Sunday, April 29, 2007
KEEN AS MUSTARD
Hello folks - I'm still in semi retirement, and it's great. I've taken up several new hobbies, canvassed for the Liberal Democrat party, bought a violin, knitted a jumper and felt the sun on my back for the first time since April 2004. It's great!
In the meantime, possibly inspired by Quinquireme and an article in today's Observer, I'm handing over the reins of the blog to Andrew Keen for this post. Andrew's much talked about book, a critique of Web 2.0, whatever the fuck that is, has driven literally half a dozen Guardian journalists into a frenzy of excitement. The Internet Is Ruining The World That I Grew Up In And I'm Going To Say Something About It, Yes, ME is published by Graber & Graber and costs £38.99.
In the meantime, possibly inspired by Quinquireme and an article in today's Observer, I'm handing over the reins of the blog to Andrew Keen for this post. Andrew's much talked about book, a critique of Web 2.0, whatever the fuck that is, has driven literally half a dozen Guardian journalists into a frenzy of excitement. The Internet Is Ruining The World That I Grew Up In And I'm Going To Say Something About It, Yes, ME is published by Graber & Graber and costs £38.99.
Andrew Keen: incandescent with rage
Hello, I would like to say without further ado that I think the internet is reversing the evolutionary process.
By allowing the lower orders to express themselves, we are, in effect, heading back to the primordial swamps.
In an ideal world, the great minds of their generations - the likes of Da Vinci, Galileo, Plato and myself - would be revered, celebrated and remembered as great figures of their age. Indeed, this was always the case in the past.
Not any more.
Instead, in a metaphorical sense, we are pelted with slurry by the users of the internet.
The so called "blogging" phemomenon has brought all the scum of the sewers to the fore - the chimney sweeps, the beggars, gangs of lawless boys, orphans, pickpockets, alehouse idlers, liars, illegitimate children, foreigners and women of the night gather there to peddle their filth and abuse the great minds of the generation.
Think about it: why should one care what the man on the Clapham omnibus thinks of the Boer War? Are there not distinguished politicians who are more than capable of deciding when our fine army should return from the Veldt?
Who cares what a washerwoman from the northern counties thinks of the Votes For Women Question?
Who cares what a foulmouthed drunkard thinks of the Poverty Question?
Only the great minds of this generation - such as myself - should be entitled to have their say.
Still, things are looking up. The publishing of my book - The Internet Is Ruining The World That I Grew Up In And I'm Going To Say Something About It, Yes, ME (published by Graber & Graber, priced £38.99, available from discerning bookshops) will undoubtedly lead to a change in thinking and the vetting of everyone who uses the internet. In future it will be a forum for the good and the great, who will make this a golden age, a renaissance, as it were.
Then, people like myself will be accorded respect in the street, and the lower orders will curtsey before us and throw flowers in our path, and we will be carried around in big chairs, and people will sing hosannas in praise of us.
Yes: it will be a golden age.
Andrew Keen, April 28th 2007, Silicone Valley
Hello, I would like to say without further ado that I think the internet is reversing the evolutionary process.
By allowing the lower orders to express themselves, we are, in effect, heading back to the primordial swamps.
In an ideal world, the great minds of their generations - the likes of Da Vinci, Galileo, Plato and myself - would be revered, celebrated and remembered as great figures of their age. Indeed, this was always the case in the past.
Not any more.
Instead, in a metaphorical sense, we are pelted with slurry by the users of the internet.
The so called "blogging" phemomenon has brought all the scum of the sewers to the fore - the chimney sweeps, the beggars, gangs of lawless boys, orphans, pickpockets, alehouse idlers, liars, illegitimate children, foreigners and women of the night gather there to peddle their filth and abuse the great minds of the generation.
Think about it: why should one care what the man on the Clapham omnibus thinks of the Boer War? Are there not distinguished politicians who are more than capable of deciding when our fine army should return from the Veldt?
Who cares what a washerwoman from the northern counties thinks of the Votes For Women Question?
Who cares what a foulmouthed drunkard thinks of the Poverty Question?
Only the great minds of this generation - such as myself - should be entitled to have their say.
Still, things are looking up. The publishing of my book - The Internet Is Ruining The World That I Grew Up In And I'm Going To Say Something About It, Yes, ME (published by Graber & Graber, priced £38.99, available from discerning bookshops) will undoubtedly lead to a change in thinking and the vetting of everyone who uses the internet. In future it will be a forum for the good and the great, who will make this a golden age, a renaissance, as it were.
Then, people like myself will be accorded respect in the street, and the lower orders will curtsey before us and throw flowers in our path, and we will be carried around in big chairs, and people will sing hosannas in praise of us.
Yes: it will be a golden age.
Andrew Keen, April 28th 2007, Silicone Valley
Labels: Agnetha Faltskog's weird stalker, Greek Philosphy, teh internets, the lower orders, Web 2.0
