Today and Dave Winer
Since my act is that of a collector, from comic books to digital music, today’s performance is for an original, Dave Winer. The confidence here is that the phrase “fair and balanced” is in his casual conversation so let’s weigh down one end with this:
…I’ve been saying for almost a year that Web 2.0 is nothing more than an aftermarket for Google. Startups slicing little bits of Google’s P/E ratio, acting as sales reps for Google ads, and getting great multiples for the revenue they generate by fostering the creation of new UGC to place ads on. When Google crashes, that’s the end of that, no more wave to ride, no more aftermarket, Bubble Burst 2.0. And the flip of this is also true — as long as Google’s stock stays up, no bubble burst.
This is a great way to measure ‘the Web 2.0 index.’ Google is very old fashioned as long as it represents a de facto centralized authority ruled by an elite ethnic representation of the G8. Dave Winer did not waste his time jotting this down. Now let’s put this on the other end:
…the English-language version of the Arab news network Al Jazeera, and get this, one of their anchors, Dave Marish, a semi-famous US journalist, is Jewish! They interviewed Marish, and he speaks right to me about the need for understanding, and I think it’s amazing that the Arabs have hired a Jew to speak English for them.
Ha! Ha! Ha! Did “the Arabs” hire “a Jew” or did the folks at Al Jazeera hire Dave Marish. This an example of how people like Dave Winer, who are refined and articulate in their specialty, wield blunt instruments like barbarians when they enter in their hinterland. Now don’t get me wrong Dave Winer is still far superior to Dvorak—John deliberately and professionally tries to make racist statements as one of many ways to raise his numbers (this link to his Blog ‘proves’ my point)… You might want to take another look at the exchange between Om Malik and John about the brown Zune on crankygeeks.com. Dave Winer does no such self promotion…
The podcast and the Blog allow us to meet people. People like me gain access to conversations of the elites of this imperial world. It is important to make the distinction that just because my determination to read and listen to Dave Winer is very strong does not mean that Dave Winer and rasx() should one day become “friends”—or to put it in less flattering terms, that one day rasx() “finally” meets Dave Winer (on the contrary, rasx() has already met Dave Winer—that’s what the Blog is for…).
To me Dave Winer is an intellectually refined professional that frequently wields blunt instruments within striking distance of my humanity. It is for me to respect his gross behaviors and keep my distance—but it is useless for me to get too far—getting too far out means his knowledge is not to my advantage.
It would be a crude irony to dismiss Dave Winer as a barbarian and not listen to what he has to say. It is a Hollywood tradition of the Imperial barbarians to portray barbarians as profoundly stupid and utterly useless. Remember those old caveman movies? It is better to read Shakespeare to get a more accurate view of barbarian cunning, insinuation and intelligence. Nay, it is easier to see the movie, Titus, and pay due respect to Tamora queen of the Goths and her sons. Know very quickly the irreligious piety. The faith for example in the “ridiculousness” and apparent “desperation” of a person like me, rasx(), describing other people as ‘barbarian.’