Big Wide World

i was looking for my next book to buy and came across Andrew Keen' s The Cult of the Amateur. to summarize his book (which, i must point out, i have not read yet), the author argues that “ what the Web 2.0 revolution is really delivering is superficial observations of the world around us rather than deep analysis, shrill opinion rather than considered judgment.” In his view Web 2.0 is changing the cultural landscape and not for the better. By undermining mainstream media and intellectual property rights, he says, it is creating a world in which we will “live to see the bulk of our music coming from amateur garage bands, our movies and television from glorified YouTubes, and our news made up of hyperactive celebrity gossip, served up as mere dressing for advertising.” This is what happens, he suggests, “when ignorance meets egoism meets bad taste meets mob rule.(1).

and you know, a few years, i would have agreed with him. actually, i still agree in part. however, there is a problem that he doesn't account for and an argument that reduces his theory in weight. the important factor to consider here, is that in the world of big business, where even the "news" media is responsible to its shareholders and there is a need to be bigger, louder, faster, more... etc., there is a need for alternative (of if you're keen, read: amateur) media and an internet culture of opinion and conjecture. yes, the internet bloggers, youtubers, myspacers, are amateur and post on opinions without fact. but, then you also get the ones that really know what they're talking about and they offer an alternative to the mainstream capitalist media that presents their bottom line perspective on the public and offers it as truth.

i would also argue that mainstream media isn't often questioned. the "old schoolers" that listen to it take it as truth or "news" and do not often even realize that its just another big business offering a product. internet users of various generations have to seek out the truth, and as we start to grow into out teenybopper years with the internet, we will start to learn how to use the internet in such a way that we will be able to discern between conjecture and opinion and bring it together with more researched and knowledgeable print media.

cause lets not kid ourselves... when you watch news such as Fox, do you believe that you're getting anything more than "superficial observations of the world around us rather than deep analysis, shrill opinion rather than considered judgment..." i don't think so. (reference same as above).