The Daily Background
| The most infuriating Colbert Report interview I’ve ever seen
by Arlen Parsa
On Thursday, Colbert had British author Andrew Keen as his guest… what an asshole. He says the internet is destroying culture because amateurs are allowed to share things they create with people. I want to make a couple of notes because this guy is truly infuriating.
First, he says artists aren’t able to make a living because their work is being stolen on the internet. As if this was something new. Reality check: there have always been artists who haven’t been able to make a living– the internet has probably made things better for artists by giving them more exposure, a greater opportunity to build a fan base, and more revenue sources, not less.
Plenty of artists and people in the traditional media have benefited from people promoting their work online, or having other people promote it for them. If the internet did not exist, I would not have been able to watch this video, or even known that there was a show called The Colbert Report. Now Comedy Central (as an extention, Stephen) earns money everytime I watch one of the videos on their website because they have advertisers who pay them money every time one of their ads is displayed before their videos, or to the side of their videos.
Keen himself is even selling his book online and using the internet to promote his own work.
What’s wrong with being elitist, and only letting a few people be educated or create and share their art, Keen wonders? After all, it is a well known fact that the internet is worse for culture than Nazis. Culture should be left to experts.
Keen also thinks the internet is bad because “anybody can blog.” He says that blogs are unreliable and provide bad information… as a contrast to serious “professional journalists” who are much more reliable according to him. Obviously this guy doesn’t have any idea how many times the blogosphere has caught the media slacking on their job.
Oh, and he also loathes Wikipedia. He thinks that collaborative projects like Wikipedia, or anything of the sort done by ordinary people are terrible. Need I say more? What a prick.
I wonder if anyone went and bought his book after seeing that.
I just caught the same interview on TV here on a family vacation. Keen was totally ridiculous. I can’t believe he tried to justify the exclusive right to culture to professionals. Where did he come from before he was such an established contributor to culture himself?
Total moron.
who is this guy anyway?
hrm, where can I download his book?
agreed, that guy is a prick. maybe he has a telephone line shoved up his ass.
I am proving this bitter brit’s point simply by commenting. Look at me, I’m the great unwashed! I have an opinion! MUAHAHAHA!
I think the brit has a point, he is just too stubborn to see the advantages of it. Yes, the internets (actually, it’s accessibility to info) trivializes art. In this day and age, we’ve all seen the Mona Lisa (pics and stuff). Go back 100 years, most people hadnt even heard about it.
I believe that by making artistic expressions more available we open up the door for people to take different creative ventures. That’s the great thing about the internet.
The internet is an idealogical marketplace of ideas. Not that traffic is indicative of knowledge or worth or anything, but the simple thought that anyone like me can shoot out a comment and have it shot down is a worthwhile process.
His whole idea of ‘objective journalists’ or ‘intellectuals’ is flawed because it presupposes that someone is going to be choosing or appointing these people. The traditional job market in media is full of politics, favoritsm, nepotism, etc. It’s grass roots. At least, that’s how i see it. youtube.com/sodshow
You don’t think the presenter was a totall asshole? I do - how rude
I, also would like to know where I can download his book from. This guy is a fucking hypocritical tool
@Debbie: you obviously don’t know Stephen Colbert.
Keen is right: the internet is amateur hour. It’s not that there aren’t many people out there who actually know something [it would be a dire problem for the world if it wasn’t so], but there has never been a time where more bullshit per day was generated than in the age of the internet.
Boy, that’s just terrible stuff. He’s obviously pissed of because no one’s buying his shitty books and he’s a “true arteest”. I think I’m gonna go scan his book and put it up on the internet. But then I’d be propigating this drivel.
People buy things that they admire. I steal 80% of my music because the artists don’t get the money anyway, or if they do they’ve already got too much. But there’s the occasional self published act, and I make a big effort to find out who those 20% are and buy their stuff. But I’m at war with the record labels. I want them out of business ASAP. They are the ones who are really screwing the artists.
YHBT. YHL. HAND.
I have no problem whatsoever with what this guy says.
Keen is missing the question of what culture is. If culture is defined as what professionals produce to earn money, then yes the internet is killing culture. But if you look at medieval culture, culture was produced by amateurs who wanted to enrich their world. It was guilds of masons and bakers, merchants and tanners, (and the like) who preformed plays. Architexture such as parish churches build by people offering their time and money for the greater good. Writing and publishing were made by monks, not to make money. Probably the only medieval culture that was produced by professionals were sermons (by priests) and paintings (by artists).
Someone needs to tell Keen that the internet is changing culture, not killing it.
Artists won’t want to create anything because they won’t get any money? This guy knows nothing about the Internet.
His Iraq argument was amusing also, considering it was the “professional” media journalists who largely got us into that mess.
The real scary thing about this guy is he actually believes the average person does not have the right or the ability to express themselves. He also comes right out and says he and other elitists like him are the only ones that deserve to prosper because of his superior intellect. The worst thing is there are many in power that think just like he does!
If it weren’t for the Internet, I would have never seen the Colbert report, never would have visited his website where they get money from advertisements and there would be that little bit less in the Colbert pie. How can that be contested?
Andrew Keen has a FREAKING blog himself….
http://andrewkeen.typepad.com/
A-hole
i have to disagree.
1. steven appeared as a good friend of the dude. they were just playing along.
2. when steven disagrees with something usually he’s in character so objectively he agrees to it
3. the democratization of stuff IS destroying the disciplines by means of under mediocrity
4. it is completely fallacious to think that the majority holds the better way. it has never been that way and it will never be.
the exceptions make the rules. and by exceptions i mean the elites.
5. we need experts. If it weren’t for some elites you wouldn’t use the damn computer right now.
I agree that the internet is an extraordinary medium for self expression.
This is still an incipient product and people did not yet learn how to use it.
I mean I don’t have to listen and read all the wanna-be news on reddit for instance.
But as you put it, since the mainstream media is media slacking on their job I am forced to find alternate sources of information.
shut down the internet!
The masses are allowed to express their opinions! They must be stopped! They might drown out our art snob opinions with their dirty prolespeak.
What’s up directors? Grab your knives!
It’s time to take all all of the lives
Of the people who cannot see the somnolent genius of Tarkovsky
Come on authors grab your guns!
It’s time to murder everyone who has never heard of Apollinaire
Send them all to hell it’s only fair
Cast them all into the flames if they don’t know any names
Of the principles of Arte Povera
Or are unfamiliar with le serpent mascara
That’s right mascara snake!!!
Come on painters alive or dead
Give all the cretins a boot to the head
If they don’t extoll convincingly
Tempered Elan era Kandinsky
Throw them all into a well if they cannot tell
An Arto Parv feast of repitition from a Schoenburg 12 tone composition
Come on artists the day is here
And your mission is very clear
Put an end to the bourgoussie
And death to everyone who’s never heard of me
I know why you’re all upset and I agree with some of your points, but the English dude is right - even if he does have a slightly Dawkins-esque, holier than thou demeanor.
10 years ago, being a musician, was a solid income and a shot a being sucessful for life if you did the gigs, paid your dues and climbed the ladder. Now you’re nothing unless you have a MySpace and loads of “friends” who don’t care if you vanish from one day to the next.
No consideration in the mind of listener for if you can play an instrument or even entertain at all - just as long as you’re “now” and sell T-Shirts with misspelled foul language on them.
Look at that guy who made the film ‘The God who isn’t there’, about his Evangelical Christian upbringing. He posted a blog deliberately full of misinformation about the history of the Catholic church and within weeks it was being quoted as fact by people in chat forums.
I think what English dude was trying to say and the reason I think the real life Colbert had him on his show, is that without an effective monitor to gauge what is reliable information and what is not, the internet will never mature into what “the valley” wants us all to think it already is.
How many times have you seen “Breaking news: Microsoft to merge with Apple” stories on the front page of digg.com, with 2000 plus diggers promoting it - only for days later, “Microsoft is NOT buying Apple” somewhere in the 10 or 20 diggs margin.
The internet has become the tool of the tailors to the Emperor and we’re all lining up to complement them on his mighty fine new outfit without ever having seen it for ourselves, just because a tiny, unaccountable elite of bloggers on a-list sites have manufactured the idea that unless you’re in agreement with them on a narrow range of self-serving issues, you’re wrong about everything else.
I wouldn’t call this remotely infuriating, however he is definitely an idiot. “Culture” is not something that inherently makes money….. the food I eat is culture and I sure as hell don’t get paid to grill a hamburger and eat it at home. Culture is spreading due to the internet, not declining, moron.
I enjoyed the interview.
I disagree with his approach. I love the internet’s free flowing information, but some of his points I repect.
However, he played the part well; it seems at times he was genuinely frustrated as if the Colbert character was real. For a moment, I couldn’t tell if he didn’t undersand the show’s premise. But in the end, he had a good laugh.
Even though I think his position is incorrect, I found this to be one of the more enjoyable interviews.
I just love Stephen Colbert and his show. This was a great show I thought, good interview with Mr. Keen.
Keen has huge blinders on here. Of course the Internet is full of more crap than was ever possible before, but that’s why we have search engines. Computers actually make it possible to filter through the crap.
The reality is that the exchange of ideas enabled by the Internet has advanced the state of culture by orders of magnitude, simply by allowing “experts” to exchange ideas. While he’s shaking his head at YouTube, millions of filmmakers, artists, programmers, scientists, designer, writers and scholars are exchanging ideas in smaller communities beneath his radar.
And his comment about bloggers being unobjective and paid for by corporations and foreign governments is particularly disturbing given the state of media consolidation in the US.
Besides, the status quo is never good for art. Pretty soon it’s taken over by businessmen who get comfortable and start gouging customers due to a sense of false entitlement (see RIAA). I’m sorry if your business model was destroyed by the Internet, but it’s in everyone’s best interest for
someone to come up with a better business model, and you’re too lazy.
Ya this guy is just another guy who is targeting his message to a small audience that buys books and will pay for his lectures.
He is not interested in searching for the truth. He is just making a buck (im sure he is very well off).
Guys like him need to simply be ignored. The problem is we are paying attention to him. If Colbert never had him on his show I would never have heard of this blow-hard.
[…] Keen on the Colbert Report Linky This guy is nuts. __________________ THANKS Ki-Adi-Mundi for this awesome […]
This guy’s a fuckin idiot
he reminds me of tom cruise but about internet insted of sienctology or how ever you spell it
Odious, like Oliver Kamm.
O no I’m on the internet. I must be a blogger for writing things on Reddit.com
Someone’s always got to drum up a contrarian attitude to generate publicity — the hypocrisy is easily spotted, but unfortunately, after said publicity (and oftentimes, profit) has been awarded in spades.
But, try as I might, I can’t dismiss the great disservice YouTube comments have done to human civilization… or lack thereof.
Andrew Keen has no idea what he’s talking about. And who is he to begin with?
re: “[his] Dawkins-esque, holier than thou demeanor”
In defense of Richard Dawkins: I don’t think he has that kind of demeanor at all. It’s only on the topic of religion that his criticism sounds unnecessarily hurtful. Think of sports commentator who questions a bad referee’s call, or a film critic who really tears into a lame summer movie blockbuster.
In other words, Dawkins cares about what’s true, not necessarily what’s comforting, and for this he’s earned my respect.
Anyone with a reasoned and skeptical approach to history and beliefs will sound smug to a superstitious society.
He, Keen, is about halfway right. The internet is killing culture, but it’s not the medium (the internet) that is the cause, it’s its users. Most people go to blogs, Digg, reddit, and wiki sites and take what they see at face value; which is often misinformation. What hasn’t been taught to most people is how to process the information that they are reading or hearing. Hardly anyone bothers to take the next step to research what they are reading, one of the first things you learn in a critical thinking course is to question the person providing the article you are reading. Are they a professional in their field and/or highly respected? If not, research it further. Most blogs are just the personal thoughts of a person and have little fact in them. Wiki sites are editable by anyone. I can’t think of a better way to spread bad information. Teach the users how to be objective, responsible thinkers. Don’t blame the medium because they choose to mindlessly pass along misinformation, or because the mass media has failed in their jobs of unbiased journalism.
wow.
what a retard.
people will always steal, the internet just makes it easier.
it also makes it easier for people to better themselves.
go back to britan douche bag.
-i have no problem with brits-
Keen mentions that bloggers “cherry pick” facts and make reality. Foxnews & CNN cherry pick facts all the time. I don’t take anything from the polished discipline of a true journalist, but there are most definitely NOT fair and balanced. That is what is cool about the Internet. It shines a light on everything they say. Those who want another perspective can have it.
I understand the point the guy was trying to make, but he makes a lot of bad conclusions based on it. Sure, the fact that anyone can upload an mp3 of themselves playing music dilutes the “amazingness” of a professional artist, but I don’t think the “profiessional” has any more right to have his stuff available to the masses then the amateur.
The difference between now and 40 years ago, is the only people who even had a chance at fans were the best of the best with the most luck to get their break. Now we have so many more talented artists then before, and I’m ok with putting up with a lot more crap
[…] got watched this first when the Daily Background reported this as the most ‘infuriating’ Colbert interview they had ever seen. This guy […]
Keen is not the guy to point out the Emperor has no new clothes, when he doesn’t even believe in the arguments himself.
They should get someone with a sense of humor and proportion not this turgid, pompous publicity-seeking ass who sounds like he’s just started taking elocution lessons.
Jim - people don’t believe what they read on teh internets, duh. It’ll never “mature” - but who cares?
I think this is one of the few occasions when Colbert interviewed someone with whom he disagreed both genuinely and in character. I feel this just goes to show how ridiculous Mr. Keen is.
My main problem was with his claim at 0:56 “even the Nazis didn’t put artists out of work”. Yeah, i’m not going any further on that one. All I will say is it is silly for this guy to claim television media sources are infinitely more reliable than the blogosphere, when sources like CNN and FOX are so filled to the brim with sponsored shit that it fogs and truth.
ass hole
Keen is simply playing the old game: you pick a subject that you know polarises people, and you bang away at it. Bingo - instant celebrity. Keen is the man that hates the Internet and says we’re worse than Nazis for using it. Keen is also the only person defending true culture and art.
Whatever. It’s getting him noticed. That’s what this is about - not whether he’s right or wrong. He may as well be bending spoons, or telling us UFOs are going to save us all or something.
BTW there are some interesting reviews of his book on Amazon I see:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2lkwte
glad we can agree this guy SUCKS.
While this guy is right about how the internet really does rob artists, he forgot about all the advantages. Blogs are good. Let someone speak and if people are dumb enough to believe it, so be it. It doesn’t mean that because of blogs other sites like nbc and abc will just disappear. Should anyone be able to post their opinion on the web? Absolutely. Should they be able to post videos and other works of artists? Absolutely not. Although usually big companies will profit from more exposure, others simply lose money. Who would see the entire movie 1408 online and then go out to the theater and pay for it? No one. And since i don’t see the guys behind 1408 hosting their movie on THEIR website, they’re not getting any money.
I loved every response Colbert had for this guy…Damn, he is quick witted.
i will always hold a special place in my heart for the internet. i met my girlfreind over the world wide interweb. ironically, it was over a site called deviantart where you can upload anything from a picture you wrote to a strip you made to a game you created in flash. dA is the true forum of internet culture. she’s a really talented artist but thats not the point. if the internet didnt exist, i would never have gotten into so many things. i would be a totally different person. i would have lost touch with most of my friends. who knows? anyway, my point is that if culture was about making money then nobody would write songs, paint pictures, build cites, raise families, make movies… i could go on and on…
The guy is correct; he’s just an over-articulate boor (bore?).
The only difference between an amateur and a professional is that the professional gets paid. That, and a professional whatever is usually consistent in his performance. Everyone begins as an amateur: what are this man’s credentials to judge anything, much less the internet?
Some people say “no press is bad press,” but after seeing that I want to buy and read his book even less than I did before I knew he wrote it. In fact, it really makes me want to host a server where people can download his book for free. Too bad “he deserved it” won’t be a good enough defense when they take me to court…
Maybe after you see enough amateurs you can truly appreciate what a pro does. On the point of misinformation,The internet may spread lies and misinformation, but it spreads truth just the same. the nice thing is you can easily research what you read with a few clicks and some key words. You just have to be smart enough to know how and when to do that. The internet is just a reflection of society.
Does that guy know about how many times the BBC has falsified reports. How many times the New York Times has photoshopped pictures to aid their made up stories? How many times 60 minutes has been caught with bad information? I guess not. Jeeze, the guy is a prick. I hopes he a gets a welcome to the internet from ebaums.
I felt the exact same thing when I saw it on TV. The guy was a dickwad, and he almost made me turn it off. He ruined an otherwise good episode of the Colbert Report.
Adapt or die, bitch.
Or you can just live with your head in the sand like Elton John and politely ask people to turn the internet off.
Hmm. First off this guy is an asshole. Second, anyone know where i can download his book?
I think culture is what people do to express theirselves. I don’t think culture is just what paid people do, but what not-paid people do, too. An singer at the opera “is culture” singing Mozart, my eight-year-old singing at the elementary exhibition “is culture” too singing a traditional song.
Many things on internet (like cited YouTube) ARE stolen, like the very interview we discuss here. I suppose the network did not allow anybody to put it on internet, and this is violation of copyright.
Many things on internet ARE bad because of low quality in content, but that does not mean that e.g. there should be only Mozart around. I think people should express themselves but think twice about what they have to say.
Another thing is the information. I am very frustrated sometimes not knowing the difference between wrong or right. Today Mr. President tells us about Mass destruction weapons - tomorrow Mr. Moore tells us that there weren’t any. Which one to believe?
I try to be aware, that private networks “may” (but should not, of course) tell you whatever nonsense they like. But public television/radio, which in some countries still exist (like many European countries) and citizens have to pay tv-taxes just because they own a TV, should offer quality and real stuff only and not desinformation.
So, internet, in some degree, does negatively influence quality of culture, that is my opinion, for the flood of nonsense. Of course, you have to be aware - but if you see shit every day and every day over, thatn shit may become familiar and normal to you.
Like pollution is normal to us. Like seeing homeless is normal to us. Like seeing murder on TV is normal to us (US_A_?!) …
do you know any site form where i can download a pdf book of the same
regards
flash games
This is truly insulting to me personally and our culture as a whole. I own and run my own series of websites, believe me, I AM an amateur. This is just insane!
I must say I agree about the comment of Wikipedia. as a factual resource Wikipedia leaves much to be desired. as an piece of entertainment, Wikipedia is great.
Some of you are commenting on how the internet makes it easy to get hold of music/video etc and that this is upsetting to the industry. This is not so.
As an approaching 40 year old and rather tech savvy guy I can honestly tell you that before the internet came along we were copying passing on all our fav vids and music. I still have many on my shelf atm. I remember copying spectrum and commodore games tape to tape (some clever fiddling with the sound levels was required).
This is not new, and pretending it is, is childish. All that has changed is that it is easier now and more ubiqutous (spelling!). It is everywhere and the internet makes it so much simpler to send that song you just heard to your mate. Peviously I’d have had to wait until he visited me so I could give him the cassette…. duh.
Colbert is a dullard, he has not grasped that the internet is simply a more advanced form of what we have been doing for ages.Copying what we like and passing it on to our friends, family and aquatances.
I teach in a local college, a recent question asked how much do we really buy, how much money do we return to the economy, eventually we came round to the idea of ownership and it turned out that no, I’ll repeat that, NO student owned an original CD or DVD that had not been bought by a parent or other relative. Effectively what they were saying was that, as 18 or less year olds, they had never bought an original in their entore lives and got their ‘media’ entertainment free. We have seen in the press recently about Prince giving his latest album away free with newspapers, maybe this is the future of the industry, no record companies, no ‘deals’, a return to the simplicity of performing concerts to earn money rather than relying on brand labeling. Actually having to perform to earn your money.
I for one would welcome that
Of course the Internet is a threat to the current culture. It will utterly destroy it and replace it with something far, far better, they culture we create. Death to the mass media, corporate, celebrity, bull shit, culture of greed and ego. The current culture will not be missed, some worth while parts will live on, on the net of course, even the worthless bits will be retained on the net, if only to be mocked and derided. As for the so called celebrity professionals and artists let the muck down with the rest of us, and get boring dead end jobs like they expected us to do and with the money we earned pay for their self indulgent bloated life style.
The internets can affect culture if one chooses to. It’s really all about freedom of choice: I can choose to get my culture on the internets from “reliable” and professional sources, or from amateurs and collaborative efforts…
Wow this guy is a dumbass colbert handled him great tho
What a dick.
Keen does make some important points. Experts are very indispensible. Especially in certain areas. I wouldn’t trust my appendectomy to some guy I met on the street, and similarly, I prefer to get my news from reputable sources than from some random guy on the internet (although the internet is a godsend for news, as it allow the average person access to an inexhaustable amount of reputable news sources from around the world).
The problem with Keen is that he tries to apply the idea of the professional to art as well, implying that unless you are paid to express yourself, you have no right to do so. This viewpoint is incredibly arrogant as the very idea of art is personal expression. If art was restricted to “professionals” we’d all be watching rap-advertisements (sorry, I mean “music videos”) for clothes, cars, hoes, and ice! Is that really culture? Infact, most of the mainstream “art” that’s pushed at us through traditional media is just trying to sell us crap that we don’t really need (and even if that’s not the artist’s intention, it sure as hell is the record label’s, the clothing line’s, the collectible poster manufacture’s, etc…)
About 95% of the music that I listen to these days is underground/independant. Artist’s like Kenna, Sage Francis or those on the Soleside record label have an incredible sound, and a fresh, intelligent message (except for Sage, his lyrics are raw, but also very intelligent and true). I would never have been able to discover artists like these without the internet, and I would never have been able to buy there albums without it ethier, as HMV defineately dosen’t carry them.
The only way that the internet is changing culture is by reducing the monoplies held by Fox TV and 50 cent hold, allowing for additional, fresh viewpoint to be heard. This is the signle most powerful aspect of the internet, and it is, and will continue to revolutionize culture as we know it.
Although Keen frustrates me, I take comfort in knowing that the internet is here, and there’s not a damn thing that he or his elitest coterie can do about it.
I hope that everybody buys his book so that we can all burn it together!
I think those who are posting here in support of this guy dont quite realize the laughable irony they’ve pulled themselves into.
By posting here, your contributing to the internet, your putting up your idea’s to be heard because you WANT to be heard, and lets face it, beyond sitting with a few friends and discussing the subject between them, you wont be able to discuss or put out your thoughts to the masses WITHOUT the internet.
You are slandering the very thing that your using right now, that your putting time into right now. Your putting up your opinion because, what, you dont think your an amatuer. Just for being any part of this very site and its posts would Keen find you nothing less then an amatuer who’s words are not worth knowing or reading.
I agree that some people are quite full of B-S on the net, no doubt about it, but there are quite a few very normal people with thoughts and idea’s that have taught me something entirely new. Was Ghandi an Elitist? Did anyone ever claim him to be? He was as average as you could be, and even worked to be as average as all of those around him… thats testemant to what an “average” person can do for the world.
“An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind”
-Ghandi
Dont let this prick stir you emotions, he wants you to be mad at him, he wants you to be angry at the nazi remark’s, so he can have controversy around him and to be better publicized. Im a jewish israeli and that nazi remark didnt hit anyone as much on the mark as me, i garuntee it. Let his words of supremism wash off your backs.
where can we steal his boook on the internet?:p
the geezers just some pompous ass.
I agree with him .. I’m an anon-cyber wanker that can say anything because no one knows who I am. Anonymnity + comment box = retarded fuck nut. Disagree with me… who cares … do I know my facts … what facts? this is the internet I’ll make up my own. You need news from journalists that have checked their sources?….lol you don’t even know who your news is coming from let alone their source/agenda/who’s pocket there in. etc. .. as far as his performing artist argument goes …that we’re stealing from Britiny and Christina … screw that.
Having watched the clip (and Colbert winds me up something rotten so it was uncomfortable watching it for starters) I found this Brit to be a pompous ass.
I believe this Brit (and I am a Brit by birth and a Londoner by the grace of God) is a prize idiot. He probably can’t tell the difference between internets and toobs… Berk
Youre only saying what you say, because youre an amateur ..or worse, probably being paid by someone to shut him up….
I think we should kill him and eat his brains so that we can be as intelligent as him!
@ Arlen Parsa
actually Andrew Keen and Colbert have similar views on Wikipedia they just express them differently….they both don’t trust wikipedia’s facts and they both think wikipedia is written by any amateur with a computer.
example (happened a little while ago):
on Colbert’s show: Colbert suggested that viewers change the facts to state that the number of African elephants has tripled in the last six months.(a fact which is untrue because they’re nearly extinct) Enough viewers watching went to wikipedia and the site was changed to the untrue fact. Because of this incident, which EVERYONE should know about who watches Colbert,
Wikipedia has now responded as the following: “The suggestion resulted in numerous incorrect changes to Wikipedia articles related to elephants and Africa. Wikipedia administrators subsequently restricted edits to the pages by anonymous and newly created users.”
Conclusion to my rant: Andrew Keen says amateurs write wikipedia on false facts, Colbert just proved it a year earlier!
Keen may in fact be an asshole, but the truth hurts. Collaboration doesn’t make thing’s right, unless there is no right and no wrong just popular opinion (in the end no one’s opinion will matter) or just Go to the library!
put the text of his book online
this guys a retard. lets see, first off, my dad is an artist, and were living, i have a computer…and water and a house that we OWN, my father is an immigrant at the age of 33 he came to america, so screw this british dude who thinks he can tell me what life IM living. second, there is no better power than the power of the people, a direct example is that of hackers and companies, the companies are trying to make excellent security systems but fail, and will fail, EVERY TIME because there are no better programmers than the people, whether they work for the company they are hacking (on their own free time) or otherwise.
The internet is the next step for humanity, we have successfully linked the entire world togetherr. It only goes further than tha, this is the future, learn it, and live it.
Has anyone considered the possibility that this man is a satirist, like Colbert? I don’t know if he is or not, but it would sure be a twist.
He IS a satirist!!! Read the book!
Here’s a review that might help you get the point of the book…
http://www.lessig.org/blog/2007/05/keens_the_cult_of_the_amateur.html
Yeah, this guys a douchebag. It’s not like these “artists” are truly affected by websites like youtube. Maybe if he was complaining about internet piracy but he’s complaining about the random funny shit that’s on the internet. I mean where would we be without LoLcats?
Yeah, this guys a douchebag. It’s not like these “artists” are truly affected by websites like youtube. Maybe if he was complaining about internet piracy but he’s complaining about the random funny shit that’s on the internet. I mean where would w
“Even the Nazis did not put artists out of work!” Yeah, sure. And the book burning and shunnig leftist artists did not happen, right?
Idiot, read a history book!
I can see his point (which he wasn’t able to articulate - but this is the Colbert Report - not CNN so it is to be expected)
Keen reminded me of many of my Penn State media studies professors - very angry, very…uptight.
By the end ol’ Stevie loosened him up, and Keen finally realized he wasn’t on the stage of an intellectual battle. Keen is not the first person to voice this concern regarding the internet, and he won’t be the last. I’m sure he has some good points, and yes, I’m planning on buying/reading his book, and then blogging about it.
Lucky for Keen, my blog will only be amateurish at best - and no one will care about my opinion on it because it is not objective…
Cue the irony chorus…
Nice post though - I found this through StumbleUpon and I’ve favorited it - nice work!
Colbert for President! I love the guy and even though he’s wacky and wierd, he’d be better than any of the other candidates.
If you look (Slightly ironic, but here goes) at his wikipedia entry -
‘In 2000, Keen returned to Silicon Valley. This was during the dot-com bubble. He started audiocafe.com in 1997 with funding from Intel and SAP, which closed after 18 months of operation. After the demise of audiocafe.com, Keen worked at Pulse 3D, SLO Media, Santa Cruz Networks, Jazziz Digital and Pure Depth.’
Perhaps he’s a little bitter about his past failure?
i looked over his book , he does make some good points, such as the lack of objectivity anyone who is wonderding what im talking about should look uo conservapedia
I love how he tried to catch Stephen by asking if he thought there were WMDs. “and where did you learn that?” he says. haha How much you want to bet that inside he said “oh shit I’m screwed!” When Colbert brought up the president as his source!
Im waiting for the mass internet backlash to destory this guy and his ridiculous facist attitude?