"The Cult of the Amateur"...that's the name of a new book by a guy named Andrew Keen. Seems he's not a fan of the latest incarnation of the internet: YouTube, MySpace, Wikipedia. I think he called it (I heard him on NPR this morning) a cacaphony of the amateur. I do love the phrase, although I at first mis-heard it, for a moment I thought he said, "cacaphony of anarchy." Which actually appeals to me. Yes, I do think we have constructed our own digital "tower of Babel," although, it's more like a river, a sea, a sunset of Babel.
It's seems Keen is keen on the old MSM the world of editors, gatekeepers, record labels, etc. He tells us that now it's the world of amateurs who rule and they do not merit their new found power. It was not a very compelling presentation. I mean, I love the "nay-sayers," the "devil's advocates," but come on, where's the ripping new argument? Where's the compelling evidence?
Here's Lawrence Lessig on the book. It's safe to say Lessig is not impressed by Keen, I put Lessig in the pro-Babel-ite camp. I guess I'm in this category too. I don't think we need the "authority" of the MSM to make sense of the world for us. I do think the Internet is a great reflection of the madness of our world and culture. It's not a dumbing down, it's a mirror. You can choose to look for the stupid, the silly, the cynical, the mis-guided, the trite. You can wallow in the mis-information, but there's beauty and the sublime and the wonder too. There's great intelligence, insight to be found. You just need to do a little digging. You have to wade through the shit to get to the gold. Isn't that the same with the NYT, network programming, (in fact, just take one look at network programming on TV vs. the internet - the experts vs. the amatuers...I think it's hard to make the case that the experts are enhancing our culture and the amatuers of destroying it) and the latest slate of films and cds at the multi-plex and record store?
We do live in Babel...it is a land of a grandly mad cacaphony...welcome to the monkey house.