, and their apparent frustration that all three moderators... were white men.

And a "mic check" call was used at a recent Santorum rally:

As Santorum addressed the crowd, two men in the back stood up and started yelling, "Mic Check!" Then, when they had everyone's attention, embraced in a prolonged kiss.... The crowd responded by chanting, "USA! USA!," as security escorted the men out of the room. Patch Local identified the men as Timothy Tross and Ben Clifford. The pair told the Patch that Santorum's stance against gay rights is what prompted their protest kiss.

So now "mic check" = "look at us." No mic checking actually occurs. Just some kissing. Speaking of a very old medium with a well known message.