keen v weinberger
I saw Andrew Keen and David Weinberger go at it at Supernova, and it was highly entertaining. The Journal has the full text of a “reply all” debate between the authors of The Cult of the Amateur and Everything is Miscellaneous, respectively. Here’s Weinberger…
Andrew, the mud you throw obscures the issues you raise. Porn sites, silly posts, monkeys, cockroaches, toilet seats. This rhetoric isn’t helpful. In fact, in your attempt to be controversial, you’re playing into the hands of political and economic forces that would like the Internet to be nothing more than an extension of the mass media. If your book succeeds on the best-seller lists, but contributes to the Web becoming as safe, narrow, controlled and professional as the mainstream media, I believe you would be almost as unhappy as I would. It’s a shame because we need to be taking seriously the issues you raise. But to talk about them, we need to get past the notion that the Web is all dreck all the time and that it is nothing but a great “seducer” of taste.