Good news for those with a religious faith in Sarah Palin: She’s done the impossible. Miracle of miracles, she’s made me -- the Antichrist of Silicon Valley -- fall in love with the Internet.
The Alaskan rebel is ubiquitous this week, of course, on her roguish American redemption tour promoting her new self-hagiography. Disproving Scott Fitzgerald’s much-maligned remarks about the absence of second chances in American life, the once-disgraced Palin has hijacked mainstream media to rehabilitate her damaged persona with mainstream Americans.
You’d have had to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to notice Palin this week. From Oprah toGood Morning America to seemingly every news show on CNN, FOX, CBS, ABC, and NBC, one hasn’t been able to switch on television this week without being overpowered by La Sarah in all her redemptive glory, rebuilding her political legitimacy, virally distributing her disturbingly populist self, trying to infect the rest of America with her spiteful message of small-town ignorance, envy, and hatred.
Yes, I loathe Palin with the kind of intensity with which I once loathed Wikipedia. And thus I’ve also come to loathe that part of the mainstream media which has so pathetically fallen under Palin’s spell -- that she’s become a mash-up of Princess Diana and Mother Teresa, a misunderstood martyr deserving around-the-clock coverage by a supine press corps.
And this is where the Internet now has value. You see, just as Palin ignores elitist left-wing cosmopolitan intellectuals like myself, so I want to ignore her. The entirely un-newsworthy woman turns my stomach. I’d rather be lectured about free culture by Larry Lessig than listen to Palin shilling me to pay cash for her culture.
Once upon a time, I criticized the Internet as an echo chamber, for the way in which it only fed back to us what we wanted to hear. But in a week of Palin mainstream media worship, I’ve come to realize that the selectivity of the Internet is actually a blessing-in-disguise.
The Internet has emerged as the only medium in which it’s possible to block all mention of Sarah Palin. I’ve unfollowed her on Twitter, rewritten all my RSS feeds to vaccinate myself against Palin-creep, carefully self-edited my Google searches so that they won’t accidently throw up links to a Palin story. As the absolute master of my own media, I absolutely control the message that I hear.
Some prejudices are worse than others. Yes, the Internet is a mirror that simply confirms our own narrow prejudices. But I’d rather be confronted by my own narrow prejudices than have to listen to Sarah Palin distribute her's about Obama and Darwin and healthcare and taxes on mainstream media.
Sarah Palin has done the impossible: She’s made me love the Internet.
So who’s to say that she won’t do the impossible and get elected president of the United States? If she does, I promise I’ll go and live in Second Life and become absolutely oblivious to reality, uttering inanity with other avatars, even selling virtual real-estate on virtual islands with other virtual souls.
Anything but Palin. Anything but having to listen to the official lies of the worst thing to happen in America since Prohibition.
— Andrew Keen, Silicon Valley author, broadcaster, and entrepreneur, can be reached on Twitter at @ajkeen.
You have stated it perfectly. Sadly, it looks like some in DC still have not gotten the message. For example, I have heard some (Pelosi, Reid and Obama to be specific) are still going to try to ram health care through in a very underhanded way.
So....I guess We the People need to get ready for round two of "What part of NO don't you understand" and really kick some political a**!
Will it last? Only if the people of this great land realize that they themselves, are the ones that are responsible for their representatives and the rule of their government. What is occuring is MADNESS! Government is - out - of - control! This isn't a party thing...this is a government beast thing! People need to get back to basics, get familiar with the Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, The Bill of Rights, our rights are under assault!
Citizens doing nothing, not getting involved, not speaking up is an option, but will only allow further errosion of our free (what's left of it) society toward a totalitarian state (Socialism/Marxism/Communism).
Sarah Palin is the only national voice that represents a very disenfranchised group
You've nailed that! Whe she first appeared, I wasn't too sure about her. I didn't agree with all she said or did, but she said enough to make me see that she was one (or then ONLY one) who was getting what the people were saying, so I kept listening.
I still don't agree with all she says 100%, but she does seem to get that many Americans are pissed off about the direction this administration is going (as well as the one before) and is speaking out. And contrary to popular belief, those who are angry are not just part of one party and do not walk lockstep with everything Sarah Palin says.
I for one am very tired of being berated, called foul names and looked upon as being "dangerous" by the Obama administration just because I have a different take on things. (I'm an Independent...for the record) And although I believe the last administration was going the wrong direction on many things as well, Bush did say that people were entitled to their opinions and to express them (even if he didn't listen either). He may not have been happy about those disagreements, but those who did were not looked upon as dangerous fiends looking to overthrow the government.
Sara Palin seems to be the only politician right now who has the guts to speak out against what is going on and be blunt about it. And now, with yeaterday's election results, maybe a few more will finally catch on.
Palin is not perfect, by any means, but she seems to understand what is going on and is not willing to "fall into line" with the rest, so far.
Yes, but what if you had a core set of beliefs that you had derived from thought or experience and you held those say 10 core values to heart and your "party" represented 6 of them and 4 of them were opposed.
The political spinmiesters, be they GOP, DNC, Fox or CNN shouldn't be telling you how to think. You should be able to reach your core beliefs without Rush or Oprah telling you what's right or wrong.
Or those politicians that are against gays but not below trying to pick up guys in airport restrooms, or are for family values but "hike the Appalachian Trail", or take advantage of interns in the Oval Office or on boats named "Monkey Business". When your "party" endorses them and they go against your core do you vote then because your party tell you to?
My neighboring state, New Hampshire, up until the last election had straight ticket voting where you could check one box and vote Republican or Democrat for the whole ballot. There was a hard political swing from the right, some really good incumbents lost jobs because they were in the wrong party.
With Palin…well, at least she’s consistent with her beliefs, and no, I have no desire to FILTER her out from the Internet….yet. Though the communists (like Keen) are consistent with their beliefs as well (albeit, irrationally so), the question ultimately is: which set of CORE beliefs are LESS evil for the “free” citizen?
Dave,
RE: “The saddest thing I've ever heard is those people that tell you that they have always voted Democrat or always voted Republican, have you no brain?”I guess that’s not really “sad” to me. At least consistent party line voters have real (at times) convictions and a CORE set of beliefs. Plus, you can have a better debate with someone who is quite the opposite of you whereas a true debate with a moderate falls flat. They (seemingly) don’t believe whole-heartedly in anything or they’re all over the board with their beliefs - now to me that’s brainless, inconsistent, void of REAL critical thinking and is intellectually lazy. Politically speaking, these are the people who I utterly cannot stand. Sure, people can change their minds on certain issues, but don’t give me this “moderate”, waffling crap. The moderates are the waffling, politically challenged ding-dongs in the middle of the political spectrum that flip back and forth depending on what Media “stories” and human wildebeest bellowing hype they choose to believe ----- whether the economy is good or bad depending on the media reports they here; whether it’s hotter and the icebergs are melting or whether it’s cold and the next ice age is coming; what lathering blather to listen to or digest from their favorite, hated, corrupt (but JUST TO THE VERY CORE) politician(s); how the wind is blowing that day and what they catch on earshot or which political party is going to kowtow best to them. These intellectually lazy fools (who are not JUST in the middle btw) comprised both of voters and politicians are responsible, in part, for most of the political gridlock in this country along with the rampant “legal” and “illegal” deal making going on backstage. They’ll vote contingent upon $,$$$,$$$ for themselves or for their constituents; or they vote left, then right, then left or right again; or they vote left in national races and right in state or local races; they have no CORE beliefs, no consistency and often NO INTEGRITY...it’s truly sickening. They’re hairless (mostly), upright walking, semi-intelligent rats. How can the nation get on a path if it takes two steps forward, 5 back, 4 to the left, 6 to the right, 4 forward etc etc, repeat. That looks like drunkard (or a Liberal junkie partaking in the government sanctioned clean needles program) trying to walk down that path. He’ll never get home! Let’s give one party a full 20-year rein, and then give the other party a 20-year rein (ahem…of destruction) – let’s see how each would do; but let’s start in 2012 though…AFTER the Democrats get trounced! – Haha.
Ah, the joys of politics and the debate thereof, sigh. It is FAR from simple, but does give us techo-sheep something to do - SOME activity, some discussion, debate, finger pointing etc., whilst we poor little lambs (the U.S. taxpayer) get sheared over & over & over again, NO MATTER WHO is in charge. Then the politicians laugh all the way to the bank (with our wool ). The sheep need to organize...enough is enough.
Politics, life itself is not a single issue debate. There are no 100% conservatives or %100 liberals.
To me, that's the problem. For me, "conservative" vs "liberal" is about the kind of society we want to have *and* about federal government's involvement in that society. As a conservative, I want federal government as far out of society as is humanly possible. That's not a single-issue stance.
The saddest thing I've ever heard is those people that tell you that they have always voted Democrat or always voted Republican, have you no brain? Did you vote that way because someone told you to? Research the political platforms over the last 50 or so years and see how often they change.
Do I have a brain? Sure. In a two-party race, neither candidate ever fits my ideal, but I know that the Republican candidate is closer of the two in meeting my expectations. The Democrat Party is the more liberal party, wanting an active federal government role in our lives and our society. And no change in party planks has ever altered that relationship. Not in my lifetime. So if you want to consider that brainless, have at it. I couldn't disagree more.
Politics, life itself is not a single issue debate. There are no 100% conservatives or %100 liberals. There are issues in our lives that matter to us and we lean one way or the other hopefully by our own thoughts and not that of the political spin masters. And there are a lot of issues that we just don't care about because we aren't linked directly to them.
There are some issues I feel "conservative" about (ownership of guns) and some I feel "liberal" about (womans right to choose). My thoughts are mine, no political candidate, party or news outlet is going to tell me how to think, or how to lean. Those issues that have no direct link to me I'm "undecided." On those issues I haven't made my mind up on could be decided by the activities of the proponents or the antis, piss me off and I won't be voting for you.
The saddest thing I've ever heard is those people that tell you that they have always voted Democrat or always voted Republican, have you no brain? Did you vote that way because someone told you to? Research the political platforms over the last 50 or so years and see how often they change.
Until both sides stop the nonsense (the far right much more than the left)...
Excuse me? Do you have the evidence to back up that claim? Ira, there is a major, fundamental difference between the Right and the Left in this country, and you can find it a great many debates where we are able to filter out party politics.
Obama, and the whole of The Left, really, is advocating for a government control over one facet of life, health care, that provides a doorway of control into every other aspect of our lives. Stress, diet, even thought itself can undergo review under the authority of a health care board run by federal government. And when they respond to criticism by denigrating the character of the critics, that's NOT the way to legitimize their efforts.
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The problem with much analysis of the old-versus-new media wars (including some of my own, I confess) is that we always assume that there’s a moral struggle going on, that the real battle is between fairness and injustice, and that, in the best Hollywood tradition, good will eventually triumph over evil.
In an age of a myriad of media devices and platforms, what does the digital consumer want? The answer, in a word, is simplicity. When a consumer buys a book, a movie, a magazine, or a musical track, they want to watch, read, and listen to their product on every device and platform -- from their two-channel hi-fi to their home theater-powered television to their Internet-enabled computer to their 3G smartphone to their revolutionary new touch tablet.
Thus reads a thesis from American political scientist Robert Kagan, meaning that Americans are intrinsically warlike while Europeans are the natural pacifiers; Americans destroy things and Europeans fix them.
Smarter Collaboration: How to Thrive in a Challenging Business Environment Market conditions are changing faster than ever, and organizations need to improve their agility and adaptability in order to provide better service and improve processes. The ability to work with customers, business partners, and employees as effectively as possible - while at the same time holding down costs - is a key to success. READ THIS eBOOK
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What can users today do to protect their online privacy? The simplest and most obvious option is to not use the Internet – at all. However, once all digital information is consolidated over the Internet, trying to protect digital identity by simply unplugging from the Internet becomes impossible – a fact that has manifest implications for civil liberties, Saunders says.
By 2011 the number of Internet-connected sensors will exceed 1 trillion, making your chances of doing anything or going anywhere unnoticed pretty much zero. Saunders talks about how the 'sensortization' of the Internet is eliminating the traditional divide between online and offline populations.
The 20th Century Internet was characterized by the ability to interact with other people and information on the Internet largely without anyone knowing who you were. The Internet of this century, conversely, will be defined by identity. Saunders explains how Internet users are unwittingly contributing to the demise of the anonymous Internet.
Steve Saunders talks about the risks inherent in uncontrolled, widespread profiling of Internet users, and how one day this practice could form the basis of a new industry, the Outernet, which in economic terms will have outgrown the commercial value of the Internet itself.
Search companies and social networks are collecting incredibly detailed information about their users, says Steve Saunders, who predicts that these 'profiles' could one day become commodities to be bought and sold by companies on 'profile markets' or 'identity exchanges’ – the digital DNA equivalents of the financial and commodities exchanges on which stocks, oil, and gold are traded.
One of the most important Internet issues of all time is being ignored by the media. In this three-part video series Steve Saunders explains how search companies are turning the tables on their users by creating user profiles for financial gain, and how soon this trend will explode into full scale profiling.
Research shows that the youth of today like Facebook – but not blogging or Twitter. Does that mean Facebook has won, or just that it's not yet out of favor? Will all the services we see today fade into Ovaltine-or-Wheaties status in just a few years?
Research shows that the youth of today like Facebook – but not blogging or Twitter. Does that mean Facebook has won, or just that it's not yet out of favor? Will all the services we see today fade into Ovaltine-or-Wheaties status in just a few years?
What kinds of companies are doing the most innovation in the data center? Turns out it's midtier enterprises that are taking the "Just Right" approach.
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