The Communist Web
I've read some absurd things in my time, but this one really takes the cake. It's by a 'big media' guy at CBS News, who has written an astonishing spiel about what he regards as 'Web 2.0'. It's actually the first compelling thing I've read about Web 2.0 all year, but it was compelling because it was so hilarious. In one longish article, the writer Andrew Keen not only outlines his theory that Web 2.0 = Communism - he also manages to invoke Orwell and Franz Kafka too!! Now, I know I promised not to blog about Web 2.0 this year on Read/WriteWeb - but trust me, this article by Keen will have you rolling in the aisles. Here's an excerpt:
"Just as Marx seduced a generation of European idealists with his fantasy of self-realization in a communist utopia, so the Web 2.0 cult of creative self-realization has seduced everyone in Silicon Valley. The movement bridges counter-cultural radicals of the '60s such as Steve Jobs with the contemporary geek culture of Google's Larry Page. Between the book-ends of Jobs and Page lies the rest of Silicon Valley, including radical communitarians like Craig Newmark (of Craigslist.com), intellectual property communists such as Stanford Law Professor Larry Lessig, economic cornucopians like Wired magazine editor Chris "Long Tail" Anderson, and new media moguls Tim O'Reilly and John Batelle."
Now back to your regular scheduled blogging...
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And I thought this was gonna be one of those dull days. Thanks CBS for giving me my smile back!
FFS.... :/
Posted by: Robert | February 16, 2006 1:14 AM
I don't think it's absurd at all. Keen is making some valid points about the solipsistic and anti-meritocratic nature of Web 2.0. Better to write a thoughtful rebuttal than to dismiss it out of hand.
Posted by: Paul Montgomery | February 16, 2006 1:20 AM
YOU write a thoughtful rebuttal Monty, I'm done with that merry-go-round. I didn't even want to mention the guy's article, but it was too funny to pass up.
Posted by: Richard MacManus | February 16, 2006 1:28 AM
Thanks for your referral. Keen's article seems an interesting, well-thought post. It's easier dismissing and categorizing under 'humor' than engaging in a dialectical discussion.
Posted by: Muli Koppel | February 16, 2006 1:33 AM
Aww, don't be like that Richard. Come out and play nice with the other kids!
Posted by: Paul Montgomery | February 16, 2006 1:46 AM
It's interesting how the concept "social" can be twisted to become "communist". Being from the "social democratic" historical landmark of Sweden, I truly understand how "far-fetched" this comparison is, and couldn't agree more with the laughing...
Posted by: Peter Giger | February 16, 2006 4:35 AM
I think some folks that need noteriety spew this claptrap - but this fellow needs no such thing. Maybe he needs currency of opinion.
But to say such an a----hole thing -Craig N. a communitarian?
You think he feels the heat, commerade?
Posted by: Alan Wilesnky | February 16, 2006 7:51 AM
He is ill-informed and inviting others to be ill-informed by assuming that limited information = reified information. His article is its own rebuttal.
Posted by: Jim Benson | February 16, 2006 9:50 AM
He is ill-informed and inviting others to be ill-informed by advocating that limited information = reified information. His article is its own rebuttal.
Any good points he may have are swallowed whole by his hysterics.
Posted by: Jim Benson | February 16, 2006 9:51 AM
I don't know if the idea is *that* far-fetched - though it is a bit biased for CBS's website to say that (CBS=MSM).
People usually associate communism with bad things, like the cold war and the Soviet Union. However, if we look at the word 'communism' without its political/historical background, it's related to community, communicate, communication (=good things). Aren't these pretty much what Web 2.0 is all about?
Posted by: Arttu Vanninen | February 16, 2006 10:01 AM
Reading Keen's article made me think a bit about one of my heros--the late Neil Postman--the incisive, brilliant and funny critic, professor, and author of Amusing Ourslves to Death, Technopoloy, and other cautionary tales of the unintended consequences of technology...
I wonder what Neil Postman would think of Web 2.0--his insights were always worth paying very close attention to...
Posted by: bob | February 16, 2006 2:08 PM
Yes I like Postman's writing too.
But my point is: what Andrew Keen thinks is Web 2.0 is his own weird fantasy world. I mean, nobody I know ever claimed the Web (let's forget the 2.0 bit for a second) was a utopia - yet Keen's article makes it out to be a *dystopia*.
Honestly, it made me laugh that people in MSM still think like this. It's sad really.
Posted by: Richard MacManus | February 16, 2006 2:38 PM
As someone who works with both old and new media, I found his post hopelessly simplistic. Even his analogies are wrong: Oedipus tied himself to the mast because he couldn't resist the temptation of hearing the Sirens' song.
Anyway, you can check my more detailed response at http://www.pollackmediagroup.net
Posted by: Jim Kerr | February 16, 2006 2:53 PM
Thanks Jim, I liked your post in response.
Posted by: Richard MacManus | February 17, 2006 3:13 PM
It's important to remember where this article originated -- in the Weekly Standard, owned by Rupert Murdoch. If you're not aware of the publication's reigning position in the US neoconservative realm, check out the Wikipedia entry on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_Standard
Posted by: Katie Day | February 19, 2006 4:46 PM