Over the weekend, BOTC read The Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen.
Keen asserts that the current Internet, the "democratic" and participatory internet of Google, YouTube, My Space, etc. is essentially killing American culture (music, literature, etc.) drowning the voices of expertise, eradicating copyrights, and smothering the main stream media. Keen fears that the internet is morhphing into a hyper-Wild West which more often than not endangers rather than enlightens.
Do you agree or disagree? It is worth a read. The arguments made will tug at your moral core while simultaneously enraging your libertarian leanings. BOTC has posted previously about the use of the blog and internet as a public service.
Keen first appeared on the critical scene after penning an article for the Weekly Standard, equating the Internet to Marxism.
2 comments:
marxism and anarchy are bad?
I guess I'm confused... Is it worth a read? What do you think? Without having read the book, I sort of agree that the web has managed to drown out some expert voices in trade for sites like wiki and I don't love all those empty deserted blogs out there filling up space (I don't know why that bugs me) but the web has brought out a new form of voice -- the voice of real people. I guess if you relate it to experts, I'm thinking of Dr. Sears (the baby doctor) back in the day he was the voice of parenting because he was a published name. Now you can find thoughts of real parents and other professionals who just aren't published. It's nice. Sorry to use a doctor example on such a 'not a parenting' blog; but I'm a mama so that kind of stuff pops into my head first.
Hmmm, design.. ok, I suppose if you want to see amazing homes by Prince, you don't now have to drive to California and drive to Albuquerque -- you can look on the web. I see designs I would never have heard of before because of this and other like-minded blogs. There are advantages and slimmer non advantages to it all.
Thanks for the recommendation (I'm hoping it's a recommendation) I can always use yet another read.
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